SO... is the 'fall' bass bite here now?

[Slyster]

I have NEVER fished this late in the season for bass.. but am going out tomorrow (Sun Oct 15 from 1pm to sunset)... I hear the bass bite is GREAT in the fall... so is it 'fall' yet?

I will post again after I fish this day... but... has the fall bite started yet? I figure the bass need to fatten up to survive the long MN winter that is fast aproaching.. and so the bite should be great!

Have a great Sunday all! Hope you get to go fishin'

[Andrew Erickson]

i went out today and didnt catch a thing

[bucketmouth64]

I was out today too. Three northerns caught and one bass seen swimming by my boat. Was really frustrating fishing today.

[Maximum12]

I think it's really close.

I haven't had much luck the past month - with anything. Last outing, a week ago Thursday, the metro lake we were on was green with huge amounts of floating dump in the water. My buddy's fancy fish-finder was blinded by all the floaties. And we caught zero bass.

However, I had a spare hour yesterday & wandered out to plumb the depths of a local 3 acre pond. Caught six bass in an hour, with a 16" & a 17" among them. Best outing I've had since early September! So I think you'll see the smaller lakes starting to turn on & the biggies like White Bear won't be far behind.

That's my theory & I'm sticking to it at least through my planned Wednesday evening outing.

[Deitz Dittrich]

This time of the year can be very hit or miss... When you are on them.. you are on them.. My best friend was out right at sundown the other evening and said he had a 2.5-4lb bass almost ever other cast for about 35 mins... but the next night could not buy a bite.

In the fall, when you are on them.. .its a blast! the fish are usually big and want to bite.. when you cant find them, it can be miserable... cold and nothing to catch but the sniffles.

[SluggoMaster]

I was out for a while this afternoon. I caught a 3 pound -15oz on a jig and a 4 pound -6oz on a shallow crankbait, as well as a few more on the crankbait. The fish were in 4-6 feet of water. The water was anywhere from 47 - 49.

[Juan Grande]

I was also out today on a metro lake. Fished for about 3 hours and didn't get a fish. Had one nice bass on a DT-6, but lost it at the boat.

I tried anywhere from 2 feet out to 14 feet and threw everything in my box. I fished the same lake a couple weeks ago and had some success, but not today.

What do you guys do when you can't buy a bite? Do you just down size your baits and slow down or speed up to cover water?

Water temp. was around 49 degrees. Haven't had much luck with the "fall bite."

[SluggoMaster]

I usually cover as much water as possible. If you can find greener weeds you should be good to go. I usually can still get a reaction bite from the fish with a crankbait. I stay away from clear lakes this time of year.

[Slyster]

As the water temps get so cold... are Senko's and slow presentations still a good bet? Or do most switch over the cranks and spinners etc?

[SluggoMaster]

I stick with jigs and cranks. Jigs mostly after the water gets below 45.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Sly- in the fall, the fish do tend to spread out, or so it seems.. So faster presentations can help you locate the fish. They will still bite the senko type lures, but you need to know where they are first.

[Pherris]

I was out on a metro lake yesterday for about 3 hours. We caught about a dozen fish all came out of or near GREEN weeds. I caught all of mine on a fire tiger rattle trap and my partner got all but one of his on a senko the other came on a shallow running crank. I found snapping off weeds was the key to generating strikes. Last outing for me the boat goes away this week. Good fishing!!

[LuckyNorm07]

from everything i read about fall fishing is too fish fast to locate them.. well i have been fishing fast and nothing.. last week i slowed way down.. using texas style and a big tube.. fishing the deeper water in the bays..10-15 feet of water.. the bite has phenomenal.. i would give it a shot if the bite is slow.. let it sink to the bottom, let it sit..pull it a foot..let it sit..pull it a foot..fish very very slow..i was rewarded with some pigs..

[Sandmannd]

I was out on the Croix yesterday morning with a fellow FM'r. We boated 2 very nice smallies. We were using lindy's with redtails on them going after walleye. We were anywhere from 12 to 40 FOW.

[sicheneder]

were you above or below taylor's falls?

[sicheneder]

I was out sunday on a small chisago area lake fishing was bad. found about a 20-30 yard strecth of thick weedline in 7fow with some fish dragging a small hair jig with a craw. fish were 2.5-3+ pounds. took 6 hrs of trying different stuff to find that spot. sat was out on st.croix above taylors falls, not very good either.

[Juan Grande]

Sandman,

How deep were you guys fishing when you picked up those smallies? I like to fish the Croix for smallies, but we usually only get small ones fishing artificials right off the rocky shoreline.

[Duffman]

Fished a metro lake Saturday, went bassless, caught around 6 pike. This same lake kicked out a dozen bass my last time there, they were nowhere to be found this time. I was going to go back there on Sunday to see if I could get the bass to bite, or the 10 lb pike that followed my offering twice on Saturday. But there was already two boats there, so I went elsewhere.

When I arrived at the second lake, I could tell there was a bass tourney going on. I put in anyways, the first tourney guys I talked to hadn't caught a fish in 5 hours of fishin. Not good, but the lake looked like it was suffering from turnover. I only hooked into one fish, fishing plastics slow and shallow, 19". At least I didn't get skunked, and did just as good as some of the tourney boys, so I can't complain.

[RK]

Hiya -

I got out for what will probably be my last bass trip of the season on Saturday.

I was a ways up north, so lakes were well past turnover, and water temps were in the mid 40-degree range. Bite was pretty good overall. Not fast and furious, but steady. Pretty typical for this time of year - green weeds were the key. I'd run points with a DT-16, using it as a weed finder as much as anything, noting where I either caught fish or found green weeds, then coming back to those areas with a jig. Actually caught quite a few on cranks, but they sure weren't running them down. I'd get most of the hits on the crank when I was walking it through the coontail. Fish would just sort of be there all of a sudden. Jig and Pig did pretty well, and caught quite a few on a new 'mud flap' jig from Berkley called the Beast rigged on a football head. Really had to be on your toes with the jigs though. Hits were just dead weight, and it was tough to tell a live fish from dead coontail sometimes. I missed quite a few fish. Part of why I switched for a jig and pig to a Beast was they seemed to hold the Power Bait a little longer.

Didn't find much at all shallow - just a couple peanuts. Water was pretty cold and had dropped rapidly (12 degrees in 5 days), and the day before we'd had a howling NW wind (gusts to 50mph) so I think fish may have been pushed out of the shallows a little by that.

Sun was starting to hit the trees and I caught a 19-incher on a crank. Figured if this was my last bass fishing of the year I wasn't likely to find a better note to end it on than that, so I headed in. Cleaned all the bass gear out of my boat while it was still light enough to see (I have WAY too many plastics...heh) and called it a day. Muskies for me till ice-up

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Sandmannd]

Quote:

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were you above or below taylor's falls?

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We were down on the bluffs. Juan, not sure the exact depth. Like I said, we were circling and hitting 12' to 40' of water. I think we picked them up in the 20-30' range, but not 100% sure on that.

[serpent]

I love fall fishing. best time of the year. everybodys

hunting and your the only one on the lake.

but this years been tough. some of my favorite lakes

aren't producing at all. on sat the 14 fished for 7 hrs

on 2 lakes and caught 1 bass. this is on lakes where

i've caught 60+ bass in the fall some 23". on sun went

to another honeyhole of mine and caught 19 bass biggest

was 21". fat football shaped bass. of course it was

the first fish of the day. the week before on the same

lake i caught 2 21"ers. and of course all by green cabbage.

I think that is the key in the fall. that and snowmobile boots.

[flagsup]

yea been out at night,told my neighbor rule number 1 dont forget the pack boots,next night i went out i forgot the boots,cold feettold my neighbor rule #2 refer back to rule #1 dont have to kick me in the head 3times to remember