Late Fall Fishing

How's the saying go? "Fishing is easy, it's the catching that's hard!"

I'm not ashamed to admit that the last few outings I've been skunked. I haven't held a bass since early October, and that was when my father and I took the boat out for the first time. We spent a good 4-5 hours out on Wallum Lake, learning as we went about how different things on the boat worked and figuring out what was comfortable. All we managed to catch that day was a smallmouth on a dropshot rig with a nose-hooked 5" Senko.

I've been convinced for the last couple of weeks that the irregular seasonal temperatures are to blame, along with our inexperience in using our sonar and picking good fishing spots from a boat. However, I keep thinking back to my fishing experiences in Lake George in the heat of the summer, when everyone says fishing is tough, and how fortunate I was to catch so many that week on so few outings.

Taking my daughter to gymnastics today, zoning out to some of my dad-rock as I like to call it, I had some time to really think about what we may be doing wrong, and I think I've figured it out.

Bass are warm water fish. They love to stay where it's warm. From what I can tell from my experiences this year, they spawn in the late spring/early summer, then find a nice place to cool down deep in local ponds and lakes for the rest of the summer. Then, more than likely, in early fall they are getting whatever food they can find and getting ready for the cold weather. This is the important factor - early fall, and getting ready for the cold weather.

We've been taking the boat out starting the second week of October, which is still technically early fall around here. But fish don't look at calendars, they only care about water temperatures and where the food is at. What I failed to consider a month ago is that as soon as the water drops in temperature, regardless of what the weather is in the coming weeks, the bass have already begun to hunker down for winter.

This is my theory at least, but it does seem to make sense. They're not going to keep coming out when the water warms, then go back and hunker down. They are going to find a good place to lay low as soon as the temperature drops. If things warm up a bit, they may come out to look for some more food, but if it were me, I'd be holding tight thinking that there's no way the warm weather will hold, and get my shelter ready for the winter season essentially.

For me, what this means is that it's time to put away the crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and any other fast-moving bass-targeting lures that I have. I need to focus on deep water for bass or cold-water species like pickerel and trout if I go out to a local pond or lake for some bank fishing.