Labor Day weekend has come and gone. The summers and years go by faster all the time. We are entering what some say is the best time of the year for fishing, for lots of fish and for the really big ones. Autumn offers some fantastic fishing opportunities from several standpoints. In many areas the lakes are uncrowded, the colors on the trees are spectacular, and, as mentioned the fishing can be pretty darn good. Here’s how to take advantage of fall fishing.
You need to determine what your goal for fishing in the fall is. Do you want to increase your odds for taking a true trophy, or are you after lots of fish. If you want a trophy, you need to select a lake that has trophy potential. Some lakes have lots of fish but not a lot of really big ones, other lakes have a smaller population of certain species of fish, but the ones that are there are bigger. Do some homework and ask other anglers about the tendencies of the bodies of water you want to fish.
If big fish are what you are going to key on, use big fish baits. That usually means you’ll want to go larger. Big fish eat big meals. Larger than ordinary crankbaits, plastics, and live bait will be the way to go for the really big ones.
If you can, go fishing at key times. A lot of some of the best anglers truly believe that the moon phase is an important consideration. In my own experience, I’ve seen lots of times when the fishing was noticeably better under a full moon. I’ve also seen plenty of times when the best fishing coincided with a major solunar period. You can find tables for these major and minor periods. I wouldn’t suggest you stay home if you can’t be on the water during a major time period, but I would suggest that if you can, you should have a line in the water during a major period.
Don’t get locked into one particular type of area. When fishing walleyes in the fall, I’ve caught them on jigs in three feet of water along a windblown shoreline, I’ve caught them on live bait rigs in twenty five feet of water on off shore structures, and I’ve caught some giants trolling crankbaits at night on shallow reefs that baitfish were spawning on. Same thing is true for smallmouth, largemouth, and pretty much any other gamefish. Try different areas until you find where the fish are.
When you get on a school of fish, and after you’ve caught a few and action slows, try a different technique. If you were catching them on a jig, try a live bait rig. If you were catching them on a ten inch plastic worm, got to a six incher. There will probably still be some biters down there if you just show them something a little different.
Autumn offers a lot to do. Some folks choose to hunt, others like to watch the football games. For me, I’ll take a nice day on the water catching fish. I hope to see you out there.
To see the new 2013 episodes of Fishing the Midwest on-line, go to fishingthemidwest.com Join us at Facebook.com/fishingthemidwest,
By Bob Jensen, bjensen@frontiernet.net