Fall Fishing Patterns

Fall is the time of year when it starts to turn cooler. It feels great to run up the lake first thing in the morning, all bundled up and the cold air tingling your face. Most anglers envision catching monster bass this time of year. The large mouths should be migrating to the backs of creeks, and gorging themselves on bait fish. Here in the south the forage of choice is shad. The phrase match the hatch is especially important this time of year and any bait that resembles a shad is a likely go to bait. Anglers have the potential of catching of 20-30 bass a day, and if lucky a Hawg may come along. The lakes that I fish are just now starting to cool down and the bass are in that in-between stage of their yearly voyage. They have not moved into the shallows, yet they have ventured away from their summer habitats. Some experts call this staging. In theory staging is when schools of fish group up in "staging areas" points, mouths of creeks and underwater islands are a few likely "staging areas." I have found that fish in our area rarely group up; it is more of a scattered suspending area. The mouths of creeks are likely places to look this time of year for the lakes on the Catawaba River chain. A search bait, such as a deep diving crank bait, or a heavy spinnerbait seem to be the best baits to use. Use your sonar or depth finder to locate schools of bait fish with bigger fish in or under them. Once you have located the forage at a specific depth count your lure down to the depth of the bait fish. Most lures sink at a rate of 1 foot per second, so 10 feet would be 10 seconds. The best retrieve to use is a slow stop and go. It may take a while to locate fish, but once you catch one you are likely to catch more from that same area. The main idea to remember is be patient and don't rule out an area just because you have made a few cast and come up empty. Bass seem to feed in intervals; have you ever been fishing one spot and all of a sudden you land two or three fish on back to back cast, only to cast several more times and come up empty? This is interval feeding, the action of one bass feeding triggers others to follow suit and feeding becomes competitive. Not all mouths of coves will produce fish, however, once you find a spot where they are feeding it is easy to catch your limit. If you are on fish, but they are all small, do not be afraid to leave that area and search for another. Bass seem to school with bass of their own size, so catching small fish seems to lead to catching small fish. If you find a honey hole and catch good sized fish stay on that area, you are likely to catch more good sized fish. I know that it is hard to leave fish to find fish, but doing just that has won many bass tournaments. Even the pros have been known to utilize this strategy. Most tournaments in this area require two 12 inch bass, and three 14 inch bass as a minimum requirement. If all you are catching is 12 inch bass leave that area and search for another. Pay attention to water conditions depth, color, temperature, and surrounding cover. All of these may play a role in why there are fish in this area. Also look for conditions in the surrounding area. If you find bass suspending in 15 feet of water and there is a drop off to 30 feet near by look for other areas with that same feature. The key to catching a limit this time of year is keep looking for groups of fish, once you have found them stay on them.