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 There
is no way to tell you how excited I get when the days get shorter
and the extreme temperatures start to drop off.
That is a sure sign that fall is right around the corner.
Shallow
water bassin' is what is on my mind.
When fall arrives, the fish seem to move shallow.
I believe that there are a couple of reasons why fish react
this way. First of
all the lake temperatures are still warm but the surface
temperatures start to decline immediately.
These fish have had to tolerate the hot
surface temps all summer long and they seem to welcome the change
of seasons. The
second reason that I believe fish move shallow this time of year
is the oxygen content in the water.
During long summers with little rainfall, there is little
water movement and that means that the oxygen content starts to be
depleted towards the end of summer.
The wind plays a key factor in replacing oxygen into the
water. It only stands
to reason that the water on windy banks will have higher oxygen
levels. And with the lack of current in our lakes the fish will
migrate to those areas. It
is still important to remember that these fish will move shallow
today but they are prepared to go right back to twenty feet
whenever they feel the need.
I
have found that most of the bass that I catch this time of year
are on windy main lake points.
I believe that the bass are moving up in the cooler to feed
and then they will drop back off into the safer deep water.
I find a lot of fish suspended directly under the
floatation of docks instead of in the brush piles that I caught
them in during the middle of summer. I know that there are still fish in the brush piles but I
just cannot get them to bite.
Then a few moments later I notice that the
worm is getting bit as soon as it hits the water.
The fish seem bite better on a reaction strike rather than
force feeding them. When
the fish suspend shallow under docks, you can sometimes get them
to bite a spinnerbait or a shallow running crankbait off of the
front corners of the docks. These
fish will also use the ladders and the front bars of docks to
suspend under. I have
heard of guys getting on a pattern where almost every pontoon boat
with the motor in the water is holding bass.
The
beginning of fall is also a great time to fish in the river. I like to go to the river and fish flats that are close to
the channel. If
it has stumps and laydowns on them it is best.
Fall bass will suspend under anything that provides cover.
The key seems to be to put the bait directly in front of
the fish and don’t expect the fish to chase it.
They just want to wait until and easy opportunity presents
itself. I like to
fish a good square lipped crankbait and run the bait directly into
cover and pause it. If
the fish is there, it will bite out of a reaction.
A spinnerbait is among my favorite reaction baits.
During the fall I fish a half-ounce spinnerbait and move
the bait slowly up to the cover and then crawl it over and let it
fall straight down. This is my favorite way to fish a spinnerbait.
The strikes are hard and the fish are usually trying to go
the other direction and the fight is always a good one.
I generally use bigger baits in the fall simply because the
shad are bigger. In
most of the rivers you will see huge schools of shad that are four
to six inches long. Try
to match them as close as possible in size and color.
As
you make the transition from summer to fall, it is very important
to pay attention to the water levels.
The bass are moving shallow and it only takes enough water
to cover their backs to make them happy.
Don’t get caught up thinking that there is not enough
water to hold a fish. Most
of the fish that I catch in the fall are in less than two feet.
Just raise your trolling motor up and
start catching
bass. This time of
year can be as good as spring, you just have to go and keep your
line wet.
Leave
a few for seed,
Chris
Roberts
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