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Thursday, August 27, 2020

Shadow: Be prepared for the fall fishing bounty - Journal Gazette and Times-Courier

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As I see the field corn start to fire up from the bottom of the stalks and the leaves on the trees turning into their early fall colors, I can hardly believe that fall is just around the corner.

Rosalie has been making peach cobblers and freezing a bunch more peaches in preparation for winter. The fish and fowl aren’t the only species that prepare for winter. Looks like several weeks yet before the apples are ready and then we’ll have apple pies instead of the peach ones. I never want to hurt Rosie’s feelings so I make sure to eat an adequate amount of each one. The proof of this is in my belt size.

Granted we’re going to have a bunch of hot days in the coming couple of months, but it’s time to get your thinking hats on concerning some fine fall fishing. As I think back, the largest single angler basket of fish that I ever weighed in at a tournament was 21 pounds, 7 ounces, and I caught all of them in shallow water in October. This was a great day of culling several four-pounders in order to get the largest weight. That’s good fall fishing.

We all realize that most fish react to water temperature changes. Some species are more sensitive to these changes than others. Bass are affected more drastically than some other species, but that’s not to say that they can’t be caught all summer and especially in the fall as the water temperatures begin to decline. After all, what we call a largemouth bass is actually part of the sunfish family. He gets sluggish in very cold water and has a similar reduction in feeding activity in very warm temperatures.

As the water temperatures decline in the fall, the bass tend to simply follow the sources of food. In most of our lakes this means foraging for shad. This activity brings them up from the depths and causes frantic feeding frenzies as they attempt to feed up for the upcoming winter hardships.

This is when you can catch some of the largest fish. When the water is still somewhat warm the best fishing is early mornings and late evenings. As the waters get cooler, we can many times find the shad gathered by the thousands near the waters surface and during the early afternoons.

Many lures work as these fall patterns emerge, but my first love is a top water bait of some sort and then maybe a soft plastic swim bait of some similar size as the forage fish. If the fish are not yet in the shallow waters, try the first drop in elevation or structure closest to the forage shallows.

This can be fished effectively with a jerk bait since it’s necessary to get the lure down a bit deeper. Buzz-baits and spinnerbaits are prime producers when the shad are popping on the surface of the water. Probably my next favorite bait for this fall activity is the surface popper. This pop-r type of lure gets lots of attention from the feeding fish and strikes tend to be ferocious.

As you fish the remainder of this late summer season be alert for those places that the shad will be congregating soon. By anticipating their movements and locating those humps and shallow points and bays, you’re saving time when the prime time comes. Make sure you’ve got your proper lures available and you will be a step ahead of everyone else. Be sure to check, sharpen, or replace the hooks as it is very important to have very sharp hooks for this fall season.

PHOTOS: Sauger Fish Harvest

Dave Shadow is an outdoor columnist for the JG-TC.

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August 28, 2020 at 04:00AM
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Shadow: Be prepared for the fall fishing bounty - Journal Gazette and Times-Courier

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