Two recent fishing trips on the Ohio River, a day on Mosquito Lake and another at Shenango Reservoir revealed the fish are responding to the cooler water with big appetites.
All four trips, as well as last weekend’s fishing rally at Evans Lake benefiting the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, produced bass that clearly are enjoying the abundance of baitfish.
Water temperatures dipped into the mid-60s in most of our area lakes. That’s prime for autumn bass. Their bellies swollen, the fish are packing on fat to sustain them through the lean times that will arrive with winter.
All of this is good news for anglers. We are able to tie on lures that enable us to cover water quickly in search of hungry largemouth and smallmouth bass. The bass are chasing bait and not particularly fussy.
Fast-moving crankbaits, spinnerbaits and top-water lures will be productive for the next several weeks as the fish aggressively attack and eat shad, perch and other small fish.
The rule this time of the year is cover as much water as possible to track down the hungry predators.
On the Ohio River recently, I ripped crankbaits and twitched a jerkbait to tease acrobatic, 2-pound smallmouth bass into striking.
At Shenango, a shallow-running crankbait bounced down the length of fallen tree trunks and triggered hits from largemouths lurking in their shadows where they waited for shad to swim past.
Mosquito Lake’s bass are hunting for perch and shad in the abundant weeds. Like the Ohio’s smallies and Shenango’s largemouths, Mosquito’s bass are filling their bellies. I generated hard strikes with a spinnerbait blitzed through the alleys in the weeds. I also produced explosive surface hits on a buzzbait.
At Evans Lake, during the fundraising rally last weekend, fat largemouths chased fast-moving swimbaits and bladed jigs maneuvered through the vegetation.
Whether it’s the Ohio River or one of our local reservoirs, the game this month isn’t simply casting and winding. Location is critical. To succeed, anglers need to find where the fish prefer to hunt.
The river bass are heavily influenced by current, so anglers can expect to find most of their fish in areas where the current pushes food against hard objects that deflect the force of the water.
Current is a factor on the lakes, too, but the bass tend to be more inclined to relate to overhead cover. Anglers who work their lures so that they appear to be delivered by the current will find bass interested in their offerings.
Tree trunks and washed out stumps are the preferred cover at lakes like Shenango, which has no significant weed beds. Lures that run parallel to the horizontal cover will trick the fish, as will those that drop vertically into the nooks and crannies.
At Mosquito, the bass and their forage base all relate to the weeds. The best lures to pull the bass from the greenery are those that can be worked parallel to the edges and through the channels.
Prime time is now for autumn bass anglers. The big fish are actively eating and in position to be caught by those who figure out the best lure to work in the fishiest cover.
Jack Wollitz is a writer and angler who fishes all of the waters in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. He also appreciates emails from readers. Send a note to Jack at jackbbaass@gmail.com
The Link LonkOctober 03, 2020 at 01:14PM
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