Even though I have not been able to fish my local waters in several weeks, I can tell the fall transition is under way.
Hurricane Polo moved through Oklahoma in the end of September, and we got 3 to 6 inches of rain. We had been so low and so dry for so long, it really didn’t raise the water much. What it did do was cool the water temperature probably 6 to 10 degrees, so you’re looking at a major change now.
This is the time when you’ll find fish moving from deep summer haunts and heading to the backs of creeks. But with as many floods as we’ve had over the years, a lot of those creek channels have silted in. So the fish aren’t going back as far as they used to.
You can still catch some fish in the backs, but in my area, it seems like more fish are staying on main lake cover. I’ll look for any isolated item. It can even be a cinder block, a stump, a fence post — anything out of the ordinary. Even one big rock can be a good spot for those fish to ambush bait.
Personally, I really like the fall season. It’s a tough time of year, but I like it because you can pick up your favorite bait and cover water.
Whether that’s a buzzbait, spinnerbait or jig, just pick up your confidence bait, cover water and normally you can generate some bites. This time of year, I like a BOOYAH Counterstrike double buzzbait, or the old reliable War Eagle Screaming Eagle spinnerbait.
In the South, we deal with warmer temperatures later in the year, but once our days start growing shorter, those fish start moving shallow. You‘ll still have 90-degree days and you might think there’s no fish shallow, but they’re up there.
Those fish know it’s time to fill their bellies with shad, because winter’s on the way. Their biological clock ticks faster than the clock on the wall.
During the fall period, I’m looking for those fronts. If you have some nasty rainy days, those are what I call the pride and joy of fall. When it’s nasty and gloomy and you don’t want to be outside, that’s when you can have some of your best days.
For my ideal fall day, I don’t want a ton of wind, but I do want clouds, because that scatters those fish down the bank. Then it comes down to covering water to find them.
That might sound like more work than a sunny day when the fish hold tight to cover and it becomes target-oriented. You can still get bit that way, but on sunny days it seems like the bite windows are generally more confined to early mornings and late afternoons. I always find the cloudy days with a little bit of wind expand those windows so you can get bit all day.
Normally, I’m doing a lot of local fishing this time of year with my dad, but I’m fishing the Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers this year. I’ll miss some regular local events that we’ve fished for several years, but I’m fishing the EQs with the goal of winning one to get into next year’s Bassmaster Classic.
It’s a big sacrifice for a big objective, but you can bet that whenever I have time, I’ll be enjoying some of that great fall fishing.
