A week from today, all of this information you are reading today will have absolutely zero meaning. This is because Indian Summer conditions are supposed to switch over into autumn, and even pre-winter conditions. Whenever this happens, I will be fishing for muskies.
I’ve been fishing up north since Tuesday the 24th of September. I’m here until October 20th. Due to work schedule, I hadn’t fished anywhere in five weeks, or since I returned from my August Canadian trip. It was brutal, and I survived, but this week has been a blessing. I finally feel alive again. With this week’s abnormally warm weather, I focused on my specialty, big smallmouth bass.
I’ll keep this one short because I’d rather be in my boat or drinking Wisconsin beer rather than sit on a computer.
Water temperatures at the time of my arrival were 65-66 degrees everywhere I fished. After Friday’s and Saturday’s wind storms and rainfall, I sit here in midst of a coldfront that lowered water temperatures to a more seasonal 61-62 degrees. The fishing was pretty good before Friday’s shit storm blew through.
I’ve been finding majority of my big bass in the shallows this week. With zero presence of crayfish, bass are in minnow mode right now, using sparse weeds to ambush juvenile perch and other baitfish species. Matching the hatch has caught fish, but outside-of-the-box presentations have caught my biggest fish of the week. For instance, it took me five hours on Wednesday to figure out that big bass were sitting beneath boat docks and boat houses. I caught this 21 inch, 6 pound fish by pitching a tube jig. I also caught a smaller 5 pounder by doing the same also.
For the normal specimens, burning crankbaits and spinnerbaits, working a jerkbait, and ripping a swim jig through vegetation has worked exceptionally well. Very few fish are coming on soft plastics at the moment but I have a feeling that once the cooldown comes, soft baits will come into play, as will livebaits such as redtails and juvenile perch. Matching the hatch for all has been the focus. If I am not observing crayfish at any of the waters I fish, then I put the crayfish imitations away in favor of something resembling a yellow perch, or cisco, or shiner because these prey species are prevalent in most of the waters I am fishing.
Below are some caught with these normal, typical early fall presentations:
I’ve burned through a lot of gas this week and have checked out on every lake’s presumed wintering holes and autumn locations. Fish are nowhere to be found in these areas yet. They’re still shallow, but I’m perplexed where the other 95% of the lake’s population of fish roam, because chances are they are concentrated in number. With the lakes cooling down, and bass still in summer mode, they should be deep. But with the weather being strange and the calendar acting even stranger the fish don’t know what they’re supposed to do at this time; neither do I.
Big waters have fared best, 1,000+ acres or more. I’ve stayed away from the dinky waters as the action on them isn’t quite as good as what I’m experiencing on the big water. Plus, they are in pre-turnover stage and will flip the switch quickly as soon as next week.
That’s all I’ve got for now. This week’s fishing will be a combination of muskies and the chance for more brown bass if warm temperatures don’t go away anytime soon. When the first cooldown arrives, the fall movement will take place quickly!
Till next week…… and remember to replace all your factory crankbait hooks with LazerTrokar TK300’s!
