Fish-Hawk.Net

The weekend weather was absolutely gorgeous, so I went out this weekend to Maclaren's landing. I read that the smallmouth and largemouth put on the feedbag and will patrol the shallows in the fall, so I tried a jerkbait in those areas first. Nothing - just a small pike.

I tried going deeper too, about 100m offshore, where the water was about 8ft deep. I was still searching with a jerkbait, but tried using tubes and drop shot too. Still couldn't catch anything.

What are your experiences with fall pattern? Is the "feedbag" time over?

Any help would be appreciated!

Definitely not over. Water temps are still pretty warm on the river it was 65 on Franny this weekend. The best is yet to come!

Hasn't even started yet, once then temp is in the 58-62 range for multiple days everything heats up. This weekend the temp on the lake I was fishing was 64 and air temp was 78 I fished like it was summer and was pulling fish from under docks with senkos.

I was up in QC on Saturday. Water temps varied from 59 - 66. The first half of the day was tough, very subtle pickups. The water was extremely clear and we were sight fishing so could see the bass pick the baits up...we were letting the bait drop to the bottom and just letting it sit. They picked the bait up...swam around a bit before swallowing. The fish were shallow on flats or favouring rocky shoals...large boulders really attracting them. My son and I started at around 9am and by 12:30 had approximately 15 fish in the boat.

Then things started to heat up in the afternoon. The fish got way more aggressive, schooling and were very competitive with one another. Oftentimes we were bringing a fish in with 4 or 5 following. We were using senkos wacky style...they were taking them on the drop at this point. Some of the bass we landed looked like they had swallowed little nerf footballs. By the end of the day at around 6pm we called it a day and lost track on how many fish we landed.

What I learned was. Stay shallow...2 - 10 ft. Try cranks to see if aggressive fish will hit. If you have follow-ups but no strikes (which was the case with us) throw finesse or subtle baits....if not picking up on the drop let the bait sit, they're probably swimming around it and taking some time before picking it up. Later in the day things will likely pick up and the competitive feed begins! We still tried cranks but seemed like they only wanted the senkos......for now

I was catfishing yesterday and couldn't stop catching 1-2.5 pound smallies using a worm on the bottom I was in 15 feet of water. I get the odd big one in the shallows this time of the year but by November I can't seem to find a pattern.

Bass school together very tightly in the fall on rivers, so most likely your just not fishing where the fish are. Keep moving from spot to spot until you get bit or land a fish then work the area thoroughly.

Tbone made a good point and one I failed to mention. We worked a spot for 10 casts...if nothing sniffed we moved on. Move often and try fast baits and then slow baits (especially with fast bait follow ups). You will eventually find them.

Thanks for all the replies! It's great to see you all having luck this time of year!

Do bass relate tightly to structure around this time of year? Should I be fishing weedbeds or flats?

Most fish I catch are roaming on the open flats although I did get some relating to structure. I wouldn't say in my situation that they were tight on structure though.

Where I fish for largies in the fall, rocks seem to be the ticket. Rock and weed is great but I have less luck in weeds if no rock is nearby.
It can be a strange time of year and can vary from one body of water to another.

I fish 2 lakes quite a bit in the fall. Mid November I target smallmouth in 2 feet of water on rocks in one lake and jig a hard bottom 40 foot deep flat in the other.

Where I fish for largies in the fall, rocks seem to be the ticket. Rock and weed is great but I have less luck in weeds if no rock is

I fished Mississippi River out of Appleton yesterday. Started at around 1 pm and it was pretty quiet, but around 4 pm it got crazy. The smallies and largies were jumping into the boat, lost track of how many we got. They were good ones too, lots of 3-4 lb'ers. We were hauling them in using jerkbaits, senkos, jig/minnow combos, you name it. Even got a couple hefty pike in the 32"/8-10 lb range.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, very warm. As someone above stated, we fished like it was summer. The leaves may be red and orange but the water hasn't cooled that much yet. Fish that river in the area where the shallow weeds end as they enter the deeper channel, it worked for us yesterday.

Thank you all for the advice! Can't wait to get out and try those tactics!

On the side note, I absolutely love the community in this forum, I appreciate you all being so kind and helpful! =)