Early Fall Pattern

[bass57348]

OK it was 39 degrees this morning with a 25 mph NW wind. Fall is in the air. Weeds have started to die back... What do you guys do when you get to early fall and don't want to pick up the shotgun yet...

[JeremyL]

39 degrees in september I dont leave the house!! Sorry could not resist, Are the fish keying on shad yet?? with wind blowing and cool temps I would throw a spinner bait.

[bass57348]

No shad on the little lake I fish mostly, bluegill is the forage. On the Missouri river I saw a few getting chased last weekend but had no luck w/a spook. Yea, it was 82 yesterday then this little front came thru.

[Bass Hawk 87]

Water temps are what I look at. When they drop to the low 70's to mid 60's I am heading back into the creeks, and after the lake turns over, I am all the way in the very back of the creek. Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, traps, Flukes pretty much anything you can cover water with. I also flip dark colored jigs around any wood cover I see, especially stumps along the creek channels.

Once temps drop into the 50's, am heading back towards the main lake river channels and bluffs where I will spend most of the winter looking for the fish that stay there all winter

[Ouachita]

South Dakota...hmmm. Never fished there, but maybe this will help. I occasionally fish a little lake in the Nat. Forest where bluegills and crawfish are all the bass have swimming with them on a regular basis. I figured the lake out by fishing with small lures, catching bluegills. Wherever small ones hang out the most is not where big bass hang out, like the really thick shallow weeds. If they are there and see a large bass come around, they will leave (you stop catching small panfish) if the bass can get in there. A bull bluegill can compete with a large bass, so wherever those tended to be helped narrow the prime spots down to 3 from what looked good at 20 spots. From that I figured out some habits of the bass, where they preferred to stay, and where they fed, so stopped messing with the bluegills. Now, anytime I go there I fish those 3 spots and catch nice bass consistently, not doing well elsewhere, but catching a few occasionally. The bass have every inch of the lake figured out and stick to their own little routes just about like deer do.

Then I used large spinnerbaits and 3/4 oz jigs with large creatures attached matching bluegill colors. A bluegill patterened Storm swim bait worked great in the deepest parts.

Jim