Fall Bass Fishing

[CLofchik]

Plenty of people who don't bring cameras catch 6 pound bass all the time! Heck, my buddy at work tells me all the time how he shot a 14 pounder in his back pond with a bow. What skills.

 

Was that before or after he shot the 65lb salmon out of Bronte? But the fishing has gone downhill in the last few years......now the average is only 30.......

[steverowbotham]

I consider Lake Erie the BEST smallmouth lake not only in Ontario but probably the world and at the latest Bass Master Elite Tournament held in Buffalo 7/31 - 8/03/08 the top 106 pro anglers caught 1328 bass weighing 4138 lbs. That's a average of only 3.11 lbs.

 

Even a small hidden back lake that no one knows about is hard pressed to have a 4 lb bass average.

 

I don't want to call anyone a liar but maybe your numbers are a little messed up here. If not it's getting a little deep in here, where are my waders

 

And even that is a biased number based on everyone tossing the small fish and keeping only their biggest. The Canadian tournament record is slightly under 30 pounds for 5 fish .... 29.7 or around that number. That's almost but not quite a 6 pound average, and trust me, that is NOT an average day of fishing. A 6 pound average for a lake as a whole is crazy talk, and I would pay big money (myself being a guide) to see a lake in Canada, or anywhere for that matter, where the average bass is 6 pounds.

[BillM]

In the fall the bass go deeper. By mid-October I find it hard to find them.

Forget about topwaters then.

 

 

Hey Erik,

 

Once the lake 'turns over' you'll be able to catch fish on a topwater bite, even in the fall. My last trip to the French River with my dad, that's all we used... It was the 2nd week in October. We have the same thing planned for this year

[Jigger]

I don't get up too early in the fall and find smallies most active mid-day. A warm patch like SingingDog said will bring smallies up shallow to feed. As the water cools, I slow down and gradually go from a horizontal retrieve to a vertical presentation as the season wears on. Obviously, let the fish tell you in the end what they want. But as the water cools, look to use baits with less erratic movement and decrease speed while increasing depth.

 

And good luck with the 6lb avg thing. Even at this time of year with their bellies at their biggest, thats a VERY low % chance of happening.