Rainbows or fall bass? (UPDATED Nov 22)

[splashhopper]

This is the first year that I have targeted bass and I have to say, it was a blast all summer.... then I got all pumped up when some of the bass guys here were telling me " you ain't see nothing till you get in to fall FEEDBAG bassin"...

 

I was filled with anticipation and have been pretty well skunked since the end of September for bass... I kept trying though and resisted the incessant urge for Rainbows and salmon....

 

Well the last 3-4 weeks I have been going after trout and getting skunked there too, except for some shakers last weekend...

 

But, I just keep thinking about the "fall feedbag" for bass..... our season ends in two weeks here btw.

 

Are there any others in this situation this fall and what are you doing to alleviate the indecision ?

 

 

Thanks

 

Splashhopper

Edited November 24, 2009 by splashhopper

[steverowbotham]

my dilemma too. I love bass fishing, and when I'm not guiding for them, I need to keep the reports coming to help with networking etc... that being said, steel is my guilty pleasure

[splashhopper]

my dilemma too. I love bass fishing, and when I'm not guiding for them, I need to keep the reports coming to help with networking etc... that being said, steel is my guilty pleasure

 

So, does that mean you are chasing Bass in the fall for yourself, or Steelheads?

 

I am confused

[MCTFisher9120]

So, does that mean you are chasing Bass in the fall for yourself, or Steelheads?

 

I am confused

 

lol, same bud

[[email protected]]

I find it much more rewarding getting skunked Steelheading then I do getting skunked bassin..

 

Its really difficult to get skunked bassing I find.... Yet all I hear is FALL FEEDBAG.... and we tossed our entire arsenal at them and didnt even get a hit...

 

Steelheading is just pure fun Awaiting the freight train hit on your float...

[GBW]

So, does that mean you are chasing Bass in the fall for yourself, or Steelheads?

 

I am confused

I would have to take a guess using the 80/20 rule. 80% of you $ comes from...and 20% comes from... Steve get's paid to hunt bass more so then steel so right now, I would guess he's still hunting bass for $ and the end of the day BUT would like to get a day or 2 out looking for some silver bullets. just a guess though...

Edited November 18, 2009 by GBW

[singingdog]

The "fall feedbag" was over several weeks ago. It is really an earlier fall phenomenon that is marked by cooling water before the turnover (at least on the lakes I fish). Smallies and LM tend to become more nomadic, school up, and get really aggressive. If you can hit it, it's a blast but very often short lived as the fish have a tendency to move-on quickly.

 

Once the water gets down to around 50 degrees (again, for the lakes and rivers I fish), the bass fishing changes dramatically. It becomes a patience game, with very slow presentations to finicky fish that hit very lightly. It can be worth it: I have caught more 20" + smallies in the last 3 weeks than the rest of the season combined, but you have to be willing to put the time in.

 

In my experience, there are 2 types of bass fisherman: summertime bassers, and year-round bassers.

 

Summertime bass fisherman are used to predictable fish that hold to easily recognizable hot spots and hit aggressivly most of the time. Topwater, spinnerbaits, cranks are the typical arsenal of summertime bass fishing.

 

Year-round (or 6 months in the stunted bass season of Ontario ) bassers are willing to target fish that are much more difficult to find, require slower, deeper presentations, and hit like a finicky walleye.

 

Bass or trout in November? When I want action this time of year, I fish for trout. If I'm feeling very patient: bass.

[StoneFly]

I find it much more rewarding getting skunked Steelheading then I do getting skunked bassin..

 

Its really difficult to get skunked bassing I find.... Yet all I hear is FALL FEEDBAG.... and we tossed our entire arsenal at them and didnt even get a hit...

 

Steelheading is just pure fun Awaiting the freight train hit on your float...

 

I hate it when they hit my float,...lol,..much prefer when they hit whats under it,... How many incidently, Freight trains have you had hit ? If you are this excited now,..just wait

[splashhopper]

The "fall feedbag" was over several weeks ago. It is really an earlier fall phenomenon that is marked by cooling water before the turnover (at least on the lakes I fish). Smallies and LM tend to become more nomadic, school up, and get really aggressive. If you can hit it, it's a blast but very often short lived as the fish have a tendency to move-on quickly.

 

Once the water gets down to around 50 degrees (again, for the lakes and rivers I fish), the bass fishing changes dramatically. It becomes a patience game, with very slow presentations to finicky fish that hit very lightly. It can be worth it: I have caught more 20" + smallies in the last 3 weeks than the rest of the season combined, but you have to be willing to put the time in.

 

In my experience, there are 2 types of bass fisherman: summertime bassers, and year-round bassers.

 

Summertime bass fisherman are used to predictable fish that hold to easily recognizable hot spots and hit aggressivly most of the time. Topwater, spinnerbaits, cranks are the typical arsenal of summertime bass fishing.

 

Year-round (or 6 months in the stunted bass season of Ontario ) bassers are willing to target fish that are much more difficult to find, require slower, deeper presentations, and hit like a finicky walleye.

 

Bass or trout in November? When I want action this time of year, I fish for trout. If I'm feeling very patient: bass.

 

 

Patience, what is that ?

 

But I still want to try and get a bigger bass than my 6lb er I caught this summer.

 

Is that a reasonable expectation at this time of the season for bass?

 

I AM going after trout this Saturday... supposed to get some rain tomorrow so it should be good by Saturday .

[laszlo]

I find the Smallie Fall Feed Madness is related more to lakes or deep rivers. If it's a river your fishing and the depth is

between 2-7 feet then I would say the season is pretty much done. I fish a river that is generally shallow and the bass feed ended

a month ago.

 

It was a Smallie filled summer though!!!

Strickly Steelhead Now.

 

Hope this helps.

[dave524]

Years later, I find individual good steelhead , the fish , the drift, the fight remain in my memory far more vividly than a good bass. Guess you can guess where I would be going. A big resident brown is the only other fish to permanently etch the memory. Never caught a really big musky, but I suspect that would do it too.

[[email protected]]

I hate it when they hit my float,...lol,..much prefer when they hit whats under it,... How many incidently, Freight trains have you had hit ? If you are this excited now,..just wait

 

lol.. One hit my float last weekend and it snapped in half.. (or at least SOMETHING hit my float)

 

I've only had a few hits on my actual line... lol

 

The one I hooked into with the spinner felt very much like my 21lb chinny, almost stronger..

[splashhopper]

Years later, I find individual good steelhead , the fish , the drift, the fight remain in my memory far more vividly than a good bass. Guess you can guess where I would be going. A big resident brown is the only other fish to permanently etch the memory. Never caught a really big musky, but I suspect that would do it too.

 

I have the 14lb bow I caught two seasons ago in my brain... haven't caught one over 9 since then... but I know they are there...

 

The conservation lake I fish has fish in it.... just need to get at em somehow

 

Gonna go for trout on Saturday and bass on Sunday....

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

a bass steelie dilemma is a good dilemma to have.

[Jigger]

Bass fishing at this time of year can yield the biggest fish you'll see all year. Sure you have to be patient. But with the season ending very shortly. Steelheading/Rainbowtrouting will be on for oh, all winter. Float fishing stopped being fun for me around 20yrs ago. I like fishing lures for trout but don't like the most of the shorelines in S.Ontario, if only because of the rediculous amount of garbage left lying around. The truly pressing question right now is Smallies, or Muskie?

[singingdog]

a bass steelie dilemma is a good dilemma to have.

You got that right. It's not even a dilemma where I live: no steelies. This is the only time of of year that I think it might be cool to fish in Southern Ontario.

 

 

Patience, what is that ?

 

But I still want to try and get a bigger bass than my 6lb er I caught this summer.

 

Is that a reasonable expectation at this time of the season for bass?

 

Reasonable? Depends on how much time/effort you want to put out. As soon as you are targetting 6lb+ smallies, you are playing a game of diminishing returns. Even in the summer, on good water, you are going to have to put in your time to beat that (there are worse problems to have). This time of year.....get out the tubes and keep your hand off the reel crank.

 

The truly pressing question right now is Smallies, or Muskie?

 

Yep, that has been the question for me the past couple of weeks. Do I spend a couple of hours sitting and waiting for smallies to hit, or a couple of hours paddling and trolling for musky? At least I stay warm trolling

[aniceguy]

7 days in a week..pick the rivers that are on for steelies and then the water thats good for smallies in other words do both

[splashhopper]

Okay... so I was pumped for rainbows all week.... Heard there was rain in the region I was heading too and could hardly sleep all week :wacko:

 

Decided to go for rainbows Saturday with Dutchie and then bass on Sunday by myself..

 

Dutchie and I threw everything at em Saturday and all we got were a few shakers on Saturday.... <_<

It was one very long day as we set out at 5:30 am and got home at 11:30 PM !

 

Sunday morning came early, even for this rooster.

 

I didn't get to the "my local" lake until noon today.

 

It looked promising in the sense that NOBODY else was fishing it .

 

As I was setting up a drop shot rig I heard a swoosh in the water right off shore behind me..... hmmmmm

 

I launched my first drop shot about 20 yards out and as I was watching the line from the sinker come towards me on top of the water ( to let me know it was still dropping) a few sunfish were going after the line .

 

And then.......

 

WHAM>... a pike goes after THEM

 

Hmmmmm...... Maybe I will target pike instead of bass.... I grab my other rod and tie on a black and blue spinner bait....

 

Two casts later and SLAM ..... and

 

a Limp lureless line

 

In my haste to go after the pike that were cruising the shallows, i didn't even think to tie on a leader

 

Then my day gets BETTER.... A guy that lives next to the lake came down and asked me if I was staying long and if I wanted to go out on his canoe with him..... um yeah..... he said he would be back in 30 minutes.... so I quickly retied my second rod WITH a leader !

 

We were only out 5 minutes and I got this three lber on black and blue spinnerbait...

 

wow... we are thinking this is gonna be one heck of a late fall marathon.....

 

It wasn't meant to be .....We couldn't seem to find a school of Largies ....

 

About an hour later, my friend hooks into this baby using a shadrap I think... maybe someone can tell from the pic

 

We kept looking for the bass to be schooled up somewhere but couldn't find them.

 

As we started a slow tour back to end the day, we were seeing fish jumping near our launch area....

 

We drifted into the area and were tossing the last bait like crazy at the area, knowing it was getting dark and this just be the last day on the canoe for us this year.

 

Nothing....so we decided to call it a night... as Brian was sloooowly paddling back around to the launch, I kept throwing the lure out...

 

We were about 50 yards from the launch when I hooked in to this MONSTER !

 

 

 

wHOOOOOO hooooooooooo....... yeeehah...

 

It was thick and long.... huuuuge....

 

I am JACKED to go back there tomorrow afternoon..... something tells me it will be an early dayy of work for me to catch the late day sun ( self employment has its "benefits" too )

 

 

Only seven more days till the bass season ends here and I am gonna give it my best try on "my local" lake.

 

Thanks for all the help on this forum for my first season of bass fishing.

 

It is appreciated.

 

Splashhopper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I

Edited November 23, 2009 by splashhopper

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

nice chunky bass!

[singingdog]

Nice LM! Congrats on a good day. That looks like a Big O, not a shadrap.

[spinnerbaitking]

Nice Spashhopper that's much better than trout fishing, all you have to do is find the bass & they'll eat, off to one of my lakes today

Richard

[limeyangler]

a bass steelie dilemma is a good dilemma to have.

Thats exactly what i thought as soon as i read the title to this post Doc.

 

Good post topic though Splash......lots of stuff to think about for me.....i was wondering whether bass 'put on the feedbag' too......might have to give it a try next year.

[JohnF]

Only seven more days till the bass season ends here and I am gonna give it my best try on "my local" lake.

 

Thanks for all the help on this forum for my first season of bass fishing.

 

It is appreciated.

 

Splashhopper

 

I volunteer to help you quarter the pond any day before season's end. I'm an hour away and have hard baits and plastic squealing for more water before season's end.

 

JF

[fishindude]

great job splashhopper! the late fall largie bite lives on!

 

that hawg you got there is shaped like a cylinder, must be eating real well!

 

sweet pics, would love to see more

 

-fishindude

[snag]

Looks like you took care of that issue!