When do bass 'shut down'?

[SirCranksalot]

When do bass stop biting in the fall? How cold does the water need to get before the stop feeding and hitting lures?

thx

[manitoubass2]

When do bass stop biting in the fall? How cold does the water need to get before the stop feeding and hitting lures?

thx

In my experience it basically feedbag time until the ice forms.

 

Some of my biggest bass have come first week of december

[ecmilley]

they keep feeding right through to ice up, after turnover they come shallow again usully clean up on bigguns at this time just fishing shorelines in november

[mike rousseau]

They never "stop" biting

 

I get largemouth all winter on the ice while fishing crappie

[chris.brock]

I know a few spots on my lake where they spend the winter and feed consistently if the presentation is very slow. I avoid these spots because they are OOS and it's deeper water so they come up with their swim bladder popping out of their mouth. I'm talking SMB.

Edited October 26, 2016 by chris.brock

[Garnet]

Back in the day when we could fish Scugog into mid march we would catch giant largies almost everyday, along with tons of wallys.

[OhioFisherman]

The bass club I used to fish with held open tournaments in late December, I know people here that catch largemouth while ice fishing. Picture casting blade baits in December and winning a bass tournament? They were active enough to chase them, or reaction strikes?

 

Ice limits boat usage, snow can too! Ramps aren't a top priority for snow removal here in December.

[SirCranksalot]

Thx, guys---that seems to be unanimous. I have never fished for bass in the late fall so I really didn't know!

 

(See here, MB and CB----something we can all agree on! Is this a great thread er what?? )

Edited October 26, 2016 by SirCranksaLot

[manitoubass2]

Hahahahah

 

Go det em!!!!

 

EC style shoreline chasing!

[grimsbylander]

Ice stops the boats but not the bite. There is a great late season and early winter bite on Erie...in fact, I'd pass up the entire summer to fish it. On northern, smaller lakes, big baits produce well right through November.

[Acountdeleted]

I have trouble with them but I asked a great source once (David Chong) and he said you have to cover lots of water and present slowly. He mentioned that bass will all pack together this time of the year and that if you can find one, you will usually find a bunch of them.

[aplumma]

We rarely ice up down here but they bite year round. Deep water and slow presentations are the ticket. A depth finder and patients is the key. Using a bladed jig or a slow dropping senko should give you results.

 

 

Art

[singingdog]

Just don't get stuck in a nonproductive pattern in cold water. On my favorite lake, I can usually find big smallies and get them to bite with one of a couple of presentations (jigging spoon, small jig). They are usually in specific areas, at specific depths, and can be bunched up. Last Novemeber, I took a couple of other yak fishers to the lake, told them about the pattern, then proceeded to wash lures for the next 1.5 hours. Out of frustration, I tied on a preacher jig and headed into the shallows to look for pike, just to make the rod bend and warm myself up. Bam! Smallie in 3 FOW. The next 45 minutes was some of the best action I had all year, with all the bass hitting softly but consistently in 3-5 FOW, well away from the nearest drop off. Water temp: 52 F.

[jimmer]

Well I have a conflicting opinion. I struggle to catch bass in the kawarthas (I surrender) during the late fall, but have no trouble catching them on the deeper lakes north of the kawarthas. They do pack up like someone mentioned, because you can usually catch numerous fish in one spot.

[AKRISONER]

they are tough...but boy once you finally find them...holy crepe hold on

 

Weve gone entire twelve hour days in the fall without seeing one, but then weve found them in 30FOW on bait and weve nailed a 20lb bag in 6 casts.

 

weve also found them gorging on gobies in 3 FOW...hook into one and see a school of 6 4+lb bass chasing the one on...its madness.

 

Ive got a week next week to try find the footballs again...we shall see what happens.

Edited October 27, 2016 by AKRISONER

[pichaga]

Hi there, probably the location becomes very important in the autumn. I fish bass on the Grand RIver in a few spots (deep and shallow) between Glen Morris and Paris and I've been doing relatively well for a rookie in the last two years - but only until the middle of October. Nowadays I try a lot of baits - deep and shallow spinnerbaits, a tandem spinnerbait, 4-5 kinds of dropshotting, crankbaits - but it is like a dead river.