Massasauga in September

[Brettiop]

Hey OFC! 

I'm planning a trip to the Massasauga park in early September, wondering if anyone has advice on where to find some fish

Ill likely try and spend most of my time Smallmouth fishing, and try for musky and pike here are there as well. Will be in a 19' Lund 

For two nights ill be staying at some of the furthest out into the bay campsites, in my mind getting out and near the deeper water might result in bigger fish.

The areas surrounding Wreck island is kinda of what I'm looking at now

Shallow to mid range shoals and islands right near the deep water sound about right?

Anyone have any general September Georgian bay advice that would be helpful as well! thanks
 

[AKRISONER]

depends if you are early or late? if its cold already, drop shot basin shoals and you will put a huge limit in the boat. I find the topwater/shoreline/shallow bite kinda vanishes once we get a couple of cold nights. The bass move out onto the humps (some even fairly shallow) and man do they feed. Ive had some absolutely stupid days in september.

[Reef Runner]

^^^^^Akri right about this one^^^^

With respect to Muskies and Pike I've had most success in the park trolling large in-line mariboos in orange and black.

[AKRISONER]

10 minutes ago, Reef Runner said:

^^^^^Akri right about this one^^^^

With respect to Muskies and Pike I've had most success in the park trolling large in-line mariboos in orange and black.

bingo...you wanna catch a ski, you gotta cover water, theres too many hiding spots and way way too much water. Im sure people get them casting, but GBAY skis are hard enough to catch as it is. 

My biggest pike have almost all come while trolling big junk for muskies. They will eat the same stuff the muskies do no problem.

[Brettiop]

Thanks! 

I love drop shotting, and even better deep cranking shoals. So hopefully the fish have moved onto them by then.

It'll be the weekend after labour day so still early fall. With this crazy year for weather who knows what itll be like that weekend.

Cant wait to head up!

[AKRISONER]

39 minutes ago, Brettiop said:

Thanks! 

I love drop shotting, and even better deep cranking shoals. So hopefully the fish have moved onto them by then.

It'll be the weekend after labour day so still early fall. With this crazy year for weather who knows what itll be like that weekend.

Cant wait to head up!

praying for you that they arent in their totally wierd vanishing mode. I swear every year in september i run into a weekend where I cant find a single damn fish, and then like magic they reappear in droves again just in a different area. Its almost like they all decide to pack up house and move at the same time, and no ones eating like a salmon while they are migrating. Early September last year was really good I ended up catching the big fish in a derby on a dropshot and won myself some money. Thenholy crap did it get cold, it went from being 30+ degrees to like 8 degrees one weekend to the next and I ended up absolutely slaying them throwing basically everything in the cold. Then late september the fishing just completely fell off, then 2 weeks later they were in fall mode and I caught a PB, it was a friggin rollercoaster.

[Brettiop]

On 7/24/2019 at 4:01 PM, AKRISONER said:

praying for you that they arent in their totally wierd vanishing mode. I swear every year in september i run into a weekend where I cant find a single damn fish, and then like magic they reappear in droves again just in a different area. Its almost like they all decide to pack up house and move at the same time, and no ones eating like a salmon while they are migrating. Early September last year was really good I ended up catching the big fish in a derby on a dropshot and won myself some money. Thenholy crap did it get cold, it went from being 30+ degrees to like 8 degrees one weekend to the next and I ended up absolutely slaying them throwing basically everything in the cold. Then late september the fishing just completely fell off, then 2 weeks later they were in fall mode and I caught a PB, it was a friggin rollercoaster.

Thanks AKRI, I'm hoping we dont run into that! 

I'm pretty excited just to be out on a new body of water and doing some exploring, been awhile! My motor blew up last year and i just got a new (used) one and am back on the water. it was a long 11 months

Love exploring Gbay

[BillM]

Early Sept I'd be vertical jigging bass with big flutter spoons.   You'll find wolfpacks of them just roaming around.  My fav time of year to be fishing smallies.  I won't even start fishing until I've marked them however.  Definitely a cat and mouse game.

Edited July 26, 2019 by BillM

[Brettiop]

On 7/26/2019 at 6:59 PM, BillM said:

Early Sept I'd be vertical jigging bass with big flutter spoons.   You'll find wolfpacks of them just roaming around.  My fav time of year to be fishing smallies.  I won't even start fishing until I've marked them however.  Definitely a cat and mouse game.

That sounds pretty exciting, never tried the flutter spoon thing....wolf packs of bass sound awesome though!

How deep do you usually start looking for them?

[FishyFishy]

Glad this topic was brought up. I get up to the same area a few times a year, usually in the Spring though. I've found a big difference in the pattern between September and October. In September I've found them on humps and shoals closer to the main bay or pockets of deep water. In October of last year, we started in the clear blue water of the main bay but found the smallmouth weren't in those spots. As we moved in towards the shore and bays we found them relating more to points and shoreline. 

Didn't have much luck in the fall with pike, which we usually do pretty well with in the spring. Our group usually bores with trolling after 30 minutes though. Do people find them closer to the main bay or moving back inshore in the fall? 

Never have luck with walleye, spring or fall. 

Either way, beautiful area all the time. 

[Old Ironmaker]

Having such a small amount of time over a weekend to find them and then even less time to figure out what they want. That leaves even less time to catch them. I always get excited when we go to new to me bodies of water. But frustrating as Hell when we didn't catch a thing. A real slap in the face a few years back looking for Slab Crappy on a new very small lake in Upstate N.Y. and only boating a 4" Perch. The couple in their late 70's had the cabin next to us came in with a pail full twice a day. " Location, Population, Presentation" I was tempted to move into their honey hole when they were cleaning fish but just can't do that sort of thing. He had an N.R.A. sticker on his truck and didn't want to find out if he wanted to prove it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Old Ironmaker

[Reef Runner]

1 hour ago, FishyFishy said:

 

Didn't have much luck in the fall with pike, which we usually do pretty well with in the spring. Our group usually bores with trolling after 30 minutes though. Do people find them closer to the main bay or moving back inshore in the fall? 

 

In the fall I find the pike are usually moving back inshore. That said, that's still a tonne of water to explore. I'm sure there would be some big gators out in the main bay chasing bait balls. Trolling for them is the only way I found to have consistent bite on the moon (consistent used loosely as anyone who fishes the moon would know).  I've caught a few hammer-handles fishing pencil reads for largies in less than 5 fow.  The big ones I've only got trolling.  Muskies, well, good luck to you.  They are far and few in between but when you get one its usually a fatty that'll make your knees weak.

Looking to get out there this weekend should everything pan out! Can't wait.

[AKRISONER]

2 hours ago, FishyFishy said:

Glad this topic was brought up. I get up to the same area a few times a year, usually in the Spring though. I've found a big difference in the pattern between September and October. In September I've found them on humps and shoals closer to the main bay or pockets of deep water. In October of last year, we started in the clear blue water of the main bay but found the smallmouth weren't in those spots. As we moved in towards the shore and bays we found them relating more to points and shoreline. 

Didn't have much luck in the fall with pike, which we usually do pretty well with in the spring. Our group usually bores with trolling after 30 minutes though. Do people find them closer to the main bay or moving back inshore in the fall? 

Never have luck with walleye, spring or fall. 

Either way, beautiful area all the time. 

The pike follow the Walleye in the fall. They definitely are harder to catch, but If you go where the Walleye are being caught in abundance the pike will be there too.

you are bang on about the bass September vs October, two totally different patterns. I think it has something to do with the shiners being on the move, although it still seems to be too late for that kind of pattern. So I’m not sure. 

One thing is for sure that once Labor Day hits the topwater bite basically completely disappears. I slow right down, head out to open water near where I caught them all summer and find humps. The smallies come in waves and when you find the wave of big ones you can have one of the most fun days you’ve ever had Fishing. If you time it right, it’s the type of fishing where you’ll get your 20lb bag in a span of 5 minutes.

Then October hits and so does the cold weather and sure enough the fish head right back up to where you caught them in July. Only difference I find is that the really shallow shoreline bite isn’t there. You gotta be out off of the shore in 15-30fow. I throw paddle tails and drop shots, but prefer the paddle tail because it consistently gets the big big bites. I had a morning last year where I had 11 and a half pounds off of two fish 10 minutes apart. That’s really saying something that far north, we don’t typically get that size like they do down on Erie st Lawrence and simcoe. 

 

If you are struggling for fall Walleye, try and do some research, fall is the premiere time to catch Walleye on the bay, the fish all move up the tributaries to feed. 100+ fish days are not out of the question at all. You’ll catch everything from dink’s to 10lbers. The numbers are absolutely nuts.

 

[Brettiop]

18 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

The pike follow the Walleye in the fall. They definitely are harder to catch, but If you go where the Walleye are being caught in abundance the pike will be there too.

you are bang on about the bass September vs October, two totally different patterns. I think it has something to do with the shiners being on the move, although it still seems to be too late for that kind of pattern. So I’m not sure. 

One thing is for sure that once Labor Day hits the topwater bite basically completely disappears. I slow right down, head out to open water near where I caught them all summer and find humps. The smallies come in waves and when you find the wave of big ones you can have one of the most fun days you’ve ever had Fishing. If you time it right, it’s the type of fishing where you’ll get your 20lb bag in a span of 5 minutes.

Then October hits and so does the cold weather and sure enough the fish head right back up to where you caught them in July. Only difference I find is that the really shallow shoreline bite isn’t there. You gotta be out off of the shore in 15-30fow. I throw paddle tails and drop shots, but prefer the paddle tail because it consistently gets the big big bites. I had a morning last year where I had 11 and a half pounds off of two fish 10 minutes apart. That’s really saying something that far north, we don’t typically get that size like they do down on Erie st Lawrence and simcoe. 

 

If you are struggling for fall Walleye, try and do some research, fall is the premiere time to catch Walleye on the bay, the fish all move up the tributaries to feed. 100+ fish days are not out of the question at all. You’ll catch everything from dink’s to 10lbers. The numbers are absolutely nuts.

 

I hope the top water bite sticks around an extra week this year!

I would much rather fish deep on the shoals then cast to shorelines, so hopefully the bass are schooled up deep and i can get on some of those epic days yo describe!

Last time i was up in the PAB area you helped me get onto these big boys, came on a tube back to back casts on a big shoal topping out at about 12' right next to 60'+

Want some more of that!
 

[BillM]

On 7/29/2019 at 11:27 AM, Brettiop said:

That sounds pretty exciting, never tried the flutter spoon thing....wolf packs of bass sound awesome though!

How deep do you usually start looking for them?

I usually start in 20ft and go all the way out to 60+.   I sometimes get the odd laker as well in the mix.   Here's a pic of the graph on one of those days   

[hutch4113]

When I was in the Area last October, I tried for muskie and pike, and then gave up.  Started hunting around any rock shoal/small island I could find in GBAY.  Got into a lot of Small Mouth that way, which was a lot of fun.  I was throwing spinners and crank baits.

[FishyFishy]

Bumping this topic.

I'm heading to the area in mid-September as well from out of town and wondering how the conditions are. Was up in mid August and caught smallies and pike pretty deep on open water shoals (20-50 ft), not much inshore. 

Wondering if the same pattern will be in effect, doesn't seem to be getting too cold yet. 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Reef Runner]

Should still be in the summer pattern.  I was up there this weekend and the leaves aren't even starting to change and the water was still warm enough.  Moon Basin out to the Bay still is holding big smallies out on deeper humps.  Unless there's a cold snap can't seeing it change in a few weeks time.

Put in on Three-legged lake for a day to change it up, man that lake is full of dinks....lots of them.  Didn't catch anything over two pounds but caught lots.  Marked big lakers and saw a boat down-rigging for them that got one to the net.  Didn't bring the riggers and my jigging technique apparently isn't that refined lol couldn't entice one to go.

[Brettiop]

18 hours ago, Reef Runner said:

Should still be in the summer pattern.  I was up there this weekend and the leaves aren't even starting to change and the water was still warm enough.  Moon Basin out to the Bay still is holding big smallies out on deeper humps.  Unless there's a cold snap can't seeing it change in a few weeks time.

Put in on Three-legged lake for a day to change it up, man that lake is full of dinks....lots of them.  Didn't catch anything over two pounds but caught lots.  Marked big lakers and saw a boat down-rigging for them that got one to the net.  Didn't bring the riggers and my jigging technique apparently isn't that refined lol couldn't entice one to go.

I head up there in a few hours!

hoping to find some Big bass! And ill be trolling musky lures to and from campsites and bass spots!

[AKRISONER]

4 minutes ago, Brettiop said:

I head up there in a few hours!

hoping to find some Big bass! And ill be trolling musky lures to and from campsites and bass spots!

im headed up for a work weekend thursday morning, hoping to sneak some fishing in early. I think the jerkbait and drop shot bite will be firing.

[OhioFisherman]

I used to getup to Pointe Au Baril once or twice a tear for a lot of years, September weather was always a crap shoot, some times almost like summer and others like later in the fall. My choice for bigger fish would always be September.

[Brettiop]

Weather forecast certainly could be better! But I personally like the idea of 19 degrees better then 29...

The Wife not so much!

[AKRISONER]

8 minutes ago, Brettiop said:

Weather forecast certainly could be better! But I personally like the idea of 19 degrees better then 29...

The Wife not so much!

agreed...love it when it cools off but its not too cold. Lets you be in the boat all day comfortably.

[OhioFisherman]

19 minutes ago, Brettiop said:

Weather forecast certainly could be better! But I personally like the idea of 19 degrees better then 29...

The Wife not so much!

LOL, mid summer trip was a family trip, September was the guy's trip! They were usually better able to deal with the weather.

[Old Ironmaker]

The last time we got up to Point au Baril it was mid Sept. The afternoon we got there it was 75F, the next AM it dropped 20 degrees and the Smallies were not co operative. Switched to trolling bricks and did manage to boat 3 Musky though.