Fall is a great time for fishing. The weather is more tolerable, the fish seem to be rejuvenated and since we as anglers know that the up coming winter is just around the corner, our minds are saying “there’s not too many days left…!
September is one of my favourites, especially for Bass… Largemouth in particular. It’s a time when although most baits in the box will work, I’ve got my favourites. 3 high on my list are Poppers, Spinnerbaits and Jig & Pigs.
As for Poppers, the old stand-by Pop R is still fantastic. Others that work well for me are the Yellow Magic and the Splash It.
On the September long weekend my son Cole and I snuck away from the family to do a bit of fishing. Throwing a Pop R in the morning worked out well for both species of Bass (especially Smallies). It’s great to have a kid watching a topwater bait in anticipation of a strike.
I didn’t use a Spinnerbait much that day simply because the calm sunny conditions weren’t telling me to grab the blade rod. That said I will always have either a single or tandem Colorado Bladed Spinnerbait ready and available for Fall Largemouth and a Double Willow (the standard) for Smallmouth.
The other bait that worked well was a Flipping Jig with a Beaver chunk on the back (regular chunk would work just as well). The beauty of a jig is it’s not only a drop to the bottom lure but it’s a great swimming lure as well. Just because a lure doesn’t have any built in action upon a steady retrieve doesn’t mean you can’t try. I caught fish on both methods however as per usual, the biggest fish (around a 5 lb Largemouth) came as I pitched the jig to a piece of cover. It was great because I said to Cole “ok bud, watch this cast, if there’s a fish anywhere in this lake, it will be here” and within seconds of the bait hitting the water, fat-mouth had it.
Now although it sounds like Cole and I pounded the fish, the truth of the story is that we would have absolutely killed-em’ if I hadn’t been missing fish all day. They’d hit and I’d miss!!! Sometimes that happens early in the fall and I’m not sure as yet why!
October is a month where although all of the above baits will work, I prefer the Jig. It’s sort of a go-to Largemouth bait. Again Cole and I had a chance to slip out for a couple of hours during the Thanksgiving long weekend. Dumb daddy forgot Cole’s Diego fishing rod so of course the little 4-year-old fishing freak grabbed one of my rods… “ ah no dude, not the baitcaster on the flippin’ stick, that one’s almost too big for daddy, here take one of the spinning rigs” and away we went.
Long story short, we caught 4 Largemouth. 1 on a soft stick bait and 3 on the Jig. The odd part of these fish was everywhere I thought I was going to catch a hawg… didn’t happen. I caught my fish by swimming my Jig up, around, over and through as much good looking cover as possible.
Preceding the long weekend, Ang, Mike and I headed up to the Rock Pine Resort near Pointe Au Baril to meet up with Fish’n Canada friend Tony Dibatista and his group away for a fishing trip. As soon as we got there Tony and the boys were raring to go. We jumped in the boats and headed out not really knowing what to look for in this vast area. About an hour later (with a Smallie and a couple of Pike) I got a call from Captain Mike Richardson (local guide extraordinaire) and he soon met up with us and took us to a local Walleye hole where we proceeded to catch a midnight snack. Anglers are funny, Tony and brother John talked with Captain Mike earlier in the week and Mike gave them a little color tip for jigging Walleye. Of course they started to kick our butts until we figured out the color deal… god forbid they would have told us to start with… oh well, less Walleye fillets for them!
Our evening was filled with eating like pigs… actually we ate a little pig, drinking a few beverages… actually more than a few, playing a bit of poker… actually 3 excruciatingly long games and of course, topping it all off with a Walleye Midnight snack… Dee-liciious!
