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How To Fish the Fall Transition | Fish Talk with the Doc
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Mar 26, 2025
In his first appearance on Fish'n Canada Live, Gord Pyzer (aka the Doc), talks with the hosts about fishing the fall transition. Gord and the Fish'n Canada hosts share a ton of tips for fishing the fall transition. But one of the most important pieces of advice Gord offers is not for catching fish, but for releasing them. Speaking about smallmouth bass, in particular, Gord urges anglers to release them right where they're caught. ► Subscribe http://bit.ly/youtube-fishncanada Don't forget to leave a COMMENT and give us a LIKE if you enjoyed what you saw. SUBSCRIBE for new videos and episodes released weekly! CONNECT WITH US -------------------------------- ► WEBSITE http://fishncanada.com ► FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/FishnCanada/ ► INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/fishncanada... ► TWITTER https://twitter.com/angeloviolafnc/ One of Canada's longest-running fishing shows, Fish'n Canada travels from coast to coast in search of trophy fishing opportunities. First started by brothers Angelo and Reno Viola in 1986, The Fish’n Canada Show has been on the air for over 30 years. Today, Angelo is joined by lifelong fishing buddy, Peter Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years
View Video Transcript
0:00
uh as we mentioned a lot of new exciting
0:02
segments are going to come on the
0:03
program
0:04
uh a lot of the uh the old boys who uh
0:07
who've been working with us for years
0:08
are gonna be on the show each one's
0:10
gonna have their segment and as we go
0:12
it's gonna kind of move and shift it is
0:15
it is very organic in nature so don't
0:17
expect to have anything like
0:19
locked in stone but we're going to try
0:20
different things uh one of the things
0:22
that we're going to do
0:23
is uh the very first segment of the show
0:27
is going to be one that we're very
0:28
familiar with and that is a little fish
0:30
talk
0:35
tea time that's what i want to talk
0:36
about today folks
0:38
transition periods transition from
0:41
spring to
0:42
summer summer to fall you know it
0:44
doesn't happen overnight
0:46
those transitions are often spread over
0:48
two or three weeks
0:49
and the reason why take the spring to
0:51
summer maybe in the summer the weeds
0:54
haven't fully developed yet
0:55
so you find the fish generally where
0:57
they're leaving where they're heading to
0:59
and somewhere in between you can find
1:02
them spread out over great distances
1:04
anytime that happens throw fast moving
1:07
horizontal baits
1:08
the other thing is if you've got a
1:10
favorite trolling pattern
1:12
transitions that's when trolling comes
1:15
into its own
1:16
actually don hey doc how you doing buddy
1:20
i'm doing well every time
1:23
every time okay that piece right there
1:25
i've seen with gord pfizer i've probably
1:26
seen it about
1:27
38 times and i still just sit here and
1:29
watch it every time just
1:31
listening glued and listening well done
1:32
gordy good to have you rob
1:34
all right hey boys welcome uh welcome to
1:37
our new world my friend
1:38
hopefully uh what how long did we do the
1:42
outdoor journal radio together how many
1:44
do you know how many years because i
1:45
i never checked it but it's been it's
1:47
been a while a lot
1:49
well hopefully uh hopefully we'll do the
1:51
same with this it's uh it's really
1:52
exciting to have you on the program and
1:54
uh
1:54
i know the audience has been waiting for
1:57
uh for this announcement so um how we
2:00
first of all
2:00
how are you doing with uh we've been off
2:02
radio now for i guess
2:04
uh i'm gonna say six weeks
2:08
i think uh how are you coping with that
2:12
i i i've got saturdays free i
2:15
you know the other thing i'm an hour
2:17
behind you so i'm on central time
2:19
right so what so it it used to
2:22
didn't tie me up but i'd have the truck
2:25
running in the garage
2:27
i'd often have the boat and liam would
2:29
be sitting out there and i'm doing
2:31
radio now i don't have and now i've got
2:33
saturday's
2:34
totally free so it's a weird feeling man
2:37
for me i i've been doing the show
2:39
28 years and wow out of those 28 years
2:42
i'm going to venture to guess that i
2:44
missed a dozen shows
2:47
and that means that my saturdays were
2:50
when i wasn't the only reason i missed
2:52
those by the way we were
2:53
pete and i would be out shooting at a
2:55
fishing canada episode and we couldn't
2:56
make it back in time or we had to leave
2:58
early
2:58
but what i was going to say to you the
3:00
weirdest thing about it
3:01
um yes it's nice not having to get up
3:05
early saturday morning
3:06
i'd agree but you know what what really
3:08
is different now is my sundays
3:10
because it's actually two days in a row
3:12
now by sundays now as two days that i've
3:15
been away from work
3:16
and and my head just is is going crazy
3:20
if we're these are the weirdest things
3:22
for me right now
3:24
what about lillian gordon does liam go
3:25
to university or school or what does he
3:27
do
3:28
oh man i i've lost my net man
3:32
he took off for st lawrence college in
3:35
kingston uh wow oh my
3:38
wednesday so labor day
3:41
i'm on my own and honest truth this this
3:44
is the honest truth the
3:46
last thing we did he rigged up a system
3:49
for me so when i go out muskie fishing
3:52
with the giant net
3:54
because he always netted the fish or i'd
3:56
net his
3:57
now he's so he rigged the system up with
4:00
a a line that i can put in the rod
4:02
locker
4:02
that i wrap around the end of the net
4:04
and keep it over the side of the boat
4:06
so i can work on the fish when i'm done
4:10
i love it you know what i use for that
4:12
you might want to think about this is a
4:14
is the sandbags that they use for
4:15
lighting uh and you know
4:17
our lights hearing that they lay a big
4:19
heavy double-sided sandbag over you plop
4:21
it over the handle of the net and
4:23
it will not go anywhere oh wow that's a
4:25
good idea pete
4:26
about 40 bucks 30 bucks something like
4:28
that not even that maybe 20 bucks to get
4:29
a cheap one it works perfect
4:30
so will it hold up a 40 pound muskie
4:33
it'll hold up it will hold up me gordy
4:35
if i jump in i'm only 50 pounds but
4:37
that's okay
4:39
i'm hoping to let's catch let's get on
4:42
to the subject matter because this is a
4:43
fascinating one of course it's the
4:44
perfect time of year to be talking about
4:46
transitioning fish
4:48
um i i put a blog up about a month and a
4:50
half ago
4:51
about um seasonal transitions and and
4:54
where you're at to locate these fish so
4:56
this is
4:56
perfect it's going to work out really
4:58
great talk to us about this piece but we
5:00
just saw
5:02
angie could we couldn't time this
5:05
perfectly i was out on the weekend
5:07
and i just got have my my uh ipad here
5:10
this is
5:12
this is from the weekend nice yeah
5:15
nice wow but here's here's the big but
5:20
uh transition time and we always think
5:23
of transition you know we think
5:25
summer and now now it's fall but they
5:28
don't just go
5:29
from summer here to fall there it is
5:32
that
5:32
filtering out and you guys are stealing
5:36
my next blog for ontario tourism
5:39
because the way i caught these
5:43
i was sharp shooting and it's one of my
5:46
favorite
5:47
ways to fission at this at on
5:49
transitions
5:51
is if you go out looking for heavy
5:53
concentrations of fish
5:55
often you can't find them so i go out
5:58
for crappies this is one of my favorite
6:00
little crappie lakes
6:01
i get there turn on the sonar and i'm
6:05
traveling around
6:06
the lake one fish here one fish over
6:08
there one fish there
6:10
and honest truth in two hours of looking
6:13
around
6:14
i couldn't find a single concentration
6:17
i knew where they were coming from i
6:19
know where they're going to
6:21
but it's a slow process so there's one
6:23
here two there
6:24
and i love it and so what i was doing
6:28
got the motor on as slow as i possibly
6:31
can
6:31
i was in a little tiller handle with a a
6:34
a 20 horse merc on and i'm i'm actually
6:38
back trolling as well so i could go
6:40
really slow
6:41
so when i found them so i'm forward
6:43
trolling oh there's one
6:45
i turn the boat right around circle back
6:48
troll hover right over top i got my rod
6:50
in my hand fire it right over
6:53
kid get a cup oh i got him wow i have
6:56
never
6:57
heard of anybody fishing for single
7:00
crappie before it might
7:02
i say it's one of the most favorite i i
7:05
almost don't like it's too easy when you
7:07
get on those big concentrations
7:10
you just walk before the board how deep
7:13
are they sitting those fish
7:14
uh you know what pete they were in i'll
7:17
say 28 to 27 foot
7:22
they're doing two things they're
7:24
dropping down
7:25
and they're moving out and i don't think
7:28
i
7:28
ever saw more than two fish together
7:30
maybe three fish
7:32
and um i was using heavy baits that's
7:35
one of the real
7:36
real keys yeah we can't just throw over
7:39
a little tiny
7:40
uh 132nd ounce jigging 27 feet
7:44
of water while you're i mean it just it
7:46
flutters all over and you're off the
7:47
mark
7:48
yes believe it or not i was fishing the
7:50
smallest
7:51
uh jigging wraps and i was fishing the
7:55
acme baits the hyper glide so you know
7:58
really heavy heavy compact things yeah
8:01
on
8:01
six pound test line so i just flip it
8:04
over the side of the boat go straight
8:06
down
8:06
and you just get a cup oh got him and
8:08
then as soon as you get him
8:10
either let them go or i i kept a couple
8:12
for dinner but then you motor on you
8:14
keep looking oh there's another one
8:16
swing the boat around flip out work it
8:18
if you don't get a bite in four or five
8:20
minutes keep moving there's another one
8:22
and it's deadly in the fall i mean
8:26
the best fishing still to come when they
8:28
bunch up and walk
8:30
i was going to ask you about that gordon
8:31
how long a period now are we looking at
8:34
while there's you know stragglers when
8:35
are they going to start congregating
8:38
you know um and i usually mid october
8:42
is the best for crappies um
8:45
we're doing the same thing actually for
8:47
smallmouth and walleyes
8:49
they're a little tighter right now um
8:51
but i love doing it for walleyes
8:54
when when the going is tough for walleye
8:58
and you guys know this you'll often be
9:00
going across an area there's two there
9:03
and i mean we're to the stage now
9:06
you don't ever stop until you see fish
9:09
that is
9:10
the number one rule and as another
9:13
general rule
9:14
uh you don't stop for one or two fish
9:16
we're always looking for a nice
9:18
but you know what if you can't find them
9:21
get apart those
9:22
ones you do find but it does rely on
9:24
light line
9:25
lighter than normal lines and heavier
9:28
than heavier
9:29
uh jigs and and presentations get it
9:31
down there quick yeah yeah
9:33
why are these fish why are they single
9:34
right now gord because they bunch they
9:36
get together in the spring they you know
9:37
the big schools and massive schools even
9:39
in the summer
9:40
and then all of a sudden spreading out
9:41
now by the singles what is the reason
9:43
you know
9:43
yeah that's a really good question pete
9:45
i i i think
9:47
you know on smallmouth the real key the
9:50
the driver on smallmouth
9:52
and ridgeway mark ridgeway
9:56
marks donald's work in opiongo at the
9:59
harkness research lab
10:01
this is really fascinating they move
10:04
every year
10:05
within two days of every single year
10:09
on the fall equinox it's like sparrows
10:12
returning
10:13
swallows returning to capistrano they
10:16
come every year at the same time
10:18
and it's photo periods and it's not
10:21
water temperature like most anglers
10:23
think
10:24
because some years we'll have water
10:25
temperature you know
10:27
69 68 the next year it'll be 62
10:31
one year warm or another it's photo
10:33
period
10:34
and the other thing was smallmouth and i
10:36
think to a degree
10:38
uh crappies and i think uh to a degree
10:41
crayfish as well
10:42
er sorry uh walleyes is what the
10:44
crayfish mold
10:46
right now and when the crayfish mold on
10:49
the fall equinox
10:51
they hide and all of a sudden the fish
10:53
are going oh geez
10:54
where's all that food and it's totally
10:57
mother's nate mother nature's way
11:00
of telling the fish to start moving out
11:02
transition
11:03
out and start switching over to bait
11:05
fish and that's what they're doing
11:08
and that's why we see a few fish over
11:10
here a few fish over there
11:12
some are getting out to those fall
11:14
locations sooner
11:15
others are still on the summer spots
11:17
because there's crayfish and food there
11:19
so they're they're all kind of scattered
11:22
yeah that transition period
11:24
is kind of interesting um you if we
11:28
we tell people all the time you know the
11:30
best place
11:32
you you can't find all this all at once
11:34
you have to find all these little pieces
11:35
as you as you progress through the year
11:37
but once you understand
11:39
where they are in the spring where
11:41
they're going to be in where they're
11:42
wintering down
11:43
the pathway is pretty clear it's it's i
11:46
mean it might not be perfect you're not
11:47
going to find like you just said 100
11:49
fish
11:49
but you will find one or two fish moving
11:52
down that highway
11:53
to the wintering area every day and uh
11:56
and that's the fun part about it
11:57
and you know the other thing ange for
11:59
for fish like walleyes
12:01
uh walleye smallmouth northerns
12:04
uh muskies as well um if you know where
12:07
they were
12:09
and you know where they're going look
12:11
for the best structure and cover in
12:13
between
12:14
and that's the highway it's not like
12:17
they take a straight line
12:20
they might only move a quarter of a mile
12:22
half a mile depending on
12:24
the lake in bigger lakes like lake of
12:26
the woods here though
12:27
they move long big distances
12:30
but as a general point uh it's
12:32
relatively
12:34
mediocre distances but if you find those
12:37
things
12:37
in between so largemouth bass
12:41
the largemouth are pulling out of those
12:42
back bays right now
12:44
they're cooling down quickly our water
12:46
temperature has dropped one degree a day
12:49
for the last 14 days
12:51
we went from 74 to 60
12:55
in 14 days smallmouth
12:58
we know where they're going they're
12:59
coming out of the ends of those back
13:01
weedy bays
13:02
and right now those secondary points are
13:05
on fire
13:06
secondary points and tertiary points and
13:08
they're the ones furthest back in the
13:10
base
13:11
and you know in another two weeks or
13:13
three weeks they'll be right out on the
13:15
primary points
13:17
so don't jump out to the primaries look
13:19
at everything in between
13:21
tell us about those secondary points
13:23
don't skip over that i think that's a
13:24
really important uh
13:26
piece of information yeah if you were
13:28
largemouth
13:29
fishing right now uh my guy canely
13:32
always remember mike came up here
13:34
um probably 10 12 years ago
13:38
and and you know back in the the
13:41
heyday of bassmaster and and anyway
13:44
mike's up and he a friend of mine was
13:48
guiding him
13:49
and they were looking for largemouth and
13:52
they went back into a bay and my buddy
13:54
who's a guide had taken them back in
13:56
and they weren't at the end of the bay i
13:58
mean a summer location it's now
14:00
september october and they started
14:03
fishing
14:04
with swim jigs pretty fast swim jigs
14:07
just a jig
14:08
uh with a soft plastic grill
14:11
but swimming it out and they were
14:13
hitting the secondary
14:15
and tertiary points so when when people
14:18
what what is a tertiary or a secondary
14:20
point we all know what that primary
14:22
point
14:23
that's the one that leads into the bay
14:25
but if you look
14:26
really carefully and sometimes those
14:28
secondary tertiary points
14:31
they're only five ten feet little extra
14:35
indentation out
14:37
and they're deadly at this time of the
14:38
year because the small mouth
14:40
are just slowly slipping out to the
14:43
primary points
14:44
and they stop at the tertiary and then
14:47
the water cools down
14:48
a little more we know they're heading to
14:50
the primary and you always want to keep
14:52
checking the primary
14:53
and many many days you will catch fish
14:56
there they're the early arrivers
14:58
but the primary points get better and
15:01
better and better
15:02
and but the tertiary and the secondary
15:05
are deadly right now they become the
15:08
best spots to fish
15:09
another week why are they deadly is it
15:12
bait sitting on those points as well or
15:14
what
15:14
why is it or is it just a spot where
15:15
they're in their minds and okay here's
15:17
my move and then there's my move later
15:18
what is that
15:19
yeah you know peter i think it's part of
15:22
that filtering process they know where
15:24
they're heading to
15:25
they know where they want to go and
15:27
they've been way back in those back bays
15:29
you know
15:29
all summer long and they know they're
15:31
going to win to run that primary point
15:34
and they're following the shoreline but
15:36
as they follow that shoreline
15:38
here's a nice little secondary tertiary
15:41
rocky point
15:42
it's got a few crayfish on it hasn't
15:44
really been probably hit by fish all
15:46
year long
15:47
and so there's perch hovering around
15:49
there's probably emerald shiners
15:51
a few weeds they pick those off and they
15:54
just keep filtering out towards that
15:56
primary point
15:58
but you know it's it's it's pete it's
16:01
like
16:01
all the folks down in your neck of the
16:03
woods that are leaving toronto on the
16:05
weekend heading up to the muskokas or
16:07
halliburtons
16:09
they're driving up 401 or 400 and they
16:12
stop at every you know those
16:14
highway rest stops and that's what the
16:17
secondary point is and that's what the
16:19
tertiary oh that's a great analogy i
16:21
like that
16:22
they're highway rest spots
16:25
uh they're they're you don't want to
16:26
live and die on them you want to get in
16:28
there check it out and get out
16:29
you know don't don't hang in there all
16:31
day long
16:33
and sorry to interrupt but you just made
16:35
a phenomenal
16:37
the one thing about fall keep moving
16:40
move move move do not wait for the fish
16:43
to come to you
16:44
okay before i let you go um because we
16:47
might not touch this subject again for
16:49
for
16:49
god knows how long so once they get
16:53
to the primary point this is their
16:56
drop-off point from here on
16:58
in it's it's winter home home wintering
17:01
areas how long do these points stay hot
17:05
because they can be on fire i mean if
17:06
you hit it right they're just absolutely
17:08
on fire
17:09
how long does it last and what triggers
17:10
that um
17:12
those those primary points uh will last
17:16
until freeze up they truly now you might
17:19
have to change
17:20
techniques uh because of water temp but
17:22
those fish aren't leaving
17:24
uh with smallmouth it's even crazier
17:29
the smallmouth are they home for life
17:32
so if you've caught and i almost hate
17:35
continuing to say this to folks but
17:38
if you have a if you have an underwater
17:40
hump or a rock pile or a point
17:42
where you have caught them in the past
17:45
they will be there
17:46
they will not leave they home for life
17:49
it mark has his his census
17:53
is over a hundred years old the longest
17:56
continuous census of an animal
17:58
population on
18:00
earth and they are still in the fall
18:03
where their great great great great
18:05
grandparents were
18:06
100 years ago and that's the downside
18:10
you can actually burn them out yeah
18:12
exactly
18:15
one other real quick point guys if folks
18:18
are fishing for smallmouth
18:20
do not live well them and move them we
18:22
see so many people on
18:24
uh social media and they like to live
18:27
well their best five fish and then at
18:29
the end of the day they hold them up and
18:30
get a photo
18:32
and then they release them and say well
18:34
i you know i release them they're in
18:36
great shape
18:37
smallmouth home and they winter
18:40
on a particular spot that they're
18:42
faithful to for life
18:44
and once you move them they stop feeding
18:47
and they will do everything in their
18:49
power to find that
18:51
winter home range and they will not eat
18:53
until they find it
18:55
so if they go into the winter and they
18:57
haven't found it
18:58
we we replicated mark's work here on
19:01
lake of the woods
19:02
fifty percent of the smallmouth were
19:04
dead next spring
19:06
because they and all their energy
19:08
looking for home
19:09
how far was how far was that release
19:11
point from the capture point
19:13
uh really good good question pete
19:15
because um
19:16
the closer you do it the better and
19:19
that's why we always say to folks
19:21
for sure you can live well them if you
19:23
want a few pictures
19:24
but then don't take them from where you
19:26
caught them right
19:27
and let them go right there the further
19:30
you
19:30
go the more you're risking it can't find
19:33
home
19:34
and the more you're risking it will
19:36
spend the rest of the
19:38
fall looking for home and not eating and
19:41
smallmouth are like bears
19:42
if they haven't gained enough
19:44
nourishment going into the winter
19:46
they starve to death over they do not
19:48
feed
19:49
wow yeah i got two i've had two things
19:52
in my mind i gotta ask gordy's
19:54
i'm sorry but i gotta do this this uh
19:55
people follow this the uh
19:57
the secondary points if there's a bay if
19:59
the bay is shaped like that right there
20:00
and this is the shallow side of the bay
20:02
if there's an if there's no points and
20:03
there's an island in the middle coming
20:05
out of the bay can you consider that a
20:06
point or
20:07
absolutely pete structure and cover
20:11
always rules so anything it's it's so
20:14
funny
20:16
because we actually have and i've taken
20:19
folks there when we're
20:20
fishing i'll go see that secondary point
20:22
and they'll go
20:23
secondary i don't see any point there
20:25
but you know a point could be
20:27
just eight ten feet of it's just an
20:31
indentation that goes out a little
20:32
further and when you look in the water
20:35
there's a few extra boulders
20:37
and boulders are key if you find those
20:39
boulders on those secondary points
20:41
you flip in there pitch in there swim a
20:44
jig
20:45
murder now one more thing one more quick
20:48
thing viola stop it
20:51
no commercial break don't worry about it
20:53
one last thing very quickly i was out on
20:55
the weekend and this has happened to me
20:57
two years ago and it happened again
20:59
saturday a large mold bass i'm catching
21:02
largemouth bass in a foot and a half to
21:04
two feet of water and big ones
21:06
nice and they're active as hell they're
21:08
not out in that deeper than the points
21:09
yet this is a shallow flat
21:11
60 degree water 61 degree water
21:13
temperature is that
21:14
is that normal or like you said i can
21:16
only didn't get them when they went to
21:17
shallows this
21:18
this place i went to wow
21:22
the interesting thing though pete i'll
21:24
virtually guarantee
21:25
on those weed beds and this is really
21:27
cool really cool question
21:29
um i actually won a fall tournament here
21:32
it was
21:33
september about another
21:36
it was right at the end of september
21:37
early october several years ago
21:40
and we wanted actually on big largemouth
21:42
and we were in a large
21:44
really large bay with all kinds of like
21:46
beaver indentations
21:48
and you could take the boat away back
21:50
virtually every one of those
21:52
fish had pulled out to the outside edge
21:55
okay so you could go back in and it's
21:58
they're doing
21:59
exactly what they're we're talking about
22:01
but
22:02
the the gigantic weed beds
22:05
consider that a bay in itself right
22:08
almost in and of itself and so they've
22:10
now worked out to the
22:12
edge of those weeds and now when you
22:14
find little points
22:15
you don't find the bass all evenly
22:18
around the
22:19
the edge of that outside leather leaf
22:21
and and
22:22
and and uh floating bog the
22:26
you know little points a little uh
22:28
inside turn kind of things
22:30
and move cursory point secondary point
22:33
primary
22:35
okay worth the price of admission
22:39
and then some and then some um
22:43
great to have you back on board gordy we
22:45
look forward to uh
22:46
to uh hooking up with you on a regular
22:49
basis uh we're still
22:50
you know in the process of of learning
22:52
this whole webcasting thing so
22:54
uh we'll uh we'll uh we'll keep you
22:57
informed
22:58
as to when and where i'm so i'm sure
22:59
sarah's got you on speed dial now
23:02
well it's fun guys and and you know as i
23:04
was thinking as we were doing this
23:06
you know uh we should chat maybe in
23:09
advance and i could
23:10
we could draw diagrams and absolutely
23:14
yeah be right hopefully everybody
23:17
enjoyed it
23:17
gordon we'll let you go my friend you
23:19
have yourself a wonderful week
23:21
and uh leave some of those fish for for
23:23
some of the other people around there
23:24
please
23:25
i'm going i'm going crappie walleye and
23:28
smallmouth fishing within two hours
23:30
of course have fun buddy
23:38
[Music]
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#Outdoors