As we rapidly progress into the fall season, much of our thinking revolves around where the big bucks are hiding and where the turkeys are. While hunting begins to dominate our thoughts and conversation, it’s also true that some great fishing still exists. I’ll be honest, this year and especially through late summer, my fishing was practically nonexistent, but the truth is there is still some good fishing to be had for a variety of fish species. This fall might even offer better opportunities than some previous falls since we have had some good rain keeping stream flows above the usual low and warm conditions. My thoughts turned to fishing when a fishing buddy of mine recently texted me and told me he caught a dozen rainbow trout on one of our local streams using flies. My gear is loaded into the truck, and I’m hoping to get out soon to try and duplicate my friend’s day on the stream.
As I thought about heading out for some fall fishing, I thought it would be a good idea to dig out my “fishing records” and see when and where I fished in the past during the fall months. What are my “fishing records,” you may be thinking. Needless to say, I’m a pretty dedicated fisherman, and back in 1998 I decided I would start keeping a detailed, written record of each and every one of my fishing trips, and that’s been going on for nearly 30 years now. How detailed? I have the date, times, location, and how many of each species of fish were taken on each outing. Sizes and what lures were used to take the various fish are also included. I also include any other information that seems pertinent, like water conditions, weather conditions, and specific locations where fish were taken or located.
I haven’t been out fishing much during the past few fall seasons, but as all serious fishermen know, some good catches are still possible this time of year, and I’m talking about warm water species and even trout. When I started digging into my records, I wanted to reaffirm what lures were my best fall producers. During the month of October and even into November, I found I was still taking bass on surface lures like the Jitterbug and chuggers, and propbaits were also good producers. One of my top fall producers was the white spinnerbait with a Colorado blade. Because of the shape of the blade, this spinnerbait can be reeled more slowly but still provide good action. You can also catch some good-sized bass during the fall season. According to my records (and those records don’t lie or exaggerate), on 10/27 in the year 2000 I took 11 largemouths in a friend’s pond with the white spinnerbait; one was over 20 inches and weighed six pounds. As I checked my records, I also found that leadhead jigs and grubs or tubes in brown and white also produced well.
As I already mentioned, trout fishing can also be productive during those fall days. When I went through some of my trout fishing data from 20-plus years ago, I found I had taken a number of trout with a fly rod and a wooly-bugger. Another fly that showed up a lot was the salmon egg pattern, and I still make use of it these days. In recent years, I have gone to using a large dry fly like a Royal Coachman, and then I tie a length of line to the bend of the hook and add an egg pattern or a nymph pattern. I vary the length of the line with the egg or nymph according to the depth of the water I’m fishing.
The point is there’s more to the fall season than just hunting. Certainly we will do some hunting, but I don’t want to forget that there’s still some great fishing to be had.
