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Posts: 133
| So I've heard lots of talk about guys calling spots "fall spots" just wondering what one would consider a good fall spot as opposed to a good summer spot. I understand that weedbeds lose the effectiveness, but does a good rock spots during the summer normally translate into good spot in the fall? Or does it pretty much become a find the forage thing. Haven't spent much time fishing the fall but that is going to change this year! |
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Posts: 1973
| wow someone could write a novel on that question.. couple things:
1) don't overlook weeds in the fall
2) late fall yes forage often become key.
As is often the case.. time on the water is key to success! Lots of variables to cover.. lake types, forage, water temps, wind, on and on... get out and fish.. fall is a great time to muskie fish!!!
Edited by IAJustin 9/7/2016 5:40 PM
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| And dont forget....."Let the fish tell you what they want!"
Sorry...hate that sentence. Figured i would be the first to put that in this thread. |
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Posts: 133
| Even weeds that have turned brown? |
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Posts: 397
Location: Wisconsin | Try a lot of different structure, but I love fishing the biggest and steepest rock structures in fall. Big rubber baits and work them off the break. Also tossing topwater over the top/drop off of those same structures... Fall is undoubtly my favorite time to musky fish! |
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Posts: 1213
Location: Walker, MN | I always give spots with basin egress a good look in late fall. Try looking at the topo map from the bottom up instead of surface down, that has helped me anyway. In early fall however, fish can be very shallow.
FWIW, I have also caught nice fish from fairly shallow, dead-looking weeds in late fall. |
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Posts: 454
| I think it all depends on "when" in the fall and where you are located. Right now most MN lakes are experiencing a shallow transition, but by no means does that mean that is the only place murkiest can be found. Some lakes I have found to be great shallow water bites and others not so much. You won't find a "deep" pattern off of really deep structure until the water is much colder IMHO!
Weather patterns are a big issue as well. If it is a high pressure system this time of year I have found fish tend to bury in the "slop" but navigate the inside edge and flats during low light. |
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Posts: 1529
| go where thebait is. you wont go wrong. |
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Posts: 408
Location: MN | Thuawk - if I recall correctly, you fish around Minaki. Last fall I spent a couple weeks up there in late September, stretching just into October.
I found the action casting to be a bit slow, but the fish I saw were on the same spots as summer, including some weedy bays. I tried casting deeper and shallower in the same areas but didn't see anything. I was also suspicious of weed only structures but moved two big fish right in the back of a couple weedy bays. The fish I saw casting were big on average.
Overall though, most of the fish I caught were open water trolling. I happened across an area adjacent to a big rock reef that had some real big schools of something (ciscos?) suspended down deep and caught several muskies trolling through the area. Another smaller, similar area produced another fish. That was certainly a case of find the bait. My half baked theory is that they were ciscos or whitefish moving toward spawning areas, but that is just a guess. It was certainly too early/warm for spawning to occur.
Can't really comment on the general question - only fished a couple bodies of water summer and fall, and there seems to be huge variance depending on the lake and forage in it. |
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Posts: 1209
| Last year on a clear lake with totally dead (brown) weeds in 5' of water I saw 10 big muskies a few pike and bass and even a school of about 7-9# walleyes 10 fish or so. We moved a few muskies there then wanted to know more so we drove on top and looked around all surprised, after that we find tuned our lures for that and went across the lake to a similar spot and hooked 2. Rainy cloudy water temp about 41* that changed my ways some. But normally green weeds are better than brown. In October I look for areas that are fishy, I only have break lines and weeds so summer spots are the same as spring and fall but if you can follow the fish and prey through the year you'll be ok. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | FALL is pretty vague. About as simple as I can break down "fall" spots is pre and post turnover. Pre-turnover I'll look for horizontal structures (Flats, weedbeds, shallow cover, etc.). Post turnover I'm targeting vertical structures (breaklines, steep shorelines, etc.). |
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Location: Contrarian Island | who came up with the idea that steep breaklines are better in fall (post turnover) than flats? whoever that guy is should re-tool his thinking...  I guess on avg maybe they are more consistent but fish move shallow at times in the fall, just like any other time... keeping an open mind and not letting what others think will put more fish in the boat than simply going by what one reads in a book or on the interweb
one of the heaviest WI fish in my boat came in 5 fow the day before the lake froze... and we caught and had action from quite a few others that day.
Edited by BNelson 9/8/2016 12:41 PM
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Posts: 572
| The past 5 years or so, I've been doing an Oct trip to LOTW in addition to a summer trip. One of things I've been pleasantly surprised with is the fact that our best summer spots have also been proven to be our best fall spots. Casting-wise, I honestly don't approach the spots any differently; generally-speaking I suppose a higher % of fish have come from deeper water on the spot, (as compared to summer fishing), but that isn't a hard and fast rule at all. We also have had some luck trolling just off the breaklines of the spots, although I almost always prefer to cast.
What this has shown to me is that a "good spot" is a "good spot" regardless of time of year and as Brad says, keep an open mind and try to figure out how the fish are using the structure on any given day. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | I hear ya BNelson. However, this post is inquiring about what people refer to as FALL spots. I can think of many spots that rarely produce a fish for me during summer but are stacked with fish in the fall. To me, that is a FALL spot. Can you catch fish in the fall from traditional summer locations? Sure. But I'd consider those to just be good spots. Not necessarily "fall" spots.
Edited by jlong 9/8/2016 3:54 PM
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Posts: 133
| Nar160.... Going to need to grab the location of those bays off ya!!! Haha And thanks for the input. |
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Posts: 431
| The fall shad migration on LSC makes spots that were slow all summer turn right on. The channel mouths come to mind. |
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