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Posts: 3508
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hi Everyone,
Have not fished that much into the fall as I am a bowhunter as well, but have found I get out more than I used to, and am in need of some advice...
Seems as though when water temps drop from the upper 60's to the lower 60's and continue to steadily fall toward turn over, I have a hard time locating fish. What my experience has been is the fish are no longer in shallow and have moved away from any sort of structure. Have tried trolling open water and adjacent to structure, fishing deep humps, shallow humps, flats, etc. trying fast, slow, erratic, straight, with retrieves and various baits (both hard and soft), and I seem to continue to blank.
What tactics in this pre-turnover temperature range seem to work or turn on from your experiences?
By post turn over, I'm usually in the treestand, but will have some opportunities with suckers as the season closes in November.
Thanks | |
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Posts: 2381
Location: Chisholm, MN | I think this time of year, where temps are falling into the low 60s, is the absolute best time to find shallow fish. The cool down pushes large fish shallow. I stick to big bucktails and some topwater this time of year. Other baits can work well too but fish are charged up and ready to chase. Maybe you've had some bad luck with your limited fall fishing time, but I would just stick with it. Last weekend was very good fishing for me at 61 degrees. I had to leave my normal lake to find fish though. I like a NW wind this time of year and cold temps. | |
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Posts: 679
Location: Duluth | Agree with Kirby, this weekend was not kind to me but I find success this time of year on prop baits and 10s. As the sun sets the fish tend to slide shallow into the structure thats still holding heat. Stay on it | |
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Posts: 41
| A nice musky I just caught came out of 4 feet of water. The fish I have encountered recently are near their same deeper summer haunts, but have seemed to have just slid up where its warmer. This one was so charged up, she crushed a big bucktail right before the 8, and broke the tip off my rod. Keep at it, spend some more time shallow before turnover. | |
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Posts: 409
Location: Almond, WI | My first reaction is you're not fishing shallow enough.
I was in Minnesota during the cold front a couple weeks ago, water temps went from 63 to 59. I fished 6 different lakes, found muskies on 5 of them. Every single one of them was in 3-5 feet of water, even on clear lakes with 10+ feet visibility. Every fish I caught or lost was on a burned bucktail or topwater. | |
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Low 60's temps and falling..Pre Turnover tactics