Fall smallie fishing.

[brookiesRfun]

Hey all,
Is there a time in the early/mid fall when the smallie fishing gets as good as early summer? Now they are right on the bottom and not as active as they were this early summer. I was wondering as I have not fished much for smallies in the fall. Usually back to trout or steelhead. The steelhead streams are so crowded, so I am thinking of playing with smallies for this fall (in addition to trout)
Thanks,
Greg

 

[Fishidiot]

brookies,
Fishing for SMBs in the fall is fantastic. Usually when temps start to drop in early to mid Sept they really turn on. Many bass guys feel this is the best time of year to catch big fish. You'll also see few fishermen as most folks are preoccupied with hunting or steelhead. Autumn bassing on rivers stays good usually until about the beginning of Nov when things start to slow appreciably and the fish start to migrate to deeper water. While bass can continue to be caught, the late fall period can be tough fishing. On creeks, most SMBs will migrate out of the stream and just seem to disappear completely. In my experience, this migration of bass out of creeks usually coincides with the first heavy frost. I rarely bother fishing creeks for bass after this period.

 

[brookiesRfun]

Fishidiot wrote:
brookies,
Fishing for SMBs in the fall is fantastic. Usually when temps start to drop in early to mid Sept they really turn on. Many bass guys feel this is the best time of year to catch big fish. You'll also see few fishermen as most folks are preoccupied with hunting or steelhead. Autumn bassing on rivers stays good usually until about the beginning of Nov when things start to slow appreciably and the fish start to migrate to deeper water. While bass can continue to be caught, the late fall period can be tough fishing. On creeks, most SMBs will migrate out of the stream and just seem to disappear completely. In my experience, this migration of bass out of creeks usually coincides with the first heavy frost. I rarely bother fishing creeks for bass after this period.

Thanks much. I had this experience last fall the smallies seemed to just disappear. But I have a canoe and I will float for smallies on French. I love steelhead but the crowds take lots of the fun out of it. Plus steelhead are spookie after 10 guys chuck rapalas at them for 5 hours.