WH EN DO Y OU K N
Story & Photos
BY GEORGE KRAMER
and what do you do about it?
A
fter shivering through a long winter (wet,
dry, whatever) spring fishing is as much a
relief as it is a change. But dragging week
by week through a long summer, bass fishermen sometimes wax poetic, if they take time
to consider what comes next.
Fall, of course, is waiting somewhere ahead on the
calendar, but are you sure? Are you willing to put down
a deposit on a fall trip of a lifetime months in advance?
Sometime between carving pumpkins and carving
turkey is the conventional designation, but, really, how
do you even know when it’s fall?
Tossing that question around, it was interesting to
hear what several successful pro anglers had to say.
From them we get a feel for the seasonal nuances
that affect both the fish and our game plan to catch
them.
Some of their observations are likely your own
observations. Said 30-time Bassmaster Classic
qualifier Gary Klein, “You can’t go by what’s on a
calendar because of weather patterns.” Gary Dobyns,
the all-time winningest
Western pro, was
quick to concur: “It’s
more a feel thing than a
calendar thing,” he said.
“September can be like
August, but at other times
we get that first good
storm and you know that
fall is coming.”
From a seasonal
standpoint in our
hemisphere, we understand
that by virtue of the nature
of our planetary orbit in
relation to the sun, what we
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think of as fall (officially beginning Sept. 22) is that period where daylight hours are reduced and night hours increased. And while daytime air temperature averages will tend to decline, that doesn’t mean you won’t be wearing shorts during many days. However, water temperatures will not be able to fully recover- -even on hot days—as there is just too much down time overnight.
Delta expert Bobby Barrack commented, “We can have 85 to 91 degrees in September and October, but with the overnight lows we can have a 40-degree [temperature] swing. That throws the bass’ radiator off!”
When you hear that kind of input it becomes clear that each individual angler, and not past experience or even conventional advice, will be enough. You need to develop your own “eye test” regarding what is in front of you. Says Klein, “In the fall, you can observe how things change. You have cooler nights, the leaves change, there is less boating pressure on the water,
and you can just feel that fall is in the
air.”
Additionally, and as mentioned
by several of the pros, there are
changes in forage behavior. As Klein
added, “With the water cooler, the
lake is full of life; there are bluegills
and non-keeper bass active all
around. The fish have been left
alone to follow the bait migrations
up the creeks and rivers.
“Things are taking place. It’s
a transition from hot to cooler
nights so there is more oxygen in
the water and the bass are more
active. It’s the most exciting time
for me to fish.”
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