The Moon, The Weather, The Season, or something else?

kopper_bass · Post by **kopper_bass** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:20 pm

OK,
So i have been out myself and i have been pinging friends who have been out fishing on a variety of other lakes, and over the last 2 weeks the bite everywhere has been off. dead off! Everyone seems to say the same thing; there's a bite right at sun-up, but then the bite dies hard, and then only real late in the day does anything pick up again.

I've heard this for:
Delta
Castaic
Oroville
Clear Lake
and a few others.

So i thought i would suggest some ideas for the cause and take a poll and see what you all think.

Kopper_Bass

Jim Scarlett · Post by **Jim Scarlett** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:28 pm

All the above, ADAPT

kopper_bass · Post by **kopper_bass** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:32 am

*bump*

g-man · Post by **g-man** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:07 am

all the above is messing with our fishing!!!

fishyd · Post by **fishyd** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:32 pm

That is a relief I thought it was my skills.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:44 pm

fishyd wrote:That is a relief I thought it was my skills.

I would have voted for that but, It wasnt one of the options. LOL

BassManDan · Post by **BassManDan** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:41 pm

The answer is so simple, the bass gods have been angered!!!

Really though, the bass fishing world needs phenomenon like this, it causes some people to stay home "cause the fishin' stinks!" or it causes some of us to go out and try harder!
Personally, I'm not gonna let a little green fish get the better of me!

Catching fish when they're tough to catch makes you a better angler, not knockin' a bunch of fish because the bite is hot!!

Some words to reflect upon....

BassManDan

jaime7819 · Post by **jaime7819** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 7:57 pm

And here i thought it was my wife?????????????????? I guess i can let her out now.

LOL

BIG DADDY BLUE RANGER · Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:15 pm

The bite is typical for the Delta this time of year, But there are still plenty of people getting plenty of big bites out there right now.

Get a new circle of bass fishing friends!

Cooch · Post by **Cooch** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:21 pm

I believe the biggest factor is the summer to fall transition. Hence my vote for number 2. Yet in reality, number three is the root cause here, since the changing weather patterns bring us cold temperature drops cooling the water. One thing that is consistant with any bass in the world, remember, a bass is a bass, is a bass, and they are cold blooded creatures. When they experience temperature drops in their environment, they will always act in such a fashion that they become difficult to catch. They suspend, they move out deeper, they burry themselves deep into cover. They become very dormant until which point the temps stabalize allowing their body temperatures to adjust to the dropping temps. Then the bite busts open again as they begin to feed heavily preparing for that dormant winter stage.

It happens like this here in Northern California every year towards the end of September and will last until mid to late October. We see a very simular situation in the spring, when the bass are rushing to the bank to spawn as the days grow longer and the water warms. Then all of a sudden we git a cold snap and the bite shuts off. Same exact affect as what we are seeing now.

Catching them, means major adjustments in not only the baits yer using, but location and presentations. If ya git stuck in that box and don't adjust(Your option number 3), fishing appears very tough. It's amazing to me, watching guys fish the exact same way now, that they did all late spring and summer here on the River. They remain in that lil comfy box, and try ta force feed em what was working last month.

Personally, I love the fall, always have. Simpley because the way I fish now, which is the way I fish all the time, is to focus on just a few big bites. Most of the year, doing this provides a lot of action, In the fall, you still manage to stay on the fish, yet yer not getting the numbers, but are typically getting the better fish through out the day. It's a great time to experiment, and start fishing baits, techniques and areas that you would not normally fish.

It's also one of the specific times where I preach the 15 minute rule. The vast majority of the fish are going to be in a negative feeding mode, the most difficult ta catch. Yet there are still feeding fish all the time. They are not all up shallow feeding at once like they can be in the summer and late winter. You will find most of these fish isolated, you will not typically find large groups of fish. A large group of fish may mean catching 4-6 in one given area in a short period. Hence the 15 minute rule. If ya pull into an area and dont git bit in 15 minutes, move on to another area. Doing this, you can hit 30 spots in a 9-10 hour fishing day. Somewhere along the line, yer gonna stumble into a nice fish here and there. Those fish are gonna key you into what other fish are doing. If you spend 1-2 hours in specific areas and aren't getting bit, well, now ya only hit 3-5 areas in a day and have limited yer catch rate. If yer prefishing, yer really in trouble cause ya ain't established squadooooosh. Find 3-4 areas out of 30 in a day that you manage ta catch a nice fish or two, then ya got 4 areas to spend an hour or so on come tournament day. You'll then have some confidence that yer gonna git bit.

Summer to fall transition can be a very tough period ta fish. It's these tough times, where we as bass anglers have the oppurtunity to learn the most, and improve our experiences and angling prowess. The nice thing about the Delta, versus all the other ponds in northern California, you can tie on a Spook, Pencil Popper, DD100 Pointer, 3-6" Sassy Shad like swimbait, hair jig or a 3/4 oz Rattle Trap and go chase stripers all day. Ironically you will be amazed at how many nice big largemouth you will come accross through out a day doing so!

skolnuts · Post by **skolnuts** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:29 am

O.K Big Daddy Blue Ranger i'm having the same troubles right now and your totally right,,,,i need new bass buddies. So i want you an d COOCH to be my bassin buddy ..........

Greg_Cornish · Post by **Greg_Cornish** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:56 am

Last year when this happened I discovered the spot remover jig and a senko bit of to 3 inches from the guys at Tackle It and I was right back in the fold. So yesterday I was confident that this was going to work again. It didn't. I couldn't raise anything on the shakey head. The only thing I could get bit on was a 4" rootbeer senko. My buddy got off to a slow start but caught me using a purple Brush Hawg Texas rigged. The guy in the rear caught the biggest but fewest drop shotting.