Fall Forage Shift
By Bruce Litton
At first, I don’t like
the change of season. I don’t like to snap on a Rapala or spinnerbait when I
would have used a worm or topwater plug. Summer was the time all the other
seasons depend on, arrive at, and leave. I love to fish a lure as if it can
take all day to retrieve because summer’s the home season, and the more it
seems to be going nowhere, the more summery it is. But I always catch the fall
spritz and let summer go with no regrets. I feel that invigorating chill, and
after initial moodiness, it sets me in motion as it does gamefish too.
Ever since my son was
able to ride the kiddie roller coaster nine years ago, we’ve gone to the Labor
Day Carnival in Mendham. When night falls and fireworks are shot skyward, I
typically feel a chill in the air and know we’ve turned a subtle seasonal
corner. But generally not until the last week of September does it seem to
change the summer patterns, and lures that specifically resemble forage fish
begin to produce better.
A Change in Diet
The most obvious change
in diet between the summer and fall seasons happens to smallmouths in the upper
Delaware. Billions of shad fry have begun the journey to the sea in September,
and bass begin to feed almost exclusively on them. This is advantageous to them
for three reasons. The summer smorgasbord of insect larvae and hatches has
begun to subside, shad fry are easily preyed upon, and the Omega fatty acid
rich fry are extremely nutritious for the bass. In the Delaware the forage
shift is dramatic with smallmouths schooling to capture the shad.
But I’ve noticed a
subtler shift over the years even in farm ponds with only bluegills for largemouth
to feed on besides insect species, amphibians (especially tadpoles), and the
occasional small snake or mouse lured to water’s edge for those insects that
summer propagates. By October fewer damselflies and dragonflies, for example,
dimple a pond’s surface or alight on lily pads, targeted in turn. Aquatic larval
activity decreases as water temperatures return to optimal range for largemouths,
in the upper 60s, at least in the late afternoons. With increased activity,
fast swimming bluegills are more appropriate targets than smaller easy pickin’s
like insects.
Likewise, in Lake
Hopatcong both largemouths and smallmouths bore relation to insects associated
with weeds and much warmer water temperatures in the 15 feet of water
oxygenated enough to support fish life. Now the lake begins to take a radical
turn for the better, culminating in the fall turnover by mid-October. Usually
the first week in September sees no improvement over August. The lake is then in
its doldrums, but by late September that subtle seasonal change I always feel
on Labor Day has begun to change New Jersey’s largest lake as well. Billions of
Hopatcong alewife herring are also highly rich in Omega fats, and everything
game in the lake begins to devour them.
The Temperature Paradox
I have read research
that shows no evidence is available that bass put on fat for winter. Bass are
cold blooded, have no need to fatten for winter, and do not hibernate but
remain active at the level of their slowed metabolism under winter ice. Apparently,
higher levels of fall bass activity are due especially to temperatures closer to optimal, and somewhat to shorter hours of sunlight and less direct rays on
the water.
The higher the water
temperature, the more bass metabolism burns. But this doesn’t mean bass are
actually more active with summer water temperatures in the 80’s. On the contrary,
the more water temperature rises above their optimal range, the more they slow
in order to conserve calories they burn off while idling, but would burn even
faster by a lot of swimming and chasing of baitfish. Naturally, the plastic
worm may be the very best summer bass lure because it’s lazy. Topwater plug retrieves
that may produce best are slow as the sun sets. Slow summer feeding habits
change late in September when bass begin to give chase.
Optimal water
temperatures for largemouths, around 70, and cooler for smallmouths, are those
by which bass are most freely active. It’s not much of a stretch to suppose
that fish forage—especially fish rich in nutrients like shad and
alewives—serves their growth best when temperatures are both optimal for growth
and for feeding. The fall feed has everything to do with growth and health, not
fat for a cold winter.
Forage Imitating Lure Choices
My favorite fall lures
are Rapala floaters and Countdowns, chrome finish Rat-L-Traps, and
spinnerbaits, although many other lures are great choices as well. Even in
ponds with no minnow forage, the Rapalas work wonders from late September well
into October. It’s much a less a matter of matching colors (bluegill)—although
that can be done—than it is of lure action. I really make a Rapala dance by rod
tip action, not because bluegills are behaving erratically, but because bass
are stimulated to the chase. The floaters are great in shallows whether along
banks and weeds or next to brush and timber. Countdowns work as deep as 12 to
15 feet; I’ve found them particularly effective on Lake Hopatcong among
submerged rocks and on the Delaware River.
Chrome Rat-L-Traps have
proven effective along Hopatcong’s weedlines, and bounced off rocks
(occasionally snagged). I like the half ounce size best because it casts
forever and effectively attains depths as great as 20 feet—by mid-October
smallmouth bass are free once again to breathe among Hopatcong’s deep rock
structures to ambush alewives. In the
Delaware, what resembles a fingerling shad more than a chrome Rat-L-Trap?
Sometimes smallmouths actually bust the shad on the surface, reminiscent of
hybrid stripers tearing into alewives in lakes and reservoirs after dark in
June. A half ounce Rat-L-Trap can be cast to these fish from a distance, then
retrieved at top speed with rod tip held high to result in a jolting strike
near the surface.
Colorado bladed
spinnerbaits producing the strongest vibrations seem to result in more interest
from bass in the fall since the guiding principle is: the more action, the more
strikes. Usually I will use a large bladed, heavy headed spinnerbait so that I
can retrieve it at a good, moderate rate. Too large a blade coupled to
relatively light lead demands a slow retrieve more fitting for late March warm
spells. Keep a firm hold on the rod because bass strike spinnerbaits harder
this time of year. Often best along weedlines from shallow to 12 foot depths,
spinnerbaits may also be perfectly effective along banks and in brush and
timber.
Good through October
Traditionally, November
15th is the end of my use of lures for bass, and from thereon
through the ice fishing season I prefer shiners. In Mercer County where I grew up, the water
temperature dipped below 50 in the afternoon about a week after all the leaves
came down. Whether you prefer to use lures or bait is a subjective choice,
although no doubt shiners are effective in November. But although water
temperatures fall below optimal for bass in October, lures draw strikes as sure
as they look snazzy. I do especially well with spinnerbaits as water cools
sharply. So many options regarding the blade/lead relationship can provoke
bass; generally the idea is to slow down as water cools, and fish deeper.
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