When the Leaves are Turning Orange and Brown…Think Green!

by Al Lindner

Fall is hands-down my favorite time of year. Summer crowds have departed, leaving the lakes uncrowded, even quiet, other than the occasional honking of southbound geese. The weather is cooling, but far from uncomfortable. And best of all, the finest fishing of the year is at hand. It’s an unbeatable combination. Beneath the surface, fish of all species are on a fall feeding binge, prior to the relative slow-down of winter. Bass, pike, panfish, walleyes and muskies are on the prowl. And believe it or not, all of these species share something in common during the fall season.

In a nutshell, it’s a fondness for green weeds. That may sound strange, but here’s why.  Cooling nights chill the water in the extreme shallows, progressively killing off the shallowest weedgrowth and pushing fish out deeper. By the end of fall, the last remaining stands of healthy growth are limited to the outer rim of the weedflats, bordering steep dropoffs into the main basin. In effect, fish begin deserting the shallows, moving little by little toward the deepest perimeter of healthy green weeds. It’s almost like herding the fish into concentrated zones of foraging activity. All species. All fall. If you know what to look for, it’s a proverbial fish in a barrel scenario.

To begin taking advantage of this pattern, run your boat along the deep dropoff wherever shallow weedgrowth suddenly ends and gives way to deep water. Use your electronics to detect weedgrowth rising above bottom. Find candidate areas to begin fishing, and then start doing your homework to locate distinctive areas that collect and hold fish.  First, use your eyes, peering into the water with polarized sunglasses. Look for healthy, green cabbage or coontail weeds rimming the dropoff, typically at about the 10- to 18-foot level, you’re in the neighborhood. In addition, an underwater camera like an Aqua-Vu really helps establish where and how deep the best weeds are, and often reveals the presence of the fish you want to catch.  I like to pitch jigs at this time of year, tossing them slightly up into the weedgrowth while I position my boat just outside it in deeper water. I let the jig settle onto the weeds, then tighten the line, and interpret what’s there. Jigs hang up just enough, without undue snagging, to let me distinguish weed type, density and relative health. If the weeds are sparse or brown, indicating dying growth, I keep moving the boat parallel to the dropoff, probing with additional casts until I find what I’m looking for.  Ideally, I’ll eventually encounter a healthy stand of deep green weeds in conjunction with a point, turn or pocket along a steep portion of the dropoff. The weeds draw the fish; the irregularity along the deep edge collects and holds them, just as it does passing baitfish. Fish may patrol back and forth along the area; they may linger within the weeds, in an apparent ambush mode, ready to pounce. It makes little difference to me. Once I find such areas, I expect to find fish here again and again, or at least until the weeds begin to die off and the fish move elsewhere.

Depending on what species I’m fishing for, I select different forms and sizes of jigs to match their individual preferences. If it’s largemouths, I’ll likely go with a ½-ounce fiberguard jig with a rubber skirt, tipped with a pork frog, twin-tail grub or minnow. It slips though the weeds with few hang-ups, yet still allows me to interpret the growth. Twenty-pound test monofilament and a flippin’ stick round out the combo. Lift-drop the jig, let it settle a few seconds, then slide or twitch it. Big bass pounce on it like crazy. And where you find one big bass, a bunch of his buddies are typically nearby.

I’ll catch pike and muskies on the same combo, too, although when toothy critters are around, I add a wire leader to prevent bite-offs. I may also switch to dressing the jig with a larger softbait trailer, like a Berkley Gulp!  5-, 6- or 7-inch Saltwater Mullet, or some other oversized soft plastic tail. I want to appeal to both the fish’s aggressive nature at this time of year, and their tendency to eat larger meals in fall, since baitfish have grown to mature size. I also tend to work these baits a bit faster for toothy critters, ripping and swimming them occasionally to trigger strikes.  Panfish also cluster along remaining healthy weededges. Crappies and big bluegills fall prey to 1/16-ounce Fuzz-E-Grubs tipped with a small minnow. In summer, I tend to swim these jigs halfway down between the surface and bottom for suspended fish; in fall, by comparison, I now anticipate them to be tucked tighter to bottom. Vertically jigging, slightly lifting the jig on and off bottom with lots of hovers and pauses, positions the lure at or above eye level. Stick to medium light spinning gear and 4- to 6-pound line. I expect the fish to drop deeper as fall progresses, down into the adjacent basin, as the weeds thin and die.

And as far as walleyes go, weeds remain a good pattern as long as they’re healthy. Slightly larger 1/8- to ¼-ounce Fuzz-E-Grubs, tipped with a fathead minnow, work both for pitching slightly into the weeds, and for vertically jigging along their outer edge. Later, as the walleyes begin dropping even deeper, switch to a 3/8-ouncer and go down after them, switching to rocky humps, deep points and steep dropoffs into 40 feet or more of water. Medium spinning gear and 6- to 8-pound test mono is perfect.  Rarely does one pattern provide such universal appeal for a variety of species. But when you find deep, green weeds in fall, you’re on target. Then it’s a matter of finding those precious spot-on-the-spot type small areas that experience heavy schooling and feeding behavior.

You’ll catch loads of fish on other lures—crankbaits, spinnerbaits, livebait rigs, big bucktail spinners and hefty muskie baits. But the jig remains my universal favorite tool for interpreting weedgrowth and locating the best spots.