October

Anyone that regularly catches fish throughout the year knows that October can be a beast. Even crappie that may have been easily caught through September are often AWOL in October, only to appear again with “urgent bite” in November. Why is this? This year, with summer lasting to mid-October it can be even more puzzling. Until you examine the facts to why fish do what they do.

Did you know that right now, we are receiving the same amount of sunlight and at the same angle of that at the end of February? Regardless of warm days, night temps below that of the water temp will knock a couple degrees off the water temp. At least per week. Fish don’t survive by frolicking or spawning again just because it’s still warm. October fish begin taking up their winter positions. Warm water species will school in great numbers, and sit where they’re going to winter-maybe a little higher in the water column-but they’re already moving back to their winter residence. Unfortunately, these residences for the most part can be well out of reach for the bank fisherman. So how to overcome this?

Fish small bodies of water. Fish bodies of water that have areas accessible to the bank fisherman, that include channel, cover and structure in a small area of an otherwise large lake. The lake pictured at the heading is one lake I fish that was carefully crafted to include all of the key ingredients. On this particular day and 1 1/2 hours fly fishing without even a quarter size bluegill nipping at a fly, I headed to the jetty built rather oddly, crossways, across from the jetty built as one would expect. (In the picture.) This is a narrow area where the channel slams right up against that crossways jetty for about 20 feet. Just like winter, where you can find some fish in a foot or so of water as long as it’s not far from the deep water, I started on the backside of that jetty-in a couple feet of water. A red ear and a bluegill were sharing both sides of one clump of aquatic weeds-caught both of them. As I moved to outside of the jetty it still wasn’t dawning on me to consider I could reach a winter hole by shooting a mess of fly line “out there” about 50 feet. Instead, I was fishing for red ear tucked up under the vegetation on the steep bank leading to the winter residence when I noticed several times, red ear running from the winter hole toward the bank, at my bug. Now…I finally copped a clue to shoot a bunch of fly line to reach that deep water and sure enough-there more were. High in the water column. In fact, “looking up” for food which isn’t typical behavior for October. But have I mentioned the weather?😏

I studied…and studied…the lake. I know how to read a lake and usually determine where the main channel runs. Unfortunately, until I get to the dam I’m not in easy casting distance of the channel again, after I leave this broadsided jetty. An old timer…OK…another old timer…was telling this old timer in spring, how he used used to catch big crappie throwing into that channel early spring. I’m going to have to check that strategy this late fall, and for sure next spring.

So, temperature doesn’t mean a lot in October. It’s all about sun angle, length of day, temperatures that fall below that of the water temperature in a 24 hour period-repeatedly, and the innate ability of something living under water all the time to feel the seasons changing. Better than the supposedly intelligent life living on land, can feel the seasons changing.