Feast on Fall Largemouths

Similar to spring, fall in the northwoods is short and condensed. Between summer and winter, we sometimes get only a week or two of transition time between the seasons. Feeding windows are also shorter and closing.

September is a transition month highlighted by coldfronts and Indian summer that delivers a brief shallow water feeding movement, typical for end of month. Autumn’s coldfronts trigger feeding, but windows are short and rapid. Midday fishing efforts and sunny afternoons are prioritized during the cold water, post-turnover period in October and November.

In recent seasons, the best trophy window I’ve taken advantage of is Indian Summer. Viewed as a detriment to fall fishing and the pursuit of many fish species, Indian Summer positively and uniquely affects big largemouth bass.

While warming waters during autumn wreak havoc to most fish species, largemouths are most appreciative of it. Their growing season and presence in the shallows have just been prolonged. Adaptive and advantageous of the situation, they further feed.

Indian summer triggers big bass to revisit the shallows for one last time of the year, making largemouth feeding and locations even more predictable until turnover time begins.

On these challenging days, most of our fishing returns to the shallows where a wide variety of natural and man-made habitats are available. Note how close to shore I am in the photo with 6-pound class largemouth above.

Land your jig nearby to where largemouths hold, and you’ll get rocked.

Attacking shoreline cover and habitats is best accomplished with skillful pitching, flipping, and skipping strategies. The shallow water fishing strategies require heavier rod and reel set-ups with braided lines.

Near Shore and Edges

Targeting fish in the extreme shallows like this, we seek remnant weed cover and slop, piers, wood, bog edges and brush, and shaded shorelines. Shade from September’s powerful sun (the most radiant of the year), and cover for ambushing, are the necessary ingredients of these spots. Smaller lakes and less-populated (by people) waters possessing the most natural habitats are easier to pattern and figure out than the largest lakes.

Focus on the aforementioned high percentage shallow cover areas that hold largemouths and prey. Largemouths are habitual, often gravitating to the same shallow water areas they’ve visited prior in the year. Depths of these near-shore regions are commonly 5 ft. and less. Don’t be afraid to go shallow, even a foot or less. I can’t believe how many giant largemouths I’ve caught from inches-deep water on frog baits and jig & creature combos meant for pitching, flipping and casting.

While Indian summer stimulates bass behavior in terms of location and increased feeding, feeding windows are still noticeably short. Adverse and brutal daytime conditions can will generate dead periods between bites or shut down fish temporarily. I’ve often found the steadiest fishing to take place during the afternoons when most shade-lines develop. However, not all lakes and their largemouth fisheries behave the same. Some lakes could have feeding windows taking place during mornings, and evenings.

Despite flat calm and sunny conditions, don’t be afraid to navigate shallower than usual and positioning the boat nearby each target. Majority of the lakes this time of year will have blooming, discolored water clarity – a byproduct of pre-turnover and windless conditions. You can get away with doing a lot of unusual things on these waters right now that wouldn’t be acceptable at other times of the year and under normalized conditions.

Following the warm spell, fall returns immediately after when the next weather system blows it away. The longer the high pressure system, the better the bite gets. The pattern expires as soon as water temperatures drop and fall turnover completes.

Considered a fall season deal-breaker to most, I look forward to Indian summer fishing opportunities whenever they arise. The warm conditions with a hyper-active underwater ecosystem become advantageous for shallow water fishing.

Taking advantage of the lake’s extreme shallows under these conditions and methods has produced some of my heaviest and largest northern largemouths to date, up to 7 lbs. These shallow water lake locations will also pay off at other times of the year, and again in the following seasons making the patterns repetitive and further predictable.

Indian summer periods don’t happen every September or October, but when the largest and longest high-pressure systems stall across the upper Midwest, the consistent repetitive weather and conditions makes largemouths vulnerable, easy to locate in the shallows, and simple to pattern, especially if it occurs prior to turnover. The magic will last until the next incoming cold front wipes out the pattern. The fall season will then resume again, as originally scheduled.