Finding fish in the fall Fish are still hungry and biting, but you

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Nov 1, 2003 by Steve Bell Capital-Journal

JON ABERNATHY/SPECIAL TO THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Jerome Brewer, right, and Hollis Walker, residents of Wyandotte County, take in Sunday's sunshine to fish at Lake Perry.

By Steve Bell

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Fall has sprung. It's time to head out to the fishing hole.

What was once green has changed to gold and myriad of other colors.

The temperature outside hovers in the 60s to low 70s. There are billowy clouds and the breezes are usually light.

It's time to get out the rake and start gathering up leaves. Hunting seasons start and football season is well underway.

Wait a minute. Fishermen who keep their equipment in working order eventually will be rewarded. The boat ramps are empty. With all that other fall activity, fishing pressure will be light.

And the fish are still biting. What's left for the fisherman is to find them.

"Every fish only basically thinks about two things --- procreation and eating," Topeka fishing guide Clyde Hoelscher said.

Fish head to shallow water to procreate and that's in the spring.

In the fall and winter, fish put on the feedbag. Baitfish move to the backs of coves and near the shorelines and game fish chase them.

This fall fishing period starts around the second week of October and carries on until winter.

Hoelscher says many of his clients are perplexed when fishing this time of year. They don't know quite where to find fish.

"I had two e-mails the other day," Hoelscher said. "One of the guy's uncle told him he'd find fish in the middle of the lake in deeper water. He was confused. He couldn't understand why he wasn't catching fish."

Being successful during autumn fishing means figuring out the patterns presented by fish.

Hoelscher pointed out that the last Saturday of October was a good example. The day began windy and overcast and later in the day the sun came out and the "fishing turned on." Hoelscher said.

"It seemed like it should have been the other way around --- it should have been better in the morning."

Most species are involved in the fall fishing bonanza. Largemouth, smallmouth, crappie, sunfish channel cat --- all there for the taking.

After finding where the fish are, all that's left is catching them.

The largemouth will become more active in cooler water, Roger Lee Brown, the bass coach, says. The bass will feed more often. Brown says the fisherman should know the natural forage of the chosen body of water. Bass will eat natural forage in any given body of water, so the color patterns and size of baits should replicate the natural forage.

Hoelscher has crunched the numbers.

In the fall, the highest percentage of numbers of fish are caught. Higher than in the spring or summer, he said.

So don't work out in the yard, lounge in front of the TV watching the football game, get hungry and put on the feedbag this fall. Let the fish do that, and be where the fish are.

That'll beat working any day.