43
There’s still time for some serious fishing
To my ears, the comment many who live around Youngstown utter about the changing seasons is like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“Oh, I just love the fall and the pretty leaves and cooler days.”
Ugh. Yeah, sure, the words are meant as pleasantries, things we say when there’s not much else to say.
OK, fall is fine. It’s what comes afterward that gets under my skin. Colorful leaves and flying footballs are great.
But snow on the streets and ice on the lakes? No.
I guess it’s the “ice on the lakes” that makes me dread the transition from summer to fall – and on to inevitable winter. Ice means I can’t drag the BassCat to the lake for a day of flipping and pitching for largemouth and smallmouth bass.
To a bass fisherman, spring and summer are seasons to cherish. Fall is OK, but winter here in Northeast Ohio is just plain awful.
It’s a test of endurance, a torturous time when the only fishing we can experience is the kind that is video-recorded and produced as TV shows.
I’ll admit an endless summer would be tedious. A 365-day season of 80-degree days is called “Florida” and I’m not ready to make that move just yet.
But a hot summer set between a nice spring and fall followed by nippy but unfrozen winter would be pretty much in my comfort zone.
I write this today as I project plans for the next two months. I’ll keep the boat handy for weekend excursions until Halloween – and here’s hoping we get an extra few weeks after trick-or-treat.
So whether we like it or not, the wind will shift, the cold will come and the lakes will freeze. I’ve got some serious fishing to do before I lock the door on boat’s winter storage.
I’ll be hitting Shenango and Berlin in the upcoming weeks.
The cooling water pulls the baitfish up into the shallow coves and creeks. Bass follow in big numbers to take advantage of the easy pickings through the massive schools of shad.
Almost certainly I’ll fit in a trip to the Ohio River to see whether the bass and walleyes show signs of activity.
Fall is a great time to do another Lake Erie trip, too. The next six weeks are prime time to find smallmouth bass in the 5- and 6-pound class.
If you like walleyes, you’ll want to check out the fall bite at Berlin and other local reservoirs.
Anglers hook up with quality walleye in our Mahoning River drainage reservoirs by vertical jigging and dragging bottom-bouncing baits.
The days just before and after Thanksgiving often are the best time of the year around the Youngstown area for slab-size crappies.
Jigs under slip bobbers help anglers fill buckets quickly when the bite is going strong.
That said, I certainly will be fishing today.
Gotta go. Time’s wasting. The ice is coming.
Don’t you just love the changing seasons?