cold water period again

[Brian]

I got a chance to fish Champlain with Roy again Sunday. Sort of our semi annual chilly weather fishing outing. Hit the ramp at Larabee's just before 8:30, air temps getting up to about 40 degrees, water temps around 44, but the sun was out, a rarity this fall. So, despite the bizarre weather fluctuations of the previous 48 hours, it was a perfect day on the pond. The water wasn't blown out muddy, in fact it was pretty clear in some spots. It seemed to get clearer as the day progressed and looked to be still rising.

Unfortunately, the bass weren't up enjoying the sunshine, they were not feeding up for winter, or having a "Fall Frenzy" (magazine crap) of any type. The bigger the lure the fewer the bites. Rattles...nope. Blades...nope. Jack hammering...nope. Chattering...no dice. Fortunately, as is usually the case, Roy figured out a way to coax some bass to bite. Me, being stubborn, didn't go to school right away. But caught on soon enough.

The second bass of the day hit Roy's lure sometime in early afternoon. Right about the time I had tied on a jig, because my stuff just wasn't working. I did get one pretty quickly on the jig, meanwhile Roy bags three decent bass pretty quickly swimming his bait. A fluke? Are they moving up? Fall frenzy beginning? Or did we just throw enough casts that something was bound to happen? Dunno. But we caught a few more then left the area.... and caught no more bass for the rest of the day until we returned. Go figure. It's Champlain. Water conditions and depths and grass were pretty similar. Fished until we ran out of daylight and a bit into the dark. Got some pretty stout pickerel, they were a riot, a couple small northerns, and one about 9 lbs.

For a sunny fall day there was just about no surface activity of any kind.

fish of 1000 casts, first one of the day, gets a photo just in case it's the last.....



best one of Roy's 16 or so bass, 4 lb 1 oz



not quite a "pickerel fest" but not far off, they were thick and pulling hard....but they wouldn't hit a blade either. Got two Master Angler fish in the mix.

Great day Roy thanks. Looking forward to spring cold water period.

[rgang4]

Too bad our timing was off and we weren’t a week sooner, but for sure it was not a “you shoulda been here yesterday “ deal! I’m sure the lousy weather we had on Saturday affected the morning bite in a bad way. But it was still a good trip! Thanks for coming B.

I didn’t say anything but I was having fishing withdrawals on the way home because I was thinking that may have been it for the year.😟 I’m not used to quitting this early but this continued bad weather and below average day temps probably is going to kill the shallow bite before I can get back.

Thanks for the company again and a fine report on our day.

[schodackbassman]

I've given up too Roy. We've been spoiled by warm late Octobers/early Novembers and this year it's just not happening. I emptied the boat of all my gear today and getting ready for storage. Sorry I missed the late season bite but the week in warm Florida was worth it! Actually went for an air boat ride on Lake Taho. Saw a lot of gaters and wished I had my thick flipping stick. Some good fishing I'm sure we were around. Never get to it in a bass boat though.