Hot Fall Fishing

Sorry it's been so long, everyone. But we are officially into fall, and the bite is really starting to heat up on almost every species.

First, I was on vacation right after hurricane Irene, and had a decent week of surf fishing. Throwing mullet on a bluefish rig, I was able to land many bluefish (including this nice 16 incher pictured below) as well as a shark, which shocked the hell out of me.

Now, fast forward a few weeks later here, and I'm back to fishing freshwater. Through early to mid September, we had a cold front move through, along with plenty of rain. This, combined with the temperatures dropping, has cooled the water down, making the fish more active.

On the Juniata River, the isonychia have been hatching recently, making for some nice trout catches on the flyrod. While there is not much action on the surface, the fish have been aggresively striking the nymphs. Last friday, fished back in the state forest next to a railroad bridge, and caught this nice sized rainbow trout.

I have also had alot of success on the lakes as well, mainy Sayer's Dam. During the first part of September, I caught some nice smallmouth over the deeper roadbed and artificial structure:

Unfortunately, as the water cools, the fish move back into the shallows, into kind of a spawning-like state. It took me awhile to figure out that this happened right after Tropical Storm Lee, and the resulting front. The adjustment was well worth it.

I decided to start fishing the Lower Green's Run section of the lake, where there is plenty of shallow structure, from rocks and drop offs, to brush piles, weedbeds, and logs. Last Thursday, I was able to catch a bunch of crappie, as well as several bass in the 10-14 inch range. I even snagged a bog turtle by accident. Monday night, I was fishing near a downed tree, and hooked something that felt nice, but snapped me off due to a loop in my line. Very next cast, I hooked something else that was quite a fighter. Sure enough, after a brief fight, I pulled up this bucketmouth of a largemouth bass, about 4.5 pounds. 

Strangely, I had four different nice hits in the same area, and I know they all couldn't have been the same fish.