How to best fish the few remaining nice weather days we have this fall

There aren’t a lot of days remaining for our open water 2024 fishing season this year.

If that is so, then why in the world am I wasting precious fishing time having my heart torn out watching the hapless Chicago Bears lose another one? Can I ask my fellow Sports page residents why the Monsters of the Midway wasted a whole minute rather than killing the clock before trying that last-second field goal?

Who knows, but I swear I am done for the football season.

We are enjoying some very uncharacteristically nice weather in November. You can’t beat having temps in the 50s this late in the year. It’s a wonderful fall.

There are only a handful of good days for fishing yet this year, so let’s use them judiciously. With limited hours and days available to fish, I recommend that we stick to bodies of water that we know. This really isn’t the time for experimenting on waterways that we are trying to learn.

If you haven’t been on Lake Geneva so far this season, save your exploring for the spring. You aren’t going to figure out a new lake in a couple of weeks, so save your efforts.

So how should we be fishing these days? First of all, realize that this is the time of year that gives up a high percentage of trophy fish. Considering the fact that there are fewer numbers of fishermen hitting the water, that really kicks up the numbers for big fish.

You may think it is being overly optimistic to call your favorite taxidermist and get tips about mounting a trophy, but it is a good idea to do so. Wouldn’t it be a shame to ruin the chances for a quality mount because you mishandled your fish. Learn how to do it the right way.

So where are you going to go to catch that fish of a lifetime? That’s a darned good question and one that stumps many great anglers that are far better than I am. I like to think that late November is forcing the fish to set up in the areas that they will be patrolling when the ice begins to form. I am talking about the shallow water areas that small fish inhabit during first ice. Of course, the medium fish chase the small fish and the monsters are following the medium guys. Simple, right?

Wrong. I tire of seeing my buddy Hall of Famer Mike Norris posting Facebook photos of his clients catching huge smallies in 50 feet of water in late November. Geneva bass run in 30 to 40 feet these days, against all normal common knowledge.

Although there are guides banging them in the depths, there are still plenty of fish heading into the shallows. Realize that a lot of the waterways we have in Northern Illinois don’t have the kinds of deep water that these Wisconsin lakes do, so take what you can get. Let’s say that you are going to fish on the Fox Chain, you aren’t going to find 30 feet to fish in, so find more likely shallower areas.

Job one right now is to catch fish. The bigger the better. The second objective is to prepare for ice fishing season, if that is your bailiwick. It’s a heck of a lot easier running your boat around while looking in the water, or on your sonar unit for likely ice spots than it is to run around the ice poking holes with your auger, looking for hot spots when your lake is frozen over.

• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.