Sarley: The lures to use when fishing in (normal) fall temperatures

As I sit here writing this, I am looking at the weather report telling me that it is pushing 90 degrees. It’s hard to write an article about fall fishing when it is still shorts and T-shirt weather out. The weather makes fishing harder to figure out too.

I am going to talk about what fish like to chase at this time of year under normal circumstances. Fall, which is the predecessor to ice fishing season, usually gives us cool days and cold nights. Fish realize that winter is coming and they tend to feed voraciously. They like larger baits and aren’t afraid to go after big meals.

If live bait is what you prefer to use, keep your offerings bigger than what you have used all year. Big minnows are expensive, but they are what the game fish prefer. A lot of musky fishermen like to use huge sucker minnows for big muskies. I’m not a fan of live bait for muskies, but I do know that they work really well.

The first time I used live bait for muskies, the guide told me to let him know when I felt a bite. He then lit up an unfiltered cigarette and told me to wait until he had finished it. Then he shouted to set the hook. When I reeled the fish in, it had swallowed the hook so deeply it was impossible to take the hook out without killing the fish. So sad.

Today’s muskie anglers have the advantage of using quick strike rigs. These bait rigs allow an angler to hook the fish immediately instead of waiting until the bait is swallowed. Release is much quicker and humane.

For other types of game fish, this is still the time to be using lures that are a size larger than you normally use in the rest of the year. I also prefer dark color lures in the fall. For some reason, black baits catch more fish for me in the fall. That’s just a preference, not a hard and fast rule.

So where do we find the fish in the fall. My old mentor, Spence Petros, always answered that query by saying, “They’re either shallow, deep or somewhere in between.” He was right in the fact that you can never know.

You need to be equipped with a number of lures so that you can work different depths until you have them figured out.

I’ll tie on a Whooper Plopper to see if they are on the surface. The Plopper stirs up a lot of water and makes a lot of noise. Use the medium size if you are out for bass. Dark colors work best.

For medium depths, I like to use a Z-Man Chatterbait. This lure has great action and makes quite a ruckus in the water. I’ll start with black and go from there. Depending on how fast you retrieve it and how high you hold your lure tip, you can work this bait at many depths in the water column.

If you find that the fish are still patrolling the bottom of your favorite lake or pond, I would probably try using a heavy football-head jig, tipped with a large plastic. The football jig stands up straight and makes the plastic stand up, as well. I’d be thinking about tipping my jig with a plastic, something like an eight- or 10-inch reaper tail. This may seem too big, but I learned the hard way that this is a size that hungry fall bass approve of.

Now get out there and good luck. Send me your pictures.

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