Sarley: Fall fishing can produce some of the biggest fish of the year

An awful lot of fishermen have packed it in for the season. It’s cold, I have to admit.

The forecast for the next two weeks ranges from the 60s down through the 30s. I can’t try to force you fine folks to push your limits for enduring Mother Nature’s moodiness, but why not spend an hour or two sneaking in a last few casts for the 2025 open water season?

It’s funny how we approach spring and fall. In spring, we are excited for fishing to begin. We push to stay out on the water for as long as possible. In fall, we can’t seem to wait until the fishing day comes to a close. We are afraid of the coming cold.

I look at spring and fall as being comparable. Like in the spring, now is the time for short fishing expeditions. Cold weather can be the cause of hypothermia and frostbite. I’m pretty certain that frostbite won’t strike until the temps drop below freezing, but hypothermia can attack at surprisingly higher temperatures. Hypothermia is no joke, and we’ll talk about it in depth later.

These days, many fishermen are gearing up for the ice fishing season. I’ll be totally honest and tell you that I am not the biggest ice aficionado. It’s a fine thing to do, but I only do it a time or two every winter. It seems silly to me to sit around and wait for ice to form on our favorite waters, rather than still hitting open water, as long as it lasts.

Fishing in the fall on open water can produce some of the biggest fish of the year. Fish are going on eating binges in order to bulk up for the winter. When the ice forms, fish tend to stop eating and get into a state that resembles hibernation. They just don’t seem to eat much until the spring. Right now, fish are trying to fill their bellies with as much food as they can possibly ingest.

Fish in rivers don’t seem to slow down as much as lake fish do. The first two weeks of the new year turn the muskies on in the Fox River, and I can’t explain exactly why.

Back to lakes and ponds, this is a great time to sneak in a couple of hours of fishing. This is just like the spring as to where the fish are. Ice season begins with the fish in the shallowest of water. Right now, the fish are staging for the ice to come. They are pushing more and more shallow as the thermometer drops.

Please remember that everything I say is a generality, not a hard fact. Yes, you can still catch deep water fish pre-winter, but most of the fish are in the shallows.

So if fish are looking to fill their bellies now, would you expect them to eat bigger baits or eat smaller baits, or a lot more of them? Good question. The general rule of thumb is to throw bigger lures and huge minnows in the fall. If you are looking to catch big numbers of fish, big baits will deter smaller fish from biting your offerings, and I don’t think that is fun. I think large-to-medium sized bait offerings work just fine in the fall.

One thing I always have with me for fall fishing is a pair of latex surgical gloves, just like the ones that they have in your doctor’s office. They keep the wind off your skin and keep your hands dry. That’s important.

Now, get out there for a little colder weather fishing and make sure you send your pictures to me.

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