Why you should spend more time fishing than hunting during the late fall, starting with number one, capitalizing on the fall feeding frenzy. Yeah, now, the fish that have been feeding up this fall, trust me, they've been active, and you've been catching a lot of fish. Well, this continues on through the fall and into the early winter when a lot of guys are out hunting. It continues on. You can still catch them on crankbaits and on spinnerbaits and on buzzbaits. The bass are up there chasing the baitfish and feeding heavily, getting ready for the wintertime, and this is a great time to be out on the water just catching. I mean, it's a lot of fun.
Now, for you guys up in the northern climate, this can go all the way until ice-up, right? I mean, literally, it's going to get cold, so it's really all about your comfort level at this point. But layer up, get those...basically the wintertime clothing on and go out there and enjoy it. The temperatures might be in the low 40s right now, maybe the upper 30s, is getting close to...you know, pretty soon it's going to be all ice, but you can still catch fish all the way up to that. It can be a great time to be out fishing.
Reason number two, you practically have the lake to yourself. This is what I like the most about the fall, is that a lot of the fair-weather fishermen and a lot of the guys who like to hunt are off the water. And even some of those guys are...the guys are really into football, like, "Hey, football season is here. I'm going to watch football with my buddies." None of that's wrong. There's no judgment here. That's fine if you all want to do that, but for me, that means I have the lake to myself. And this is a great time because typically when it's warmer out, you got a lot of recreational boaters out there and anglers. You might go to your first spot to go fishing, guess what, there's a couple guys on it. So you move to your next spot, guess what, there's an angler on that. You go to your next spot and so on and so forth. And it gets to the point where either there's people on this area where you want to fish or that area's already been fished hard by some other people. Not this time of the year. Now, you have the luxury of going wherever you want to, and basically, there's no one around, which is really cool because a couple things.
Number one, you can fish that area a lot more thoroughly and slower. You don't have to worry about someone coming up on you. And that allows you to really pick apart a productive area and find those sweet spots. Find something, you know, boulders, brush pile, weed lines, things that you may not have found before. You can go back and forth with your graph or just fish it heavily and feel with your lure. But you can learn more about those productive areas and find those hot spots within them at your leisure.
The other thing about it is you get to fish spots that normally you may not be able to or want to when it's really busy out. I know, for myself, there are areas on the lakes that I fish that I know that are good, that are hot spots, but they tend to be places where other anglers pass over or they miss. They'll go by it as they're flying down the lake to the next spot. And I don't want them to see me fishing those areas because they're going to go, "Hey, I wonder what he's fishing," you know. And they'll circle back later and graph it and start fishing that area. I'll give away some of the spots I know that are really good that are often overlooked by other anglers. I'm not going to call it a secret spot because there's no secrets anymore. So I'm not as arrogant to think that I found some certain spots that nobody else knows about. But, you know, if I can lessen the visibility of these areas, the better. Let someone find it like I did, the hard way, right? You just got to put your trolling motor down and fish it. So, now, with the boat traffic down, I can go fish those spots and catch a lot of fish. And you can do the same thing, the body of water that you're fishing.
Reason number three, this is a great time to explore new waters or bodies of water that you normally don't get to fish during the warmer months. So, for example, you know, in the warmer months, you've got lots of recreational activity and angler activity. I've got a few lakes in my area that I will not fish during the summertime. I just won't because there's so many water skiers and jet skiers and ocean-going vessels putting out giant wakes. It just turns the whole body of water into victory at sea. Plus, it tends to shut the bite down with all that activity. And there's a lot of bass anglers out there too that you got to compete with. So those body of waters, I tend to leave alone during the warmer months.
And, now, that's when I come back and start fishing them again, when I basically have the lake to myself except for some other anglers out there. It's nice and serene, and now I can go fish those areas. Or if you want to fish a new body of water that maybe you've tended to shy away from, again, because they're very popular areas for vacationers or whatnot, now is a good time to go and visit them and check them out and learn them without having to deal with all the hassles at the boat launch or all the recreational boaters out there, the drunk boaters out there, you know, that kind of stuff. You don't have to worry about that this time of year. So it's a really good time to explore new waters or to finally visit those bodies of water that are too busy during the summer months.
Reason number four, just enjoying the season. I mean, this is really the great time to be on the water because most of the activity is gone, right? The boat launch, whether you're launching or loading the boat, is virtually empty. You don't have to deal with the circus that's going on there. The waters are calm, almost slick, smooth, quiet, serene. You can hear the wildlife and see the wildlife. What I like...right now people are getting ready for Thanksgiving, right? They're thinking about that more than anything else, and they're getting ready for the winter.
And while I'm out there fishing, in my neck of the woods, I almost always hear a chainsaw off in the distance, right? People cutting wood for the winter, for their wood stove or whatever. But just hearing that off in the distance, that sound, I don't know, it's a calming sound to me. And it's quiet. Don't be out there playing around in the yards or mowing the lawn or all this other activity. It's serene. You can hear the wildlife. I have eagles in my area, and you'll often hear eagles calling to each other across the trees. And just hearing that sound or the hawks, seeing the deer, to me, it's just kind of like... [vocalization], right? You know? It's just...I get a chance to center myself and to calm down and relax and enjoy the serenity of being on the water. And, of course, the big plus of it is there's less fishing pressure going on right now. So you have a higher chance of catching fish, sometimes some really good ones. So, now, it's a really good time to be out just enjoying the fall season.
And, finally, reason number five, going out on a good note. Now, for those of you who fish, again, Florida, you know, down the southern area of the U.S., you guys, "Yeah, I got to fish all year long, all during the wintertime," cool, great for you. Wonderful. That is great. But for the majority of us, especially the northern climates of the U.S., ice-up is coming, right? Or just the weather gets too cold, the road conditions and the snow and ice, it doesn't make fishing feasible. We just kind of pack it up for the winter. I don't, not my climate. Most people, it's the end of the season for them. Already the hard water comes, and they have to pack it up. So going out on a good note, extending the season out all the way towards as far as you can into November, catching a few more fish, and enjoying just being out fishing, that makes cabin fever more tolerable, right?
If you're in the season catching some good fish, then it just makes that wait for spring shorter, right? It makes everything kind of...if you want on a good note, it just makes things more palatable while you're waiting for things to warm up again so you can get back out on the water. Or even while you're...at this time of the year, when you're in the wintertime, when you can't go out, you're tinkering with your boat and your fishing gear, it makes it more enjoyable because you can reflect on those recent memories of being out on the water. So just you guys that really like to go out and hunt this time of the year, great. It's a lot of fun. I know why you do it is exciting. But if you can fit in a few fishing trips in between your hunting trips and extend your fishing a little bit further into this late season, you're going to enjoy it, and you're going to see the benefits why. And going out on a good note like that really makes next season even better.
So those are my five reasons why you should be out fishing more than hunting during this time of the year. Hope that helps. For more tips and tricks like this, visit bassresource.com.
