Fall to wINter
reservoir I mentioned was Folsom Lake. What is unique, or maybe not so unique about Folsom, is there are good populations of both threadfin shad as well as pond smelt. The relevance of both species being well established in this lake is that you will find numbers of bass at different depths and parts of the lake that the bass are keying on. in the main body you may find fish on deep points or channel swings chasing smelt or you may find fish stacked in the mouth of coves or way up the river keying on the shad. Then it just becomes a choice of where you want to fish and at which depth you find you feel most comfortable.
Mostreservoirsin Northern Californiahaveahealthy populationoftroutaswell. asthe waterstartsto cool downthedept.ofFish and Game start their annual stockingoftrout. Thisprovides an excellent opportunity to throwswim-baitsand magnum top waters suchas thelunkerPunkerfora realtrophy basssince withthe coolingwater,thetrout move higher in the watercolumn. Usually,ifocusmyattention on the main body ofalakeif itargetthesetrophy fish during the fall.
Moving on to natural lakes. i will refer to Clear lake as the best example because 1. i am most familiar with it and 2. it is the largest natural lake in California. and finally, 3. is there anyone who fishes for bass and doesn’t love to fish this lake in the fall? it is truly a fish factory and is recovering fantastic from the die off experienced a few years ago.
Natural lakes have the benefit of large populations of vegetation in the water. The water also tends to hold at a more stable level as well. Yes, they get drawn down during the summer and fall, but not to the extreme seen on reservoirs. When fishing natural lakes with vegetation during the fall, i like to focus on live vegetation. it gets increasingly hard to find as winter progresses, but that just contributes to the bass grouping tighter and in larger schools. look for healthy, “springy” vegetation that appears green and fresh. if you can find this, you are guaranteed fish will be using it at some time or another. if you manage to find multiple species of aquatic vegetation mixed together, get ready
40
because it is really going to be
a productive spot. Grass with
hydrilla or hyacinth is almost
always going to have fish in or
near it. another benefit to natural
lakes is they are usually set up
for shallow fishing techniques.
electronics play less of a roll as
does keeping an observant eye
out for activity and a good pair
of Costa sunglasses to show you
weeds, wood, and even baitfish.
top waters are a big part of my
arsenal in natural lakes all the
way down to 65-degree water
temperature. Then i look more
to crank baits, chatter baits, and of course swim baits. The baitfish will follow the same annual routine of looking for bays, coves, and creek arms as they do in reservoirs, its just that these features are usually not as obvious as they are in places like oroville or Shasta. Keep an eye out for subtle points, or transitions from hard to soft bottom areas.
River systems in the fall can be an absolute blast. The one i’m most familiar with, of course, is the California delta. With over a thousand miles of water ways, the place is enormous. But seasonal patterns help to bring focus to your efforts and keep you fishing in the right kind of areas. The shad in the delta make a very strong push to bays and the back of creeks and dead end sloughs. almost all of my efforts in the fall to winter would be focused on these areas. Places such as little Franks tract, Mildred, the back of White’s Slough, telephone cut, etc. if you looked at a map and found these locations, you would see similarities with them and be able to use the similarities to find other locations that would work. Keep focused on fishing from just outside the current areas and working back into bays or sloughs. always check the very back of sloughs as well. There are times the bass can corral huge schools of shad in the ends of sloughs and literally keep them there for days. Here, i again keep my tactics shallow using top waters, spinner baits, shallow running crank baits, and smaller swimbaits. The same principle applies to vegetation here as natural lakes. look for lively weeds and mixtures of different types of vegetation.