Another slow day. Only caught four. Two were one lb. fish. The other two were a bit bigger. A 3 lb’er followed by a 4 lb. bass. 
 

Only two baits got bites. One of the one lb. bass was on an A-Jay Soecial. The other three were on a black/blue jig with a black/blue craw trailer. I have not had much success with that combo in a jig, so although slow, I’m happy that this jig-n-craw rig got bites. Viscious bites, too! 
 

Well my bass season has come to a close. Cold  with highs in the 30’s and straight N winds means raw in northern Michigan in November. First day all fall I had to put the gloves on with wind coming right off the lake. We closed with a whimper, but still produced with a few keepers and a lost-at-shore walleye. Prior trip I got 5 keepers, a walleye and pulled it away from a big male Atlantic. Jerkbaits in bright colors got our fish today and paddles were quiet aside from the lost walleye. 
 

I can’t say enough nor complain a bit about my first serious bass season. I didn’t even plan on it at all, but it definitely “kind of just happened”. I fished from shore the majority of the year with a late summer through early fall run with my kayak for largemouth. I started the season with a smallmouth on a paddletail and ended it with a smallmouth on a jerkbait on the same river…I counted literally the other day but already forgot how many fish I’m at, but know it’s just shy of 500

 

Fished with one buddy above a dam yesterday morning and he got two largemouth, I got nothing. He had to leave by 1 o’clock so I met another buddy down below the dam for the afternoon. We both got a LMB or two early then it went slow for a bit. I felt something weird on my line, turned out to be a 22” walleye! Hello frying pan. After that I got a nice SMB that was being chased by an absolute monster SMB. The one I caught was a fat 18” and the chaser completely dwarfed it, I’ll be seeing that in my dreams for a while. Also saw a float plane out enjoying the fall foliage. Water temp still 65ish
 

 

 

That's a fat smallmouth, Russ, so the "one that dwarfed it" haunts me too! I love seeing floatplanes. They're a big part of bush country fishing in northwestern Ontario. I hired half a dozen to keep my dad in his beloved wilderness through his seventies. 

@TnRiver46 those are some gorgeous pics. Really beautiful. 

Good day on the water, two bass and three pickerel.

Bass was 2.5#, pickerel around the same. Smaller bass

was 1.5 pounds, other 2 pickerel were 1 and 1.25 pounds.

 

Zman minnowz on 1.8oz zman jig head, and the middle

pickerel was on a microjig with a mini chunk trailer.

Got out for a bit this morning, caught a LMB under a dock with a jig my buddy tied. I only used the kayak because I had two hours free time and the wind was blowing bad on the main lake , not so bad near the dock. The trees, especially hickories by the dock, were showing off 

 

This marked my 8th day in a row doing at least some fishing (there were a couple skunks involved). Short days are good and bad, good because I can be somewhere after fishing by 7 pm but bad because I want to fish longer

 

Fishing eight days in a row???

 

Forget about being like Mike.

 

Be like Russ!!!

These were yesterday evening.

 

 

 

Been building confidence with jerkbaits. I got these today in about 2 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proud of these as it was cold air temperatures and windy. Hard fishing conditions.

  Late fall in the midwest is quickly approaching to be my favorite time to get on the water.  There's some struggles, but in general there is opportunites for both numbers and size.  The bite window is shorter, but it's packed full of action.  I spent Tuesday/Wednesday on a beautiful and comfortable day, sun and temps in the high 50's.  The bass and the birds were set up early morning on a pinch point that opens up from 15-25' fow.  This location is becoming close to automatic historically for me.  Overall, both mornings had at least 30 fish with about 6 over 4lbs, so plenty of action and a few decent ones even if it wasn't a big bass school.  First up was slow rolling a 1/2oz underspin w/ a 3" largo shad, casting up into 15' and tracing 4-5' off the bottom out into 25'fow.  The hits were subtle, maybe a tick, but mostly they just got heavy.  As the sun came up, more shad were chased/pushed up and I switched to a heavy jigging spoon working aggressively by reel ripping it off the bottom and tightlining it back down, even working it in 2-3 bursts.  Many hits were swipes/not hook ups, but after a miss a couple fast handle turns and rod lifting would almost always give them time to circle back and connect or allow their chasing buddy to get caught.  Fast was key!

 

 

 

 

@softwateronly, that spoon isn’t even fair to the fish! I thought it was a live gizzard at first glance 

Now yesterday morning saw a bit of winter show up.  Overnight temps got into the 20's and we had our first significant snow with a good stiff wind out of the north.  Not the most comfortable fishing, but I was really expecting the cool down to effect the shad and ignite the bass.  I went to my pinch point shortly after first light and threw the underspin and got rewarded with 6-7 decent bass in the first 3 hours.  So good, but somewhat disappointing compared to my expectations.  I was motoring back to the dock, and noticed the gulls swarming and diving over a 35' deep flat.  I pulled up in the vicinity and dropped anchor so as not to get blown off in a matter of seconds.  I had a jighead minnow rigged and tossed it at the first boil, slammed but no hookup and as I was reeling I got 2 more bites but still couldn't bring in a fish.  I tried my underspin, various jigging spoons, and a small crank, still nothing and the gulls are still feasting all around 30-40 yards of me.  Finally a boil and a successful gull happen close enough where I can see the size of this shad school, and they're about 3 inches.  So it finally dawns on me that everything might have slowed down a bit because of the temps and I start to think flutter spoons.  First cast, tightline and count, 16 seconds in and the rod is practically ripped from my hands.  Now I have enough info and was lucky to get in on what I thought was gonna happen.  I played with various flutter spoons in the 3-5" range and was rewarded bby all of them.  I pulled at least 20 into the boat with a few 4's and 2 5lbers.  

 

 

Cool to crack the code! You catch four-pounders so easily. I'm happy for you, but I'm also green with envy.

 

Hardcore fishing!  I don't miss those days. At least you were rewarded.  👍

On 11/5/2025 at 7:49 AM, Swamp Girl said:

 

I've watched it on YouTube a couple times. I need to watch it again and give it a try. Punching a hook through me a second time to cut below the barb hurts!

The braid method is FAR less painful. About like ripping off a bandaid.

On 11/8/2025 at 10:03 AM, FryDog62 said:

Medium Light, topwater popper.. boom! 

I could not imagine what that explosion was like. Somehow ....boom...seems like an understatement!

More like a detonation maybe? Bet that drag was singing!

@softwateronly, is that a Chatillon scale in one of you're pictures?

Old school, batteries never die on em.

Quote

 

 

1 hour ago, herder said:

@softwateronly, is that a Chatillon scale in one of you're pictures?

Old school, batteries never die on em.

 

 

It is!  Got it in the late summer and definitely chose it for that very reason.

 

scott

Was off work today so I went out for a bit. We had light snow Sunday. Today it was 60 lol. Gotta love Iowa. Had 2 bites in an hour. I did something I Really didn’t do this year and switched lures a lot. Hard jerk bait, rattle trap, spinner bait, finesse jig and a caffeine shad. Caffeine shad sealed the deal on one lil guy. He pulled hard for his size. But man he was cold. Water temp is definitely too cold to be productive. 

1 hour ago, Joedodge said:

But man he was cold.

 

I know what you mean! The bass I catch in April are so cold that it almost hurts to touch them. I cast into my pond two days ago from the shore and was skunked, so you're one ahead of me for mid-November. 

1 minute ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I know what you mean! The bass I catch in April are so cold that it almost hurts to touch them. I cast into my pond two days ago from the shore and was skunked, so you're one ahead of me for mid-November. 

lol I need to just hang it up for the year. But I’ll keep plugging away a little til I can’t 

I've been hunting so I'm just now seeing this.

 

Remember if you hook yourself deep, you could get a serious infection.  Blood infections can be fatal.  Make sure you are up to date on your tetanus.  They are good for 10 years.

 

Just a FYI

Brrrrrr! Got in. Got bites. Got out. Daiwa Catalina TW, Daiwa Tatula XT 7'3" H, 20lb Big Game. Shellcracker G2 in bone.

 

PHAT phish!!!

I'm becoming a one bass wonder. Fished today from 7a - 1p and caught one. Air 33 - 65 Water is 60. The backs of coves are full of baitfish.