Fall Fishing = Shallow waters??

[syncronized77]

Hey guys,

First season for fall pike fishing and after watching hundreds of Youtube videos and reading up dozens of articles on fall pike fishing, is it right of me to say....

Cooler water = Larger Pike in more shallow waters??

Because that hasn't been the case for me...and alot of articles I've read have been contradicting each other!!

Pros for deeper water in Fall...

Article #1 for deeper water = Late summer and fall can be a strange time for pike fishing in a lake with no Muskie. In lakes where there are no Muskie, the Pike disappear into the depths of the lake.

Article #2 for deeper water = Once fall sets in, the northern pike will move out to deeper water as the weeds die off. The pike will feed on deep water baitfish schooled up and can be a little trickier to pinpoint in this deep water.

Pros for shallow water in Fall....

Article #1 for shallow water = Weed beds that reached the surface and choked shallow structure start to open up again as the water cools down. These areas become easier to fish not to mention that fish that are using weeds have fewer areas to hide. What also happens is that deep fish that have been relating to forage over open water or deep structure often move into shore and set up on the last remaining weed beds.

Article #2 for shallow water = Come fall, however, lake water temperatures cool to the point that big pike are no longer inhibited by temperature and are free to roam, which is exactly what they do. They push up into the shallows to hunt and I really do mean hunt, other fish.

Article #3 for shallow water = Sight fish the shallows and concentrate your efforts in 15 feet of water or less. This is the most productive pike water during this time of the year. Search the water body you are fishing for any green weeds because pike will relate to the last remaining green weeds available until freeze up.

I know there's only a few more weekends of boating left before everything gets packed up for the winter

[pikergolf]

In my personal experience the pike start moving shallow as soon as the water starts cooling. They feed heavily up until the water cools significantly and then start sliding deeper again. Find the food, find the fish, think white fish.

[dmcbride]

Hit the same areas where the pike spawn in the spring.

[syncronized77]

Thanks guys....that's what I was thinking, in the fall I would think that the larger pike would slide into shallower waters because of the cool down and then feed heavily until the winter months come. But then one of my brainy-know-it-all colleagues at work told me that with the weeds dying down in the shallow areas, there's less oxygen in that part of the lake, so larger fish would not roam those areas!

I think I'll just stick to my guns the next few weekends and fish the shallower areas still. It was just weird not seeing anything on my fish finder last weekend in the shallow areas may have been fluke

[Brandonkop]

I agree you will find some large pike in shallow water. In the fall the recipe is large lure and shallow water, cover ground! They are not sluggish. Use large whitefish looking cranks and you'll be in business.

Here is a video from last fall at Pinehurst lake fishing the shallows, got a big one to the boat. Lost a few others to long line releases and broken line.

This was our Ukrainian bass boat so we would survive the rain, haha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMyBJtMuudk

[ddddd05]

I would say that fall fishing for pike isn't happening yet. October is fall for them

[syncronized77]

Was out at wabs today to test the
Shallow Water in Fall=large pike theory....

8-9 feet at 58f (my fish finder is apparently American)....

40" for my dad....


And an even 3 feet for me....



Oh and neither of these were caught on whitefish looking lures, might need to wait a couple of weeks to use all those....these were both caught on perch colored crankbaits

[syncronized77]

Whoops....sorry guys, didn't realize the photos didn't go through, my bad!

My dad's 40" which broke my foldable net



And my 3 footer...

[EZM]

Fall pike go to where the food is. In fall the primary food source is likely this years minnows from game fish species.

Right now you will see their gullets are stuffed with shiners. Most pike, small to mid sized fish (up to 12 lb - 15 lbs ) will follow these food sources as this is their primary feeding behaviour.

Really big pike, (over 20 lbs) don't often eat minnows. They will, but this is uncommon and it's opportunistic feeding - not primary feeding behaviour. It takes too much energy to chase when your big, old and fat.

They eat dead fish and or ambush larger prey and don't move around much. Bait fishing is the best option for big old girls.

The bottom line is - they will be where the minnows are - and this can be shallow in one part of the lake and deep in another part of the lake. This has little or nothing to do with temperature of the lake, but more to do with O2 levels, food source for the minnows ( as the water stratifies) AND, of course, the food source itself (minnows in the case of fall).

[Remi3006]

Originally Posted by syncronized77

Whoops....sorry guys, didn't realize the photos didn't go through, my bad!

My dad's 40" which broke my foldable net



And my 3 footer...

Looks like Wab is running low on bait fish....

[chriscosta]

The fish are slowing down id put money on it if ya find a good drop off with lotsa weeds in shallow and simply work the drop off from shallow to deep slowly with a jig and minnow tight to the bottom youll have good results

[fish99]

in the fall after turnover look for the weed edge and troll or cast large crankbaits in perch or whitefish pattern and you will have blast catching the larger pike in that lake. keep an eye out for the odd large pike feeding on the surface.