Livebait a wise choice as fall begins
Though I use artificial lures and baits in the majority of my fishing, there are times when livebait is appropriate. The onset of fall ushers in opportunities for using livebait, both of the store-bought variety and wild minnows trapped in small creeks.
When fishing with live minnows on lakes, I prefer to use a circle hook to minimize the chance of a deep-hooked fish, as I release all of the bass I catch.
But for a circle hook to work properly, it requires a fairly shallow angle between the rod tip and the fish's mouth. And it needs the fish to be moving away from the boat, which can be tough to get when fishing in deeper water.
So if it's deeper than 15 feet, I tend to go with an octopus hook, giving the fish little time to take the bait deep. When using a circle hook, simply tighten the line by raising the rod tip as the fish swims away. When done like this, fish will be hooked in the corner of the mouth most of the time.
When rigging for bass and walleyes with live minnows, boat control is a key component. Allow the rig to free fall to the bottom under the boat. Then, using either a bow or transom mount electric motor, slowly work along the edge of the contour, allowing the bait to bump along the bottom. Impart lots of stalls in your progress, so the bait pendulums back to the boat.
Keep a sharp eye on the sonar, letting out line or taking it in as depths change. A GPS unit that lays down a trail of your movement is an asset in this situation.
When you find that spot on the spot where fish are holding, which is common in the fall, you can keep working the area with precision.
A longer rod is a plus for rigging deeper water, both in manipulating the bait and in picking up line during a sweeping hookset.
On rivers, both rigging and jigging have their applications. As water temperatures drop from the low 50s into the 40s, smallmouth bass and walleyes begin collecting in predictable locations. Deeper pools with little current provide the needed habitat at this time of year.
When walleyes and smallies are actively feeding, they tend to slide to the shallow edges of these holes. In all honesty, when they are up near the bank and in the tailouts of such pools, it's better to go after them with artificials. Tubes, stickbaits and crankbaits are more efficient when dealing with actively feeding fish.
But as fall progresses, these fish aren't active much of the time. You still can pluck a few by dangling a lively minnow in their faces as they hold in a neutral or inactive state in the depths of such a pool.
Many of the deeper pools that hold bass and walleyes at this time have steep breaking shorelines. One of my favorite fall tactics is to drift 20 to 30 feet off of the bank and pitch a jig-n-wild-minnow downstream toward the shore, allowing it to bump down the dropoff as the boat catches up with it.
I go with the rig setup when working the expanses of a pool. Starting at the upriver end of the pool, drift along with the light current, fishing the rig as vertically as possible
Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.
