If you were dropped in from a helicopter, blindfolded, it would be hard to distinguish Pymatuning Lake from Mosquito Lake. Both are flatland reservoirs, bisected by an east-to-west running causeway. And both offer good fall fishing.

Pymatuning Smallmouth Bass

Spanning the Pennsylvania/Ohio border, sprawling Pymatuning Lake is best known for its solid walleye, muskellunge and crappie resources. But it also supports a good black bass fishery, one comprised of both largemouth and smallmouth. Early to mid-fall is a good time to catch them.

Largemouths outnumber smallies in Pymatuning, more so recently, according to fisheries surveys by the two state resource agencies that cooperatively manage the lake. But the brown bass often attain impressive size —three to five pounds —and show up most consistently at this time of year.

One of Pymatuning’s most significant forage species is gizzard shad. Gizzard shad don’t handle dramatic drops in water temperatures well. After clear, cold nights when air and water temperatures nose-dive, many shad are left stunned, some even dying.

This makes for easy pickings for opportunistic species such as smallmouth bass. They’ll often gang up near shallow flats and points, keying in on the abundant food supply that struggles close to the surface.

Key types of areas are long, gravel points and flats that taper off gradually into deeper water. We’re talking water that top off in three to four-foot depths, often with some green milfoil/curly pondweed present.

When conditions are right, you’ll notice surface activity as smallmouth corral baitfish. Also, seagulls and terns might be present, they, too, taking advantage of the aquatic buffet.

Feeding frenzies can be short-lived, or extend for multiple hours. Even when conditions are less than ideal, it’s likely some brown bass will be nearby. The action can be consistent, but not at the fever pitch encountered when you hit things just right.

Though prime types of areas are found scattered around the lake, some good examples include the rounded gravel points found between the Espyville/Andover causeway and the Orchard launch, along the east (Pennsylvania) shore.

Similar cover is located south of the causeway on the west (Ohio) shore, near the New Bowers boat ramp, as well as proximate the Ohio State Park campground.

Extremely shallow-running crankbaits, spinnerbaits, vibrating jigs (Chatterbait-style lures) and topwaters such as the River-to-Sea Whopper Plopper can all produce. Soft-bodied jerkbait, known generically as “flukes” to most anglers, also fare well, especially over weedy areas.

Pymatuning covers around 16,000 acres. It has a 20-horespower restriction. Boat anglers can fish with either a Pennsylvania or Ohio license, though shore anglers must have the license for the state being fished from.

Mosquito Lake Walleyes

Like Pymatuning to its east, Mosquito Lake has a forage base that includes gizzard shad. As the lake’s water cools, shad begin to school up in deeper (warmer) areas of the lake. It’s a prime time to catch Mosquito’s walleyes, ones that are keying in on grouped-up deep water shad.

Understand that the word deep is relative. On Mosquito, the deepest water is around 30 feet. During several late fall trips made last season, my friend Sid Brown and I caught numerous walleyes in the 16 to 20-inch range by focusing on channel bends, roadbeds and submerged bridges.

All the fish were caught by working blade baits in the ½ ounce range in and around this type of structure and cover. This pattern held until ice covered the lake.

For those unfamiliar, blade baits are compact, vibrating metal baits. Examples include the Silver Buddy, Binsky, VibE, and Heddon Sonar. Pull into any lakeside tackle shop around Mosquito Lake and you’ll find an assortment of blade baits from various makers, a testament to the lure style’s effectiveness on not only walleye, but northern pike and crappies too.

While blade baits can be cast and retrieved, at this time of year they often function best while fishing them vertically, i.e. straight under the boat. This gives you extreme control over the lure, an important factor when hovering directly over a creek channel bend or the edge of a submerged roadbed.

Blade baits are worked in a pumping action, one where you lift (pump) the bait upward sharply, enough to where the bait vibrates as it rises. The lure is then allowed to fall on a semi-tight line. In the cold water of late fall, I recommend keeping the pumps short, in the six-inch to one-foot range. You just want to get the walleye’s attention.

Allow the bait to hang motionless a few seconds between pumps. Some hits will occur during the hang. Others will happen on the fall, and often show themselves as fish that are “just there” when you make your next pump.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle