Hybrids and stripers are much more active, chasing schooling shad all over the lake in October. Early mornings and late afternoons you can sit in the mouths of major creeks and see shad skipping across the water and swirls of the bigger fish chasing them. Casting a jig or small crankbait will draw strikes from these hard fighting fish.
After dark, hanging a lantern over the side of the boat in the same areas, or under bridges, and soaking live minnows is a fun way to spend the night - if you have plenty of warm clothes.
Catfish still hit both day and night during October. They move more shallow so bank fisherman can reach them better. Locate a point dropping off into deeper water, put out several rods baited with minnows, liver, cut bait or commercial bait, sit back and relax. You can get a mess of good eating cats and really relax at the same time.
Crappie are one of my favorite quarry from October on. They school up tighter and feed heavily on shad. I tend to catch a bigger average size crappie in the fall and winter. My best pattern is to find a standing tree in thirty plus feet of water. One that tops out under the surface, one that other fishermen haven't found, seems to hold more and bigger fish. I ride creek and river channel edges with my graph running to find such trees.
One that comes within 10 feet of the surface is perfect. I get right over the tree after throwing out a marker to help me stay on it. A 1/16 ounce white or yellow jig is lowered to 11 feet deep and twitched slightly. If the crappie don't bite fairly quickly, I drop the jig another foot and try again. In October the crappie are usually about 14 feet deep in mid Georgia where I fish but, since they will not go down to take a bait, I start where I am sure it is above them. I can't wait to get on the lake.
Tell me your favorite fall fishing patterns and stories at fishing.guide@about.com
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