There is some very cool weather heading in this week. I guess it’ll put the fish down for the season unless we have some warm days later in the month. With no boat, it’s hard to get out deep enough once they head for the deep.
There’s always trout.
Jeff
You got that right for sure. PLUS all this rain we are to get…geeze
It’s cold & rainy here (S.W. MO) too but the season isn’t over just time to change tactics. Try the little streams that didn’t produce last summer or that were too crowded. If ya give up, it’s gonna be a lo-o-ong winter.
We’ve had a bout of unusually cool & wet weather which has driven down my success rate to the cellar. Even in normal times ice up comes in about a month or so putting a permanent lock on things till spring. For now the long range forecast calls for a spell of warmer weather starting next weekend. I hope, hope, hope the forecast is right!
This is a great time to come west…we’re in the high 80s low 90s this week/weekend…sunny and pretty…
Stripers on Lake Pleasant are going nuts…
Lake San Carlos is low and giving up twin didgit bass…
Lake Roosevelt is providing non stop topwater action and will until the weather changes (usually around 1 November), and after that you can still catch lots of bass subsurface until the middle of December…
Saguaro Lake, which is right outside of the east end of Phoenix, is so full of fish that fifty fish days, mixed bass and big bluegills, are common (bass are small though, mostly 10 to 14 inchers)…
And, down here in Tucson, I’m too dang busy to fish…dag blast it!!!
Enjoy your winter season guys…I’ll sure enjoy the two or three days of winter we get each year ;).
Buddy
Buddy I’m with you on Saguaro. Don’t even need a boat I can just wade in Butcher Jones Cove. It’s a great place to fish. If you ever want to meet up let me know.
Well, Summer here wasn’t so great either. I kept on catching tiny tilapia and did not have the chance to go “out there”. Something always came up.
Oh well, there is trout like you said. I miss that from AZ.
If the water’s still soft enough to sink a fly in, the season’s not over. The sooner you put the gear away, the sooner the shack nasties come knocking on the door. For sanity’s sake I push the season as far as it will push.
Sure, I’ll still be out there flailing about churning the water surface to something resembling the head on a glass of draught beer.
Unfortunately, the success rate has gone through the floor. I fish until it gets so cold that I just don’t have fun any more. However, the odds of actually catching any of the warm water fish has just about gone to zero unless we get a nice 3-4 day warm spell.
Jeff
jeffnles,
Last year the same thing happened to me, I couldn’t catch a bluegill for anything until I happened to notice some green cattails in the midst of the brown ones. I started catching some bluegills and even a bass there for a while until that pattern fell apart too.
Hope that helps.
Fish unwieghted patterns very slowly. I tend to use some larger patterns at this time of year. Size 8 & 10 hooks. Also a lot of leech patterns.
Rick
I’m back to soft hackles myself. It’s what I start the year with while the water temps are still low and what I end it with as they cool down again. A painfully slow retrieve usually does the trick. watch the leader close because cold weather gills and bass don’t give you much. If the leader stops, hitches, jumps, or does any little thing you didn’t do to it, set the hook.
I agree with Rick. I have had retrieves as slower than a yard a minute. The 'gills still eat in the winter. I have even taken 'gills on dries. Try big (~size 10), dark, parachute patterns close to the bank in deeper water. Even better, tie on a nymph dropper. Since you are in Florence, at least some of your streams are likely to support populations of “warm water brookies”, red bellies (Red-breasted sunfish). They are probably the most active sunnies in cold water. It ain’t over 'til it freezes solid. In Tennessee and Kentucky, that is very infrequently.
Remember, “slow” is the word.
Good luck,
Ed
I’m hoping to get out on a couple streams before hard winter sets in. Gunpowder creek has a lot of “warm water brookies” (long ear and green sunfish) and Laughery Creek in Indiana has a lot of them and some smallmouth.
The lake that is about 10 minutes from my driveway is starting to slow down considrably. I caught a couple the other night on a white unweighted woolie bugger and a few more on an elk hair caddis (there was some type of hatch that looked a lot like caddis).
I’m not ready to give up, but the fishing is definately getting slower.
I just picked up a spare spool for my 5wt rod (thanks Art) and am going to put on a sinking line which will help me get out a little deeper.
Jeff
I managed half a dozen gills today in 40 degree weather. Its been cold here all week but I decided I had to get out so I went to a local park late. Size 16 bh pheasant tail behind a big size 4 conehead nymph pattern I used for carp worked for me. The big heavy fly got them down and got the gills attention and they ate the trailing pt when it came by a few seconds later.
Well, winter may be comin, but you can always tye fly’s to past the time. 
I fly-fished after dark last night. Air temps were 40-45 degrees F. Catching was slow, but I managed 6 crappies, 6 bluegills, and a 16.5" bass. All on a #8 yellow unweighted boa yarn leech. Retrieve was just slightly slower than what I’ve been using before it started getting cold around here.
Had another good fish on for about 10 seconds before it shook free. Probably another bass, or maybe a catfish.
Hello FishnDave, can you post a pic of your boa yarn leeches?
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
Do a search on this site. Boa yarn leeches were a FOTW a while ago.
Rick
why think of it as the end of the season…
Think vacation… tying time to restock… a get ready for a new year with bigger and meaner fish