Days are shortened, rivers are low, beaver dens are exastorbating this. Translates to later bites. I mostly threw Big TRD on 3-16 oz head and dead sticked in deep water with shade (warmer). This worked past when the mid day sun heated things up a few degrees.
The parade of pigs on this day started with an 18" from slow deep water.
A few 15 -16 started to show up on the hook and I knew it would be a good day thereafter. Even caught a couple 17" fish which had seemed to be absent in recent weeks. Only 1 of last 16 bass over 17" was a 17". Not complaining, just odd to be so top heavy.
Here's an 18.5" that hit a Sammy 100 6' from me. It had fouled on multiple leaves and the fish hit it reeling straight in. That's a first.
Sammy 100 strikes! 19"
Big TRD flosses rootwad and produces fabulous 19.5"er.
I'm here to tell you, in central Midwest rivers, there is likely no Fall bite. See the below sample, Hours to catch an 18+ are lower in Summer than October, catch per hour rate is higher in Summer. Fall is characterized by little to no rain, low clear water and leaves in the water column making many presentations ineffective.
Cold months, you catch less fish but often they are bigger fish. If you are good at fishing in the Winter.
See below tan bars for Summer months are smaller to catch an 18+ than October, and Brown bars which signify catch rate are much higher than all of Fall. Additionally, November through April are often the best times to catch bigs quickly, but that is late fall through Spring.
41 SMB 19.5", 19", 18.5", 18", 2-17", 3-16, 10- 15-15.75"
41 SMB 19.5", 19", 18.5", 18", 2-17", 3-16, 10- 15-15.75"
