It happens ever year about this time and it’s been a constant reminder that fall is on the way. At my old shop where I used to build tackle, the windows of the shop faced the south and every year the noonday summer sun would light up the back windows of the shop but as the days started growing shorter in late summer the angle of the sun would start to droop to the south. Since the angle of the sun would slowly get lower in the south in late summer, instead of direct sunlight in the windows the trees to the south would cause the sun to cast shadows through the windows and the area would be shaded all day until the following June.

Since this is our 3rd fall here at the new house on the lake I’ve noticed that the same shadows are cast every year in our little cove. Soon the leaves will start to turn and those humid days will be replaced by passing cool fronts and much dryer conditions. There is usually a time in mid to late September when the water starts to make that shift and starts getting cooler and I noticed yesterday that the water temps were barely holding at 80 degrees. First time we’ve seen 80 for a few months.

My week started with a run out to the main lake on Monday morning and found very little wind to work with but there were pockets of chop on the lake that I could work with. I started with the emerald popper and threw it around points and humps where I could find a little surface disruption but to be honest, my morning topwater bite has been really lacking. I can get a few to come up but these bass know that the surface activity is driven by bluebacks and bluebacks don’t like to come to the surface until the sun gets high in the sky, like around noon. I moved from location to location on the main lake but around lunchtime the wind picked up a little and I found a large blow-through that was just loaded with bait and fish. The schools of bait were being blown over an old road bed of sorts and the stripers and bass were ambushing the bait on the leeward side of the roadbed. I broke out the big black pearl OG and started bombing it into the wind and bringing it back down wind where the fish were set up. First I was able to catch a nice spot but after that it was all big stripers and they were aggressive. I started catching one on every cast using the black pearl OG till finally one of the big stripers broke me off. It was a humbling lesson in checking my line after every catch. It was a clean break and it was more than likely from a nick in the line. I waited in the area for another 30 minutes hoping the fish would shake it out but it was to no avail as the black pearl was gone….

I was heartbroken because I was just getting into a grove with the bait and it was gone. I went back home after catching a few other fish here and there on smaller baits but my day was ruined. There was a bright spot as I had ordered 2 more OG’s and they were coming in the mail Monday evening so I had something to look forward to.

Tuesday I got out with my buddy Mike and our plan was to throw big baits for big fish but the weather had other plans for us and it was a day of hit and miss fishing with very little wind to work with so we had to got to the smaller subsurface baits to get good bites. Shortly after lunch the topwater bite turned on but with very little wind to work with, it wasn’t like it was on fire. We popped a few good ones on the surface stuff and called it a day in the late afternoon. Here’s a couple nice fish and probably our biggest 2 of the day.

Wednesday was a wash this week and the weather was pretty nasty so I stayed in and worked in the shop. Most of ya’ll already know but LJ and Cory over at Lanier baits are selling the Emerald Popper now and I think they should be stocking most of the stores around here with the popper. Hopefully very soon they’ll all be all stocked up on poppers before the fall popper bite really gets going. Lisa and I discovered the Emerald Popper in Sept. of 2014 and this month makes it’s 7th anniversary of fun with our little popper. We’ll have more on the popper later including a little video on how and where to use the Emerald Popper. Stay tuned.

So Thursday rolls around and the weather is still kinda nasty but it was the kind of day I like for fishing. These fish are banking on us fisherman staying home on the rainy days so they take a few more chances during bad weather. On Thursday I had my new OG’s ready and really wanted to give them a workout in the big chop out on the main lake and as luck would have it my crank battery died leaving me stranded out on the main lake in the wind, whitecaps and rain. I made a quick battery swap with one of my trolling motor batteries so I could get back to the house but before the battery issue I managed to give the OG’s a work out. It was mainly stripers but I did find a few nice bass on the new OG’s and I really had a good time out in the nasty conditions before the battery trouble started. When I got back to the creek I stopped and drift fished a few points since my trolling motor was basically dead. I found out late in the afternoon that the fish were really responding to the Z-dog walking bait I’ve been using from time to time so I just started rolling the the Z-dog and ended my day with it. Here’s a couple pics from my day and a video of the Bone OG 40 gm in action.

On Friday I made a little run out in the creek after charging the batteries and putting the old crank battery in the mix with the other 2 batteries for the trolling motor. It got me back on the water for a couple hours before the bad battery killed the trolling motor. I mainly just stayed close to home and used the little Z-dog on points and humps with brush. Here’s a few more pics of some late week Z-dog damage and I included a YouTube video “On the Cast Away Deck” from the week. Lake levels are up around full pool and the corps is still moving water during the afternoons and evenings.