Help With October Fishing On The Big Piney

[larryb]

I am very excited as in about two weeks my brother and I are floating the Big Piney for the first time. I am from Missouri but have been living in South Carolina for thirty years (I guess that makes me old). We have quite a bit of smallmouth fishing experience in the Boundary Waters and Quetico but I am feeling a bit lost with fall conditions in the midwest.

My plan at this point is to have some small crank baits, some beetle spins, a few small inline spinners and some rubber, small plastic worms and maybe some jigs. I will also bring along a few topwater plugs but I don't see that working as the temperatures will be cooling.

Any comments on my plan or any suggestions would really help make our trip successful. Thanks.

[Gavin]

I'd bring along some weedless presentations just in case there are allot of leaves in the water... 1/4-1/2oz Spinnerbaits..Zoom Flukes, Jig & Chunk, Weedless Plastics on the bottom, and some Suspending jerkbaits. I'd imagine that the fish will be in their winter holes by then...look for deep water near current and spring holes if your not catching near the riffles. Have fun!

[larryb]

Hey thanks! That is very helpful. Any insight as to colors suggestions?

[Al Agnew]

One of the most important things you can bring in the fall is a water thermometer. Water temps and water temp trends are of paramount importance in the autumn, and will tell you what kind of lures might work best. For the most part the water temps will obviously be trending downward, but a few warm, sunny days can temporarily reverse that trend, which can often make the fishing better. But for the most part...

Water temps above 60 degrees--anything you wish to use, including topwater, has a good chance of working, as long as you can fish it in the leaves. Fish could still be in fairly strong current.

55-60 degrees--most stuff will still work, including topwaters if the water temps trend upwards, but crankbaits and spinnerbaits should work better. Fish will be in places where they are out of the stronger flows but close to them.

50-55 degrees--crankbaits and spinnerbaits fished slower and deeper, and suspending jerkbaits. Soft jerkbaits like Superflukes should also work, especially if fished with a little weight so they go deeper and stay there. Fish will probably be in slower, deeper water.

45-50 degrees--probably won't be nearly that cold when you're there, but if it is, you've got to go deep and fairly slow with whatever you use. The fish will be in very slow water.

At any temperature jigs and small plastic worms might work, by the way. As Gavin said, your biggest problem will be a lot of leaves on the water. If you get a windy day, it can get REALLY tough.

As for colors...assuming the water is as clear as it usually is in the fall, just think light colors for surface and shallow running lures; and darker, natural colors for lures that are fished near the bottom. My usual rule of thumb is to have some brownish and greenish colors, and black, in all your jigs, tubes, worms, etc. When you get to the river, just look at the color of the bottom in the deepest water where you can still see the bottom, and pick the color that most closely matches it...because that will be the color of the crayfish, bottom dwelling baitfish, and other bottom-dwelling smallie foods. I go to black if the water has some color.

[Gavin]

I'd head Al's advice...he knows those brown bass a heck of allot better than I do...the best fish catcher that I've ever floated with.

[larryb]

I'd head Al's advice...he knows those brown bass a heck of allot better than I do...the best fish catcher that I've ever floated with.

Thanks Al, that is great information and it will help a lot, here's keeping my fingers crossed for some warm weather. Again, thanks for taking the time to help me out,

Larry

[larryb]

We made it back from our four days on the Big Piney and wanted to thank Al and Gavin for the advice, it was right on.

The weather was windy and warm last weekend and there were leaves everywhere, interfering with fishing in the afternoons. The last day's leaves cleared in the morning until a new batch came down. There were deer everywhere and I thought we might get run over one night. Traffic seemed light and everyone was nice and helpful to beginners.

It is a beautiful river and I would definitely like to do it again. I think we tried to cover a bit too much water but it worked out in the end.

The fishing. Well, it took me a while to sort things out as this was my first river, smallmouth experience. As suggested, I tried just about everything and also watched what others were doing. Others seemed to be throwing small crankbaits, mostly rapalas but that was not the ticket for us. My brother stayed with the Rebel Wee Crawfish and did pretty well, the larger, deeper crawfish bait did not seem to work. I tried crankbaits and went with some topwater plugs without too much success. But eventually settled on a pearl colored Zoom Fluke. It is great to see those fish come up so far to hit it. I wonder if I might have done better with a different color but that is what I had.

I did not bring any tube baits but wish I would have given that a try as well.

I learned a lot and think I can do better next time, but then of course the conditions will be different and I will have to figure it out again.... that's fishing. Thanks again Al and Gavin,

Larry

[ozark trout fisher]

We made it back from our four days on the Big Piney and wanted to thank Al and Gavin for the advice, it was right on.

The weather was windy and warm last weekend and there were leaves everywhere, interfering with fishing in the afternoons. The last day's leaves cleared in the morning until a new batch came down. There were deer everywhere and I thought we might get run over one night. Traffic seemed light and everyone was nice and helpful to beginners.

It is a beautiful river and I would definitely like to do it again. I think we tried to cover a bit too much water but it worked out in the end.

The fishing. Well, it took me a while to sort things out as this was my first river, smallmouth experience. As suggested, I tried just about everything and also watched what others were doing. Others seemed to be throwing small crankbaits, mostly rapalas but that was not the ticket for us. My brother stayed with the Rebel Wee Crawfish and did pretty well, the larger, deeper crawfish bait did not seem to work. I tried crankbaits and went with some topwater plugs without too much success. But eventually settled on a pearl colored Zoom Fluke. It is great to see those fish come up so far to hit it. I wonder if I might have done better with a different color but that is what I had.

I did not bring any tube baits but wish I would have given that a try as well.

I learned a lot and think I can do better next time, but then of course the conditions will be different and I will have to figure it out again.... that's fishing. Thanks again Al and Gavin,

Larry

Sounds like a good trip. The Big Piney can be a little tough for anyone this late on in the fall, so it sounds like you did pretty well.