Early Winter Predator Patrol

For the bulk of us, winter means the close to another season. It means deer season, cold, snow—and for those of us in the Ice Belt, frozen lakes. We make the most of it, but we’d all likely agree that ice fishing is a method to survive winter’s darkness while we anxiously await the springtime thaw.

While winter is imminent, it’s not quite here yet. If you’re willing to battle the late-fall elements, some of the best fishing awaits you—but you’re going to have to toughen up a bit. An investment in Hot Hands, a Whitewater Torque heated Fishing Vest, two pairs of wool socks and a bad attitude will get you there and back with some good stories to share.

You may have to wear a bunch of layers—do what you gotta do to stay warm. Just don’t break your cigars.

First, let’s discuss why late fall is a great time to target big predators. Well, because they eat the most. As winter sets in, it’s survival time for most critters, those that swim and those that walk on land. That means the time and effort putting in consuming as many calories beforehand is critical to making it to the great annual thaw. In other words, fish need to bulk up to prepare for winter and that means they often feed heavily during the final days of the open-water period.

While the above-described scenario applies to all fish to some extent, we’re going to focus on a few top-end predators, and elaborate on a few tried-and-true techniques that should be considered when chasing these fish during the waning days of fall.

Bass

Both large- and smallmouth bass can be caught consistently caught until ice-up, in fact they remain quite active even beneath the ice. It’s been said for decades and remains true today, bass aren’t really that hard to catch, it’s finding them that becomes the challenge.

As the water temps drops into the 50s, largemouth often move shallow after young-of-the-year bluegill, perch or even shad depending on where you live. The baitfish often clump together in large schools and stage in shallow water dense with cover—the bass know this and follow. This is a great time to flip big jigs in shallow brushpiles, grass and mats.

As the temperature drops even farther, the fish will bump out of the shallows and stage near mid-depth structure such as weed breaks, weed clumps like milfoil and cabbage—even if it’s brown, and they will remain there until ice sets in. This is when larger-profile and slow-moving baits are a great option. Remember, the fish are trying to consume as many calories as possible with as little effort as possible.

For my money, a vibrating jig, slow-rolled 1-ounce spinnerbait (or larger), tight-wobbling crankbaits and a recent productive favorite of mine is a glidebait, much like the Berkley Nessie Berkley PowerBait Nessie. The key to working large baits like this during the cold-water time period is to be able to effectively present it with as slow of a retrieve as possible.

When it comes to smallmouth, it is hard to beat a blade bait ripped up and allowed to fall on a tight line. Another fine option would be an Alabama rig—rigged legally to accommodate your state’s specific restrictions within that prestation—to represent a school of baitfish clumsily swimming around. It offers a chance for a feeding smallie to consume numbers of baitfish with a single effort, thus maximize calorie intake per effort.

It's also worth mentioning that livebait options exist for late-fall smallmouths, although that type of approach to bass is often looked down up by fishing elitists. Red tail chubs offer a calorie dense option for big smallmouths, and it’s a lot of fun. If you’re looking for a good time, consider drifting a 5-inch chub below a float, on river or lake, and hang on. You’ll probably bump into a big pike or walleye, too.

Walleyes

Speaking of walleyes, Ol Walter gets quite aggressive in cold water. This is a fantastic time to target these fish with both artificial and livebait options. Just like smallmouth bass, ripping a blade or rattling bait like a Rapala Rippin’ Rap or a Jigging Rap will produce plenty of results.

Slow rolling a rattling bait has long been known as a great cold-water spring presentation, but it’s certainly worthy of some swim time during the fall, especially when it gets cold. Drag them along rocky reefs and bump the boulders in the process. You can also rip this bait vertically if they’re real aggressive. The Jigging Rap is arguably one of the best fall and winter walleye baits you can find. The 2- and 2 3/4-inch models are my favorites this time of year.

Livebait is always a great option late in the year, and shiners and leeches will certainly work, but go big or go home, I say. The red tail chub is a great option to connect with the biggest walleyes in the area.

In both cases, implementing forward-facing sonar will help you place the bait in the right places and remain on top of a moving school of walleyes.

Channel Catfish

Catfish are awesome. They are quite active as fall turns to winter, and often ball up together in large schools in the deepest most complex holes in any river. In many cases, that’s below the dam in a river system. They are abundant, quite willing to eat a suspended bait and not willing to give up the fight in short order.

In any given stretch of river, if you’re able to locate the best holes with the best structure, you’ll find the cats. The use of modern lake mapping like Lakemaster will help you identify where to start, then implement side scanning technology to find the biomass of channel cats. Drift a big piece of meat below a float or suspend it vertically beneath the boat as you drift by.

A piece of filleted sucker side is a great option. In fact, after you read the next section, left over suckers make fine catfish bait after the muskie season has concluded. 

Catching these critters is where my passion for fishing began and I still take advantage of the pursuit anytime I can. Hard to beat the fall kittycat bite, if you ask me. Big meaty baits will get hammered by hefty catfish, and the fun is as good late fall as it is in the heat of summer—maybe better.

Muskies

Sometimes it’s hard to pick whitetails over muskies or muskies over whitetails. What I do I know is if there was ever a time when muskies can be easy, it’s during the final month of the Minnesota season, November. Whether you like to cast, troll or drag livebait, big muskies are packing on the pounds as best they can before the ice locks up the lakes.

They are the biggest they’ll be all year, and they remain quite active, even when the water gets cold. I find this to be my favorite time to chase muskies and my favorite fish to chase this time of year—under each preferred method.

If you’re going to cast, large rubber baits like the Muskie Innovations Magnum Bulldawg (The Pounder), Chaos Tackle Medussa and the Savage Gear 3D Burbot Tube. Anything that works with a pull-pause retrieve is a great late-season muskie casting presentation.

I also love to troll, especially up on Lake of the Woods or Eagle Lake out of Andy Myers Lodge. Focus on rock points, reefs and extended shorelines where whitefish/cisco come up to spawn when the water drops into the 40s. Great trolling bait options include Supernatural Big Baits Headlocks or Mattlocks, Musky Candies Custom Baits and the classic Grandma or Jakes in the 13- to 14-inch models. If you only took three lures with you, these three would work the entire time until the water turns to ice.

Dragging big suckers, to the tune of 15- to 20-inchers rigged on quick-strike rigs makes for some great fun, and a big hungry muskie can’t hardly resist a cheeseburger. If I have a favorite way to fish for muskies, this is it—during the fall. Whether in a lake or river scenario, keeping the live sucker out of snags or weeds is important, the use of a large float will keep the angler in control

In a lake, I like to move the boat at .5 to .7 mph on the deep edge of any weed line, or just off the edge of a rock ledge. Sometimes I keep the bait within 20 feet of the boat, but other times keeping it 30 to 50 feet out and 8 to 12 feet below the float is best. Once a fish eats, and you’ll know it, turn the boat around, catch up to the fish position yourself directly over top, tighten up and set the hook as hard as you can. And hang on! This event is best performed with a quality net man, and scoop that fish for a fast release.

It's a fun way to pursue muskies late in the year and the weather is usually brutal cold, but it’s worth it. Multiple fish per day can be common, and the big ones are typically quite impressive. The window is short especially since most muskie seasons close before the end of the year. Here in Minnesota, it’s over December 1, so we take full advantage.

The weather will challenge your body, your gear and your desire to keep at it—I guess that’s a big part of why I like it. It’s more of a hunt without the scent control! On occasion, I really enjoy a good cigar, but I like cold air as a compliment to fine tobacco, and dragging suckers for late-season muskies is a perfect time to enjoy both. Remember above when I referenced “breaking your cigars?” Well, Cigars International has a solution for that, a travel humidor not only keeps your cigars fresh, but protected and at the ready when a big fish hits the net and celebration is in order.

It’s a great combination as fall turns to winter mere days before the local lakes and rivers freeze up. Enjoy responsibly.

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