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Since fish are cold blooded their activity levels
depend on a combination of water temperature and oxygen levels. The "Fall
Turnover" comes when surface water cools to the point that it drops down to
the bottom. This mixes and oxygenates stillwaters.
In moving waters cooler weather brings peak
action for trout, fall runs for salmon and steelhead and the last good fishing
for warmer water species such as bass and panfish. So it's time to get out. Such
seems especially the case since many species are loading up with food before the
long winter dormant period, and other species, such as brook trout, spawn.
Then too, catches don't seem to matter much this
time of year when the trees turn orange and gold.
Saltwater brings decent fall fishing between the
warm winds of summer and winter storms save, sad to say, on the Southeast Coast
of the United States that's lately collected far more weather and wet than
anyone likes.
Fall methods don't need to vary much. Remember
that bait fish get bigger, but fewer in numbers over the course of the year, and
hatches based on warmer waters taper off. So try larger lures and terrestrial or
minnow pattern flies and expect to do well.
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