By Capt. James McManus
Heard someone say they just saw the first Christmas decorations in a store, which means Thanksgiving is only a couple of months away, which means the fishing is going to start getting real good, real soon! Signs of the seasons are interesting for lots of reasons and lots of areas of our lives; fishing signs are no different. Once the baking, summer sun is gone and with it the bathtub water temps, fish here start to get real hungry. That first boat ride in the morning where you dig out your musty jacket or rainsuit just to keep from shivering your way down the lake, is one of my favorite signs. At Fontana, there are hunters with blaze-orange hats zooming up and down the lake with baying dogs fixed on the front of their boats…another sign of good fishing. My favorite sign, a total lack of jet skis, makes my heart skip a beat.
There are the wonder world of nature signs, with the color-change being front and center. Our lake has a sixty-foot drawdown every fall and just seeing those bankside rock formations tells me there are spots and smallies hiding just under that ledge. If you are a bank watcher, you will see more bears this time of year, as they eat the newly exposed frog egg masses hung in bank laydowns left by the receding water. My favorite signs are the splashes from breaking fish feeding on surface baits, hopefully within casting distance of my boat. All these signs, and more, are nudges to get me on the water more often; to turn off the game on tv and hook up the boat for the day.
Make it a point this fall to get off that couch, or out of that bed early and hit the water. The best fishing of the year is here so enjoy God’s gift and take kids young or old with you. Later, Capt. James
Capt. James McManus owns 153 Charters. Give him a call for a great day on the water at (828) 421-8125.