by Henry Cowen
www.henrycowenflyfishing.com
If September’s cool weather carries forward to October, then fly anglers can finally break out the heavier weight gear for striped bass. It is likely that we have already been playing with topwater stripers for the past couple of weeks. Put away the 6 and 7 weight outfits and get the 8 and 9 weight outfits back in service.
For most lakes around North Georgia, October means it’s time to keep a pair of binoculars handy as it is TOPWATER season. The lakes will surely have started their turnover process and the Corp of Engineers should be pulling water down every afternoon to get the lakes into their winter water levels. This has a lot of significance to anglers who want to search for busting fish as the pull of water creates a manmade tide (if you will) and causes the fish to look up and eat on or just below the surface.
In early October our bite should start out with the spotted bass being the most consistent topwater feeders. They will feed on both small shad and blue back herring. You might find singles breaking the surface or wolf pack groups of 10-15 fish blowing up on top. Either way, a run and gun approach is what you need. Make sure your trolling motors are charged to the max as you will be moving all around to get to these fast feeding demons. While it is always best to employ your electric motor to keep as stealthy an approach as possible, sometimes you just have to give in and use the big engine to get up on the fish as quickly as possible.
Fly rodders can have a ball tossing floating lines with Wiggle Minnows and Game Changers attached to 15-pound tippet. Put your rod under your arm and strip with a hand over hand retrieve and watch these fish explode on your offering. It is some of the most exciting fishing of the season. Generally speaking, Lanier’s bass and stripers will be mostly a herring bite. By the time we get into the end of October, it is likely that the bite will change over to a small sized threadfin shad pattern. Last year our striper bite started around the third week of October with crazy numbers of fish feeding on the surface. A blitz on top looks like someone has put a blender on the water’s surface! I suspect this year will be off the chart good as we have seen an entire year class of fish (2012) that can tolerate slightly warmer surface water temperatures due to their smaller size (6-8 pounds). My guess is that the stripers will be feasting on both 1 ½”-2” long threadfin shad as well as 4”- 6” long blue back herring.
Start by tossing herring type flies or lures (if conventional fishing). Any small to medium sized fly thrown on an intermediate slow sinking line should get you a bite. What fly you throw is not that important. However, what is important is to MATCH THE SIZE OF THE SHAD OR HERRING. So small flies like my Something Else or Albie Anchovy are good choices if you are in the middle of a threadfin shad blitz. Game Changers are your ticket for matching the herring blitz, which tends to end earlier if the water cools down below 70 degrees. Conventional anglers can toss small bucktails on light lines or even a casting bubble rigged with a small fly to match the shad and can toss Sebiles, Redfins and Chug Bugs if the stripers are feeding on herring.
By the time our beloved Georgia BullDawgs are 8-0, you can rest assured that the threadfin shad bite will be going off. First light until 9am will also be another good time to get out and give these fish a try. On Lanier, the fish will show best from mid-lake down to the south end. You just need to ride and keep a set of binoculars handy to help spot the busting fish. There are no birds on Lanier to help find the fish in October. No sir, that is November’s pattern to help locate the fish.
One last thing anglers can do is start fishing the shallow sandy points by the end of the month. You do this using intermediate lines along with bigger flies like 5”-6” long Deceivers, Snake Flies and the like. It is at this time of year that the Bomber bite fires up. Conventional anglers will toss Bomber Long A lures on shallow sandy points in the dark and catch stripers feeding shallow on gizzard shad. Best colors for the Bomber bite is bubble gum pink, black or dark purple. If you have never tried this bite, you have no clue what you are missing.
As a fly rod angler, I toss a hookless Bomber Long A until I get a tug. I am using my hookless Bomber as a bird dog to help locate the fish. Then I break out my fly rod and throw it until I move on to another point and start with the conventional gear again.
So that is what October has in store for North Georgia anglers. This strategy will work on other area lakes too as stripers don’t know where they live. They just want to eat. Try these tactics on Lakes Hartwell, Allatoona, Carters and even Clark’s Hill. Just remember that while you are awaiting a topwater bite to occur, you can toss these same flies and lures on humps that are 20-25’ deep. Any hump that is around deeper water will more than likely hold a fish or two, and you can raise them up on a fly or lure worked near the surface. These fish are usually feeding on herring in the 4-6” length. So tossing Sebiles, Redfins or pencil poppers can get you a few extra bites while waiting for surfacing fish.
Cool mornings, crisp nights, UGA football and dreams of marauding fish with stripes along their sides. What could be better? See you on the pond!