Lake Sinclair’s 14,750 acres and Lake Oconee’s 19,050 acres are owned and operated by Georgia Power. Both lakes offer good angling throughout the year and the fall and winter seasons are exceptional times to be on the water. The transition from the hot humid days of summer to the cool, crisp mornings of fall is a welcome relief for the fish as well as for anglers.

The transition has already begun and anglers will do well to be on the water as the transition period progresses. Anglers who understand the impact of weather changes during fall and winter will have a greater success at catching fish. Both the fall and winter seasons are filled with cold fronts and changing weather patterns and they will have a serious impact on where the fish are located in the lake and whether or not the fish will be in a biting mood.

We are now seeing the changes that fall brings as the overnight and early morning air temperatures have begun to drop into the 50s and the daytime air temperatures have dropped into the 70s or low 80s. That drop in air temperature will result in falling water temperatures and those falling water temperatures will signal the reservoirs’ fish that change is on the way.

Some anglers believe that the signal to the fish that fall has arrived is due to the shortening of the days. I am not sure how a bass or other fish realizes that the days are shorter but maybe they are on to something. Maybe the fish’ biological clock can register the shortening of the sunlight. For me, I will stick with the lowering of the water temperature since I have no doubt that the fish can sense the change in water temperature in their bodies.

Shad or baitfish found in both lakes provide the greatest natural food source for game fish like largemouth bass, hybrid/striped/white bass, catfish and crappie in both lakes. Those shad were dispersed or in deep water in the summer but they will begin moving to shallow water as fall arrives and the game fish will be looking for an easy meal and will move to shallow water right along with the shad.

The feeding that occurs during this period is often called the fall frenzy. This period will see most game fish move into shallow water for one last long feeding binge before the arrival of winter. Game fish will feed during the winter but not as much or as often. They will use the fall feeding frenzy to fatten up for the winter months. The exact timing of this period differs each year and the length of the period will vary depending on the water temperature.

Shad will be tightly schooled during the fall and you can bet that game fish will not be far away from those schools. The secret to catching fish during the fall and winter seasons is finding those schools of baitfish. During the fall, they can be found almost anywhere but generally shallower water in the larger creeks will be your best bet. During the winter, they are more likely to be found in deeper water areas.

During the fall transitional period, conditions will change from day-to-day and week-to-week so you must constantly modify your techniques to take advantage of the changing weather. Cold fronts will begin to come through the area and those cold fronts can offer excellent fishing. Largemouth, hybrid/striped bass and crappie will go on feeding sprees just before a fall/winter cold front and then fishing will slow during the bluebird skies that follow.

As fall intensifies, the crappie will move back to shallow water brushpiles and docks, the hybrid/striped bass will move to the creeks to gorge themselves on shad and the largemouth bass and channel catfish will return to the shallows to feed on shad. That movement is referred to as the fall migration which is approximately the same as the spring migration except in spring it is primarily for spawning and in the fall it is to eat.

Just as quickly as the shad and game fish have moved to shallow water areas with fall’s arrival, they will reverse course and move back to deeper locations with the arrival of winter. The movement of the game fish to deeper water will again correspond to the movement of the shad to deeper locations.

Right now is a great time to be on the water and good fishing will continue right on through the winter season. The weather is slightly cooler, the beauty of the fall colors will arrive shortly and best of all the fish are biting. Can it get any better than that? See you next week.

 

Bobby Peoples can be reached by e-mail at brpeoples@windstream.net.