Kenny Pannel flips a jig into timber at Lake Neely Henry. He primarily uses jigs and buzzbaits to catch bass as the water cools. (BASS)The cooler weather of recent mornings has inspired Alabama hunters who are eagerly awaiting a number of hunting seasons that will begin in upcoming months.
The chilly mornings have also been exciting for Alabama bass fishermen who know the drop in temperatures signals the start of the second-best time of the year for bass fishing in the state.
"I think most people including me think that the spring of the year is the best time to fish, but the fall is definitely the second-best time," said Dan Catchings, a district fisheries biologist with Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries in Eastaboga. "From about mid-September to about mid-November, the bass are really active again."
A bass' life cycle revolves around the fact that it is a cold-blooded creature, Catchings explained. In summer months, bass seek deep-water refuges and become lethargic. In the cold months of the winter, they also live in deep water to find the warmest water. They also feed less because the colder water lessens their metabolism and makes it tough for them to chase prey. In the fall, however, bass eat like pigs at a trough. They must fatten up for the winter and they do so in shallow water where they are easier to catch.
Kenny Pannel, a pro tournament fisherman on the BFL and BASS Federation tournament trails, said the cool mornings Alabama has seen in the past few days will be enough to trigger great fishing in the upcoming weeks.
"They'll start to move shallow now and they will gorge themselves on baitfish until it gets too cold for them to move much," he said.
"They'll get up in that shallow water and that's when I like to get a buzzbait out and fish it early in the morning. I use a white or a white/chartreuse medium size with about a 1-inch blade. If it's windy, I'll use a buzzbait with a clacker that makes a little more noise so they can find it better in the choppy water."
Bass will typically gather in the shallow water along banks and seawalls. He pinpoints those areas with his buzzbait.
Alabama can still get some warm, sunny days in late September and in October, and the buzzbait bite will end as soon as the sun gets up in the sky. When that happens, Pannel says, he targets bass that will gather close to fallen trees and other timber. He uses a green pumpkin jig with 30-pound test line to yank bass out of the thick stuff.
He says the best fishing this time of the year actually occurs at night. As the temperature drops at night, the spotted bass gather in numbers on rocky points. He uses a black/blue ½-ounce spinnerbait with a No. 6 smoked Colorado blade and slow rolls it across the rocky points.
"I don't know where those fish go during the summer but when it starts cooling off like it is doing now, they get on those rocky points at night and the fishing gets really good," he said.
Doug Powell, a staff environmental specialist for Alabama Power and a fisheries biologist, says when the temperature begins cooling as it has the past few days, it signals fun time.
"Bass are no different than other critters, really," he said. "Everything in the woods gets lethargic during the hot summer months and gets active again in the fall. People think of alligators as a hot summer creature, but that isn't true. They are cold-blooded, too. They don't move much in summer but they start getting active now."
Powell says that when the water cools to the point that fishermen see shad beginning to school, that means the bass are fattening up for the winter.
"The colder mornings signal that harder times are coming," he said. "They know they have to eat while they can and what they are looking to eat is in shallow water where the fishermen can get to them better."
Pannel says he loves fall fishing for reasons other than bass getting aggressive again. Fall, he says, is the most peaceful time to fish. Most bass tournaments have ended for the year and pleasure boaters have called it quits until next spring. Many fishermen have called it quits, too, as they spend more time watching football and preparing for the hunting season.
