Good fishing remains before winter

Fall offers many fishing opportunities from catfish to crappie and walleye.

As fall arrives, many outdoors types turn their attention to hunting. Archery season for deer is already here, but there still is good fishing left before the water turns to hard stuff, ice.

As the water of lakes and streams begins to cool, it marks a time for crappie fishing action to pick up.

Once the leaves begin to turn color and drop, many anglers are ready to put away their rods and reels for the year, but if they do they will miss a lot of good fishing.

Crappie fishing can be good in the fall as it is during the spring spawn. In fact, it can be just as much fun and productive as there are fewer people and boats on lakes and streams making noise and spooking the fish.

Fall crappie fishing can be a bit more challenging than spring action because often the fish are more scattered. They are harder to find. They also may be more unpredictable.

During the fall, the water temperature eventually becomes about the same at all levels and crappie can be found at most any depth. However, once you find them, they can be caught.

In the fall, crappie seem to prefer minnows over artificial baits as they start feeding themselves for the coming cold-weather months--at least that is my experience.

If you decide to use artificial baits, it is a good idea to keep them smaller. One-to-two inch artificial minnows seem to work well.

If you are fishing clear water, crappie plugs, small jigs, bladebaits like Road Runners, work well. Often combining a lure with a live minnow will attract fish faster and more often.

Night fishing works well during early fall. Lights which attract bugs also attract fish.

A cookout with fried squirrel and freshly caught crappie , plus fried potatoes, homemade slaw, and biscuits. Uhmm...Fit for a king or an old outdoor writer.