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Fall Trout Tips

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Now that the heat of the summer (finally) seems to be behind us, it’s time to start thinking seriously about fall trout fishing.

This is the time of year that the fish begin to feed actively in preparation for the lean winter months to come and that means you can have some outstanding action over the next several weeks.

To help you cash in on the autumn trout bonanza, here are some tips and techniques to think about. Keep in mind, however, that there are no absolutes in the world of fishing and trout operate on their own schedule with their own agenda. Think of the following more as general rules of thumb with which you can get pointed in the right direction.
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Time for the Patriotic Shad

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ben-shad

Just as George Washington and his Continental Army were on the verge of starving to death in Valley Forge in the spring of 1778, an amazing thing happened.?? Sometime in March, the ice melted and the Schuylkill River, along which Washington and the boys were camped, began flowing again. In April, the first wave of alosa sapidissima, otherwise known as “American shad” arrived to spawn in the river like a gravy train from the heavens.

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Surface Stripers: Unlocking the Code

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striper

“What ya after?” asked the crusty old bank angler after I launched my boat. ?I pointed out toward the center of the lake where, in the glassy calm of the morning, it was easy to see a quarter-acre sized school of striped bass crashing the surface.?? His face looked like a tattered piece of leather that had been chewed on at great length by a hound dog, but it brightened considerably upon receipt of my answer. He flashed me a grin only an orthodontist could love and then snickered.?? “Son, you can’t catch them striper bass… everybody’s been trying but they won’t hit cuz they’re spawnin’.”

Well, I knew that he was way off base because it was mid-October and stripers are spring spawners, but I didn’t let on. I told him I was going to give it a try anyway just for kicks. He nodded and wished me good luck – said I was going to need it.
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The Perfect Storm on a Small Lake

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Early Monday morning we were trolling Ice House Reservoir’s main body, heading toward the east side of the lake. The wind was blowing at a gentle clip which made the lake’s surface a little choppy and us a bit chilly — overall, a nice morning typical of the high country in autumn.

As we trolled on, I noticed what looked like smoke from a campfire rising from the eastern shoreline. We were looking right into the blinding light of the rising sun as it reflected off the water, so it was difficult to tell exactly what we were looking at. My buddy Rob thought it was morning mist coming off the lake.??We were both dead wrong.

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Bait Drifting Tips for Kings

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First off, let’s get you rigged up. Here’s a good basic rig to use as a foundation:

  1. Tie a snap swivel to the end of your main line.
  2. To the snap, attach either a piece of pencil lead or a Slinky weight
  3. To the other eye of the swivel, run an 18- to 36-inch leader with one or two 1/0-4/0 octopus-style bait hooks. (The roe is fastened to the forward hook via an egg loop snell, which you can learn to tie in a video on this very website).

Most king anglers also like to add a driftbobber – such as a Spin-N-Glo, Cheater or Lil’ Corky – to their line just above the hooks to add buoyancy, action and a splash of color to the bait.
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