Late September Largemouth

[Rhy]

Hi all, I been a lurker on these boards for a few months and have picked up alot of useful info here, finally decided to register.

My parents have a private lake by Parham Ontario, The lake is about 1.5 miles long and is basically 2 lakes, the west end is pretty much soft bottom 14 feet deep everywhere except at very west end where it is all lily pads for about 200 feet, lily pad depth ranges from about 5 feet of water to 0 feet at the shore. Eastern part of lake is Rocky and is 38.5 feet deep in middle.

I live in alberta where there are no bass and usually visit my parents in july and early august, however this year i was unable to go. I have the last week of september booked off and am heading home to Ontario and the lake for a week of bass fishing.

I am targeting a 6-7 pounder, my biggest from this lake is 6lb 3oz, and the lake record is 7lb 9oz.

My question to the regulars is where should i be focusing my attention and what recomondations for technique? Should i be fishing deeper rocky dropoffs down to 25 feet this late in the year or do the bass move into the shallows now to feed? I been in alberta since i was 17 and havent really fished for bass this late in the season ever. I googled October Ontario bass fishing and came up with relatively nothing. Any suggestions would be appreciated as I only have 8 days to fish, Oh and what about night time bass fishing this late in the season? Any tips?

Thanks in Advance

[Bass Addict]

at very west end where it is all lily pads for about 200 feet, lily pad depth ranges from about 5 feet of water to 0 feet at the shore.



My question to the regulars is where should i be focusing my attention

[Fishing 24/7]

i would go fish this lake on a windy day ... throwing the buzzbait in those pads ... LOGS... and whatever type of dence vegetation i see ...

working those rocky drop off's on senko's and what not would be wise to...

but id rather get a BEAST on surface that on a plastic soft bait ...

[Jasonb]

i just wanna get a beast... lol... i would fish the outskirts of the lilly pads with spinnerbaits, but slower moving spinnerbaits with larger blades, and i would also fish the rocky areas with a grub, worm, or crankbaits...

Jason

[wolfe]

Hi Rhy and welcome.

Lucky you to have such a private lake at your disposal.

I would not pass up those weeds / pads, as some of my better late-Sept. -early Oct largemouth have been taken out of areas such as you described, as well as the sloping edges to deeper water around the pads.

I'm jealous!

Good luck. Would love to hear back on how you did.

W.

[slop]

It's been a wet summer so I'm not sure if your lake has been affected with increased water level....even for this time of year. Water temps have been a few degrees cooler than normal as well this year. This could be a factor in your hunt for that new lake record.

You could try for them up shallow, however, if YOU encounter minimal resultS, it'll be time to focus on the first breaks or transitions with GREEN WEEDS. The fish will be bunched-up pretty good as well.

As far as what to throw at 'em...I'd let the fish dictate that, so be prepared with a bit of everything to get the job done. Everything from larger slow- rolled spinnerbaits to topwaters... to tubes and flippin jigs are a good start.

Experiment......eight days is plenty of time to figure 'em out and lay an absolute beatin' on 'em!

[T Dot]

swimbaits



get on it, and post up pics

[Rhy]

Thanks for all the tips, I guess my first question should of been, what if anything is different when fishing bass this late in the season compared to fishing in the summer months? This lake has been in family since 1965, my dad bought 400 acres with this lake on the land for $6,500 i believe, note that there was no road in at that time, it was 2.5 miles in from main road. thanks again for all the tips.



some old some new pictures of lake
<img src="http://members.shaw.ca/bearancr/2006-08-_284.jpg">

Walleye, swallowed hook bad, tryed to revive for hours, ended up getting her mounted.

<img src="http://members.shaw.ca/bearancr/2006-08-_031.jpg">

Lake shot


<img src="http://members.shaw.ca/bearancr/2004-08_054.jpg">
average largemouth


<img src="http://members.shaw.ca/bearancr/2004-08_019.jpg">

homemade 35 year old flat bottom boat

[Bass Addict]

The pic of you holding the average size bass .............those pads on the
right look like heaven for some hogs






Work a scum frog or Bass Rat ,,and hang on tight

[Rhy]

the whole west end of lake is like that

[Big Bass 444]

Might want to bring 444 on that lake

[DropShotr]

Might want to bring 444 on that lake

[Rhy]

Well, I will be in Kingston in about 24 hours from now and on the lake about 26 hours from now, I had my sister pick up some yum dingers, some scum frogs and a couple fat raps, as per your suggestions here. I will be also using small blue gills for bait.
thanks again for all the tips, I never even heard of scumfrogs or yumdingers before lol.

[DropShotr]

I will be also using small blue gills for bait.

"Small blue gills" are not considered bait fish.

DropShot'r

[Rhy]

guess i wont be using small blue gills then
If i do use live bait, I usually use frogs
but i thought frogs would be rare this time of year.
so blue gill not allowed? what about perch? there are some golden shiner in lake so i could try to catch some of them.