If they don't move, you can't catch em

[John Bales]

This fall fishing is some of the most unpredictable times of the season. One day you have a great day, go back the next time and with what looks like the same condition, fall flat on your face and get nothing or next to it. After seeing lots of conditions, seasons and bodies of water, I can say one thing for sure. You can keep your lures in position 100% of the time both trolling and casting and you cannot make a catch until the fish get active and move. If by chance you are in the right place , at the right time and fishing in the right manner, you will know when they move and also will be the first to know when it is over. Anything you catch in between movements are stragglers. When you have a great day, you are blessed with very good feelings like getting paid for all of your efforts but on the days you work equally as hard and get it handed to you, we begin to understand how weather and water conditions effect the fish. And we also call it learning. You cannot beat lots of time on the water to experience the good and the bad. The bad is hard to accept but we may also understand by watching the weather and water why the fish have such a belly ache. John

[charliesm48]

Thank you for posting this, John. It's a tough time of the year due to unable conditions and the cold, but also has it's benefits. Few to no other fishermen and a chance to get a good one. Hope to get a big musky before ice up

[charliesm48]

So I have a humorous "exception" to this subject. Two were caught yesterday WITHOUT them moving. I was fishing a musky lake, trolling a 100, trying to just tick the heavy grass and not get buried in it. I had a heavy strike, a strong run, and then nothing but a dead weight as I reeled it in. Seems I had tail snagged about a 15lb carp, which was buried in the grass, so I was pulling in a heavy load of fish and weeds. My dreams of a PR musky turned into a carp. Ugh! Kind of reminded me of John's story of his brother-in-law's recent catch.

Fast forward one hour. My fishing partner was casting a blade bait on the side of a productive bar when he got a strike. "Good fish" he yelled. I got the net ready, and as it neared the boat, he said, "Hope it's not a carp." Yes, it was, similar size, and it had the same large amount of weeds attached. They both must have been buried in the grass. What are the chances of tail snagging two carp within an hour? I told him we should stop on the way home and buy a lottery ticket! Hope you get a chuckle out of our experience.