Rick Windham: As the calendar turns to fall, fishing will pick up

Can you feel it? My favorite time of the year is approaching. Hunting seasons are opening, there is fishing to be done and cooler weather will make the thought of camping a lot better.

Fall is a great time to fish. It is your best time of the year to catch bigger fish because they have been feeding all summer and fish instinctively know that long dark days are ahead.

Fish go into an increased feeding cycle this time of year and eat about anything they can get in their mouth. The goal is to pack on extra weight in anticipation of the leaner times of winter.

Here’s a tip: In the fall go to bigger crankbaits — I’m talking 4-inch to 6-inch long baits. Big predator fish want to get the most out of their meal, with the minimum amount of energy expended. That’s why big baits work better this time of the year.

Another technique I use is a moderate to fast retrieve on my lures. Big predator fish are in competition with one another this time of the year and a faster retrieve may catch you a bigger fish. They know that they have to outrun the other guy to get to the bait first. This is one reason why you get some explosive hits in the fall.

One more thing to think about: Although it is fall and the weather may be cooler, there are still mosquitos out there. If you use mosquito repellents, be careful. Something very few anglers think about is that mosquito repellents can really have an impact on your fishing success.

DEET is an ingredient in many repellent formulas. DEET is a chemical compound. N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, also called diethyltoluamide. It is often the most common active ingredient in many insect repellents. In its pure form is a slightly yellow oil intended to be applied to the skin or to clothing to give you some protection against mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, chiggers, leeches and many biting insects.

Well, bugs are not the only thing repelled by DEET. It turns out that DEET is a great repellent for fish. If you use a mosquito repellent with DEET and get it on your hands, then touch your lures, you can shut down your fishing. Fish can sense DEET and will actually run away from it.

Berkley did some testing with DEET some years back. I have seen video clips of cotton balls with a few drops of DEET on them lowered in one end of a huge testing tank — tens of thousands of gallons of water in the tank — and all the fish would move to the other end of the tank in a matter of minutes. It was amazing.

Now if you happen to have a fishing buddy that is always bragging about how many fish he catches, how big they are and how he out-fishes you all the time, just wait until he is busy with something else and give his tackle box a couple second burst of a DEET spray. If you get some DEET on his lures, he won’t catch anything until next spring. You’ll be able to fish in peace and maybe get to brag about your catches while he’s trying to figure out what happened.

Have a great weekend outdoors, if it gets a little cooler!

Rick Windham

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