As summer winds down and the temps begin to cool, both air and water, the fishing goes through one of the most dramatic transitions of the whole year. It has been argued that September can be one of the toughest months of fishing on our lakes for a number of reasons. First there is typically an over-abundance of baitfish in the lake. Multiple shad and minnow spawns through the summer months, fill the lake with more food than the fish can eat.
While anglers might think this is a good thing for the fish, which it is, it’s a problematic for fishermen because the game fish have so much to eat and your lures have so much natural bait to compete with, it can be hard to find groups of fish that even see your lures. But there are some bites that can be pretty good in September if you will look for them.
Best Bets for September: Panfish on Transition
Bluegills start grouping up in pretty big groups and move back into the bays en masse. They will first group up on bushy cover like large brush piles and stake beds. But they will move into shallow protected pockets towards then end of the month as water temps fall to feed on snails and small bugs and larvae to feed heavily before heading out deep for the winter.
You want to look for mid-depth pockets in that 8-14 feet of water range and search out brush piles or other cover like boat docks. Bluegills will start grouping up around cover and natural structures. Rip rap and rocky banks can also hold a lot of panfish during this transition but that pattern is a little harder to find.
Wood cover seems to be the most consistent place to find gills early in September and then as the water temps go below 70 degrees, they will go to those flat protected pockets to feed. It’s not uncommon to find hundreds of big gills and red ears feeding in small pockets in the bays on both lakes.
Small jigs on 2- to 4-pound line work great, as does a slip float rig with red worms set to fish just above the cover. For jigs focus on 1/32 to 1/16 ounce jigs with No 6 hooks or smaller to catch panfish. Plastics like Trout Magnets, Bobby Garland Itty Bit Slab Hunt’Rs, Z-Man Micro TRDMicro Goats work great for gills this time of year, as do hand tied bluegill flies.
Other Good Bites in September
There can be good topwater bites for both black bass and striped bass families in September. On calm days look for birds circling and diving on surface commotion to find white bass and often largemouth and smallmouth bass mixed in. On days with wind, a spinnerbait, inline spinner and small lipless crankbait like a 1/4 ounce Rat-L-Trap can catch fish very well that are roaming and herding bait balls on the secondary channels and flats off the main lake as well as bars and ditches in the bays.
Crappie fish can be a little tougher in September as crappie transition out of summer patterns and are often on the move not really setting up on there fall spots well until the end of September and early October. You need to fish a lot of brush and can expect to catch smaller keepers here and there. It’s downsizing lures and fishing a lot of places to get a limit this time of year. There are also more fish roaming in September so savvy electronics anglers will spend time hunting crappies in open water. The further into the fall you go the more crappie will show up on mid-depth cover in the bays.
There is still good catfishing in September with many schools still out on the main river until the water temps really cool a lot. Same fishing tactics in August continue to work into September.
After Labor Day, there is a lot less fishing pressure on the lake and September is the ramp up to our great fall fishing. It truly can be some of the best fishing of the year as we get to the end of September and into October and November.
