By Cody Hill

CHILL Report

Fall is in the air; some trees are starting to change colors and it is time to start thinking of fall patterns.  Monday morning it was 48 degrees as I was launching the boat for my trip. 

Fall is the time to start pulling bigger minnows and holding on to that pole!  My favorite way to fish them are pulling a simple Lindy rig around with a nice healthy minnow but watch your electronics. If you are marking fish closer to the bottom shorten your leader to a three-to-five-foot length but if marks are higher try lengthening your leaders to help. If I am seeing marks a few feet from bottom, I tend to run no shorter than a six-foot leader with a 7 foot being my most common length to help get my minnow up off bottom more.

My second favorite way is using a jig tipped with a minnow. Hair jigs are something new that I have started experimenting with as of lately and I really enjoy it. Having a hair jig allows me to add some color to my presentation and I don’t necessarily need to have bait on the jig. When casting I prefer a hair jig because if I lose my bait, I can finish my retrieval and still have a chance to salvage the cast. 

My favorite presentation is bouncing it off bottom or swimming it above the weeds. The pause helps entice bites as the lure drops and the quick bounce off bottom helps with some reactionary bites. If bouncing off bottom be ready when you lift up that a fish didn’t pin your jig to the bottom, and you will have extra weight as you lift.

Fishing has been amazing as of lately and we have gotten numerous multi species trips and it has been lots of fun trying to guess what was hooked. Pulling small to medium suckers has worked best for us over structure or near the weed line has produced the best results.  Pulling Lindy’s has worked the best, but some aggressive fish were produced using a jig while we trolled.  Lindy rigs produced everything from walleyes to bass to even blue gills!

Blue gills have been schooled in very large schools associated with weeds, but our larger gills have come to the edges of the weed line. Drop shooting with a piece of night crawler has been most productive and resulting in some of our bigger gills and has been amazing with less experienced anglers.

Before we know fall won’t just be in the air it will be here in full force and now is the perfect time to book those late season trips to make memories that will last a lifetime. 

If you are interested in booking a trip, contact Cody today to book a trip that will make memories that will last a lifetime.

For more information, check out Chill Guide Service online at www.chillguideservice.com or call (218) 443-3813.