West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Fall Fishing

Don't put that rod away after Labor Day!

October 28, 2009
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

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"There he is!"
Jerod Harman is one of the best bass fishermen in the state and he knows how to slay the bass in the fall, Harman says you shouldn`t put your fishing rod away just because it`s after Labor Day.

"You can`t forget about fishing in the fall, the fish start feeding, getting ready for the winter and the action really fires up.
They`re gonna try to put on a little extra weight, the fish are
getting more aggressive, they`re chasing bait fish and the action gets pretty hot."

But to get a mess of fish in the fall, you have to be willing to try different techniques until you figure out what they`re hitting on that particular day.

"Today we`re probably going to be looking at throwing spinner bait, crank baits, they`ll be chasing the crank baits and occasionally, you`ll get a fish come up and not quite commit to a spinner bait, so we`ll take a slow falling bait, put it in there and see if we can entice it a little bit." says Harman

That one did commit, in a big way and Jerod didn`t miss. Here on Sutton Lake, the large mouth and spotted bass are hitting. Finding them is the fun part. Harman explains.

"There`s times you may see a huge ball of bait fish in 60 feet of water and there are fish suspended under those. Other times, the bait fish are going to be right up on the bank. A lot of times, the fish are positioning themselves up there waiting and you need to give a real tight presentation with whatever lure you`re gonna be using buy it back out and at that time they`re gonna wolf it down."