Autumn is a time of transition. A time when the world decelerates from the constant application of sunblock, cookouts on the Outer Beaches, “don’t forget to bring your bathing suit” days of summer, into the cold, crisp days that kickstart the darkness of winter. It’s a time for lighting the first fire in the wood stove, wearing your favorite, old sweaters, watching Netflix, pumpkin flavored steak, and but, most importantly—catching big Fall trout on one of the Cape Cod stocked trout ponds.
Memories of Fall fishing will get you through the winter if you’re a fisherman. The water in fall is clear now that the swimmer and boat traffic is down from mid summer highs, making fish and potential fishing spots easier to access. Brown and brook trout are getting ready to spawn and become extremely aggressive while trout like rainbows and cutthroats are energized by the cold water and less wary of fisherman activity. Best of all, almost every type of trout in the water is feeling the approach of the oncoming winter and will begin to feed recklessly on pretty much anything in your tackle box. This makes bait, lure, and fly selection much less of a hassle, but there are still certain techniques that will help make sure you can cash in on the fall trout bonanza.
Fishing with Spinners
To this day, the largest brown trout I’ve ever caught came to my net on a1/8 ounce Roostertail in line spinner. It was on a cold October afternoon, and I only had made a few casts when the 25 inch leviathan smashed into my lure . I’ve been completely obsessed with fishing them during the fall ever since.
Spinners are great lures for large, baitfish-hungry, fall trout. They’re simple to use, can be fished with a lot of different trout-attracting actions, cover a lot of water, and imitate a variety of different prey that big fall trout love to eat. Now, there are a lot of different brands of spinners out there, but your best bets for big fall trout are the Rooster Tail, the Mepps . Both lures can be cast and steadily retrieved from the shore or twitched and paused to give an injured baitfish presentation, . Fish them with a light- to medium-action 5'-6' spinning rod strung with 4 to 6-pound test monofilament line so you’ll be able cast the light lures for decent distance but heavy enough for any jarring strikes that aggressive fall trout may present.
The best places to fish spinners are in areas of transition. Sharp drop-offs, deep undercut banks, sometimes shallow waterclose to shore, and around large blowdowns or submerged structures. All places where a large aggressively feeding fall trout could be hanging out, waiting for a passing baitfish or a big bug to come into feeding range.
Casting Streamers and Nymphs
Fly anglers can also get in on the fall fishing action. While there may be some small mayfly or caddis hatches happening during this time though, which can be incredibly fun, your best bet to really get into the trout is by using nymphs and streamers. Both techniques present flies beneath the surface that play on the aggressive nature of fall trout while still giving you plenty of options should the fish be keyed in on something in particular.
Though not the most productive method of fishing, casting streamers in the fall is the best way that you can catch a truly big trout on a fly rod. These fly rods should be heavier than your traditional 5-weight to both easily cast the bigger and heavier flies and to control and land the larger more powerful trout you’ll eventually hook. Your best bet is to use at least a 6- or 7-weight rod strung with a intermediate or at least a sink tip line. Fish streamers on these lines with a 2- to 3-foot section of 4- to 6 pound tippet which is light enough for decent presentation, but heavy enough to land the bigger trout in the pond.
Streamer patterns for fall fish should be large and gaudy, which will work better for attracting large and gaudy fall trout. These large bright flies will trigger a large fall trout and cause them to absolutely smash the streamer. You can also use smaller streamers that imitate baitfish like dace, smelt, and sculpins during the fall. Your best patterns for this include the Clouser Minnow, the Conehead Muddler, and Black Nosed Dace.
Fish your streamers the same way you’d fish jerkbaits by targeting areas of transition. Strip them quickly across the tops of dropp offs, cast parallel to shore, and around structures like submerged logs and large sunken boulders: places where big predatory trout like to lay in wait.
Nymphing in fall is best done with a 5- or 6-weight rod that will give you more control required for the technique. Use at least a 9-foot long 4X to 2X fluorocarbon leader and tippet that won’t spook any trout in the clear water of fall. While you can fish your nymphs by simply sinking them and letting them bounce along the bottom, I’ve found it best to also use a strike indicator during fall which will better detect the often subtle strikes. Attach the indicator so that your flies will drift half-again as deep as the water you are fishing (i.e. if you're fishing 6 feet of water, set your indicator at 9 feet) This will keep your flies in the strike zone longer, and although you may get snagged up a time or two it’s the perfect depth for putting your nymphs in front of as many big fall trout as possible.
There are a lot of options when it comes to nymphs for fall trout fishing, but I’ve found that bigger is usually better. Large stonefly patterns can be especially effective, along with attractor flies like the Copper John and the Frenchie. You can pair these large nymphs with smaller, more realistic patterns as well such as the Pheasant Tail and the Hare’s Ear by attaching them to the shank of the larger flies as droppers, doubling your chances at a hookup.
‘Tis the Season
Whether it’s bringing in a limit of trout to smoke or filling the freezer,fall is a time for generating fishing memeories to tide you over until spring stocking comes around. A time to look back upon the past fishing season before settling in for a long winter. This perhaps is the best reason to get outside and go trout fishing in the fall.
Whether you use these techniques or not, when you’re standing there in the pond casting away, surrounded by the brilliant foliage of the season, reflected in the gently flowing water gliding past you, it’s almost impossible not to look around and appreciate all that you have. When it comes down to it, that's really the best fall trout fishing technique, simply going out to the river and just enjoying your time on the water in the most beautiful of the seasons. Because while trout fishing can be fast and furious during the fall, you’ll soon find you don’t care whether the fish are biting or not.
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