Fishing tip of the week: – 10/07/20

Fishing Tip of the Week

Wednesday, 07 October 2020 08:28

Boat houses and the fall
by Mike Gerry

Bright, sunny days define fall fishing. We generally have very little rain but lots of bright sunny skies, all this adds up to looking for shady areas to fish; and one place the bass move to hide from the sun is under boat houses!

The thing about fishing a boat house are your pitching skills and confidence. Most fishermen on Guntersville run by boat houses every day because it is not where their confidence lies. The key to boat house fishing is twofold; first, find the boat houses with the correct depth for late summer or fall fishing and, next, be able to pick a boat house apart. You can find fish around and under boat houses in the fall as they hide from the sun. The bait fish are always under the boat houses and it’s a great place for bass to ambush food.

Boat houses are natural stops as the bass migrate to the shallow water to feed up prior to winter. If the boat house has a depth range of three to seven feet the bass will move to them as they move to the shallows. One key is the age of the wood on the boat house, the older the better. The older wood holds food and produces more natural habitat. Bass are also creatures of habit and if a boat house has been in place for a long time there is a good chance the bass have migrated there in past years, returning annually to the very same area for shade as they did the year before.

Picking the boat house apart is not as easy as you might think, you really must be able to place your bait at every angle possible. That requires precise placement of your bait at every angle created by the boat house in the water. Work from the sea wall out to the end of the dock as bass can be sitting in shade next to the sea wall, or just under a dock pylon, a couple feet out from the shore line. If you fish the boat house slowly, and make sure your bait gets to the bottom, you will be successful. Boat houses always have fish under them in the fall and you can benefit by fishing there!
Captain Mike