Late season fishing

[Gooeyguy243653]

Rookie here...can young steelies, chinook, and kings still be caught in deeper water this time of year?

[Nailer]

Welcome aboard Travis. Yes they can, and hopefully some of the guys that are good at it will chime in.

[Priority1]

Travis, A warm

[gmfishon]

welcome to the sport and site. they can be cought but it usually takes some hunting for them. kings and Chinook are the same fish. browns can often be found close to shore in the late fall months, as well as lake trout-must be released in many areas.

[1mainiac]

most years this is my favorite time to fish all the traffic is in the harbors or gone hunting. I prefer Steelhead so getting after them is a passion. Work the temp breaks and scum lines and when you dial it in the results are great. Most years I fish thru Oct with lots of limit catches.

[Gooeyguy243653]

1 Mainiac, Steels are exactly what I was hoping for. They are considered by the DNR as the least polluted fish in the lake area around Holland (I do not actually eat Fish, but my wife and 3 year old son love it). Scum line? is that the discoloration from the channel out flow to where it meet the cleaner lake water?

Temperature breaks, steels like the colder water right?

Thanks guys for all your help!

[Gooeyguy243653]

never mind I now know the answers to my questions... scum line is the water temp changes from warm to cool

[JWheeler]

never mind I now know the answers to my questions... scum line is the water temp changes from warm to cool

That is a broad statement. Change in water temp is a factor in scum lines. Could be current as well. Typically I have looked for water near 50* for fall fishing. Find the right conditions and the fish will be there.

I experienced some lights out fall fishing in the past. Numbers well into 25+ hits in an outing. If you find the fish, don't go far, just keep turning on them when you run out of fish and work that area. Lots of oranges, and lots of spoons have treated me well in the past.

[mattmishler]

Start in a 120ft head west 10 boards 2 divers 3 riggers, top 50. All spoons smaller spoons with usually a variation of orange , no flashers and go fast. 3.0-4.5 SOG

[1mainiac]

Scum line is called that because it is where all the scum collects on a temp break. You will see floating trash this causes lots of bugs and stuff to collect. Steel head will eat bugs all day long so they tend to hang around scum lines. Sometimes on the cold side sometimes on the warm side. Temp breaks are just that changes in water temp at the surface. Terry Dirty Dog can probably remember better then me but fishing with Don and him on the Tangled Mess a couple years ago we hit the biggest temp break any of have seen in memory. We only pulled a couple fish off it because we were about done for the day it was around a 15 deg temp break and looked like a step in the water. If I find a good temp break I will follow it til I limit out usually not taking very long to do so. Most days this time of year if I am not already dialed in I will spend as much time looking for my spot or sometimes more than it takes to limit out when I find it. Last year we took a 4 man limit of Steelhead plus 3 bonus kings in just over a hour of fishing. I just drive west til I see my water and stop to check and temp breaks I see when running out.

[tom]

Scum line is called that because it is where all the scum collects on a temp break. You will see floating trash this causes lots of bugs and stuff to collect. Steel head will eat bugs all day long so they tend to hang around scum lines. Sometimes on the cold side sometimes on the warm side. Temp breaks are just that changes in water temp at the surface. Terry Dirty Dog can probably remember better then me but fishing with Don and him on the Tangled Mess a couple years ago we hit the biggest temp break any of have seen in memory. We only pulled a couple fish off it because we were about done for the day it was around a 15 deg temp break and looked like a step in the water. If I find a good temp break I will follow it til I limit out usually not taking very long to do so. Most days this time of year if I am not already dialed in I will spend as much time looking for my spot or sometimes more than it takes to limit out when I find it. Last year we took a 4 man limit of Steelhead plus 3 bonus kings in just over a hour of fishing. I just drive west til I see my water and stop to check and temp breaks I see when running out.

Thanks for your post. I have posted in years past about my October program with no response. Awesome fishing offshore in October. Many limits. I have given up posting reports on this great opportunity.Will be out the 3rd week of October weather permitting. Good luck to you.

[Gooeyguy243653]

Awesome info man thanks!

[Fishrmac]

I will be hitting some fall action as well so I will post results for the fun of it good or bad. Thanks for the lengthy responses....that answered my questions as well!

[1mainiac]

one of my fav things to do is drift the scum line with my fly rod not always productive but is a blast.

[IRon]

one of my fav things to do is drift the scum line with my fly rod not always productive but is a blast.

Wow thats a great idea!!!

Back when I had a life (haven't been out this year since early August and it's killing me! Work sucks) Fall used to be my favorite time to go. Being an old surf fisherman since the early 80's I've realized a lot of Steelhead come in shallow to feed and stage for the winter/spring run. So in Oct. on I'd always try to get launched early and do a shallow water program first thing and run the surf/shoreline with boards then go out and fish the river plume. And if nothing run off shore and do like others suggest with a mixed spread for salmon/steel.

Quite often on beach patrol you'll get some coho jacks and Browns just like in the spring. I caught my biggest Brown ever in Oct. (18#) .