When is prime time fall on GTB?

[6 lb Smallmouth]

Thinking about taking a weekend trip on the 7th and 8th of October.  Should that be prime time fall fishing for GTB?  I have fished there a lot in June and have never fished in October on any of the Great Lakes so any help is appreciated. 

[TheFishinPollock]

It's always a crap shoot up here in october. Water right now in the bays is 70 -71. Hoping for a cool september to get things moving and so far it looks like the hot days are over for a week or 2. The worst is the wind. If it is out of the norther directions. You are headed to an inland lake and a lot of lakes get duck hunters, me included, starting october 7th. Makes certain lakes a little interesting.   You should be either smack dab in the middle of the fall feed or at the tail end of it with those dates.

[Schoolycustom]

Most people will tell you exactly what Pollock said. It really is a crap shoot.

September can be really tough. I fished some BEAUTIFUL days and did really poorly. However there is a sweet spot between the fall transition and the time when it gets too cold that you can do really well. Best time of the year for moving baits. Typically I finesse fish from spring through September, but fall is the time to bust out baitcasters and cover water. Spinnerbait, crankbait, swimbait and spybaits are all good options. Good luck, let us know how you do.

[8pt172]

We fished October 3rd and had a decent day.  We caught 29 legal fish and only 1 short primarily on a green tube and a few on a white super fluke.  No luck with a spybait or swimbait.  We caught 4 over 19" and 1 that just bumped 20".  Biggest was 5.1 lbs.  My buddy lost a slob at the boat looked to be 22-23" looked like a football when it rolled over and swam away.

We spent 4 hours in the morning on East Bay and 3 hours on West Bay after lunch.  We caught a few more on EB, but both were good.

[Firefighter Jeff]

  Sounds like you did pretty darn well for the first fall trip there for you.  What kind of depths did ya get the fish ??   Thanks

[8pt172]

Sorry just saw your question. We started out deep on a couple humps 20-24' with no luck so we worked our way in and caught most of the fish in 12-16' .

[GlennD]

Nice job 8pt I love that place !!