The River Bottom and how it Affects Fall Fishing

Every year as we transition to late fall the bottom structure becomes more important and the ability to distinguish what type of bottom you are fishing is essential. On a lake like Guntersville the grass is eroding away and the bottom areas become pretty evident, but certainly not always and not on most lakes.

The key as we move forward is hard bottom, and transition areas of hard bottom from areas where the bottom is not! There are some very evident common visuals on every lake like bridges and rocky banks, but most of the lake is hidden from visual keys unless you use good Lowrance Electronics to become your eyes. There are many things to look for but the most obvious is road beds, followed by rocky areas, stumps and shell beds and all these are distinguishable on your Lowrance Electronics. Rocky areas show round top areas off the bottom with obvious stumps, road beds look like underwater roads raised just slightly off the bottom and shell beds are just that, shells covering the bottom.

When you find these type of bottom areas you then need to continue to scan until you see a couple of key things; first being the bait fish, the fall is all about bait fish and seeing bait sitting on top of the hard bottom or suspending over the areas is monumental. Where the hard bottom transitions is also a key factor; finding where the transition from soft to hard bottom along with the bait fish makes for an ideal place to load the boat.

These areas are all over the lake and if you want to have a great day of fishing in the fall this work observing the bottom will make all the difference for you. This tells me the fish are there and the only thing left is to get them to bite; not always easy but fishing an area with confidence can be key!