Vermont fall fishing heats up as waters cool, Fish & Wildlife says

Cooler water and shorter days are Vermont’s fall bite, not the skinny-river drought sheet from earlier this month. A Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department release on The Outdoor Wire (Sept. 17, 2026) says dropping temperatures put bass, pike, perch, walleye, trout, and salmon on a heavier feed while angler pressure drops. Fisheries biologist Shawn Good called fall one of the best times to be on the water, with some of his best days coming after other anglers have already put the rods away.

Bass is the enhanced opportunity. Good said cooling water pulls largemouth and smallmouth shallow, and the two mix more in the fall than they do in other seasons. Start on the outside edges of dying weedbeds and 6-to-8-foot shoreline transitions. White or chartreuse spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and wide-wobbling crankbaits are the lures named. Waters called out: Lake Champlain, the Connecticut River, and smaller lakes and ponds.

Late fall, sleep in. With water in the 40s to low 50s, bass and pike may not turn on until late morning. Good’s window: on the water by 10 a.m., off by 3 p.m. — short days, and possibly some of the most productive of the year. The same release flags pike and walleye on the Connecticut River and trout, salmon, and pike on Champlain.

Photo: Vermont Fish & Wildlife / Shawn Good (Tom Jones with a late-fall Lake Champlain smallmouth).

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: The Outdoor Wire — Vermont Fall Fishing Heats Up as Waters Cool (Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, Sept. 17, 2026).