Signs that we have entered the Final Third:
- Occasions of the sterile winter look
- The arrival of loons and pintail ducks
- Birds working schools of bait with nothing on it
- Cold nights
- A decline of fervent action and blitzes
- Smaller bass
- A highly scheduled dawn and dusk bite
Since the insane action of the past few weeks has waned, not from a storm disruption, and as the calendar drops closer to the New Year and winter, we are most certainly now in what I call the Final Third. The best of it has likely moved on.
 |
| I caught all of my fish alone or alone with friends this weekend since I am more of an old striper than a schoolie. I like the final round because the fishing is just nice. |
Fortunately with the multitudes of sand eels around, barring a snow storm, I will most likely still be fishing on Christmas weekend and maybe even New Year’s. The early abnormal snow storms during the past two seasons meant that by this time in those years that was it, but this year a pattern of more SW winds and milder calm weather should keep the snow out as long as a big warm bubble doesn‘t form over Canada.
The final third doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time to start bowling yet, rather now is the opportunity for some delightful sessions with smaller plugs, like mambos, since the fish are in close when it‘s flat. I scored a couple of keepers nice and tight, one on a Daiwa SP Minnow, and the other on a Boone Needlefish. I only keep about three or four fish per year and was only going to do one more for Tom, but my cousin snatched the one in the picture which was ok since I got Tom his tonight. It seems they’re onto a dawn and dusk thing now, and I have a program set up to get into those bites while balancing other responsibilities, so with high pressure overhead and calm weather the next few days should flow nicely.
