DaytonDailyNews.com

Many people love all of this hot weather, but not if you enjoy fishing. It brings anglers anguish, because not only is it uncomfortable for sitting on a bank or in a boat, most fish don't bite in warm water.

They get sluggish, lethargic and not very interested in expending much energy to go after your lure. Let the temperature drop, however, and it's feeding time as they try to fatten up for the winter.

"When the surface water temperature gets down to 65 degrees or below, you are going to begin seeing some fall fishing action," said Doug Maloney, fish management supervisor for the Ohio Division of Wildlife's Southwest District. "Right now it's still in the 80s, so we have a ways to go."

Since Maloney has charge of all the fish in public waters in this part of Ohio, I always tell him since they are "his fish" and he probably knows most of them by name, he should know where to fish for them.

Here is his outlook for fall fishing in southwest Ohio:

Largemouth bass: Rocky Fork Lake is the hands-down choice. It was great bass fishing there in the spring and continued right through the summer. So the fall should be great, too. Other good spots should be Acton, Cowan, Caesar Creek and Indian lakes.

Crappies: East Fork was very good last fall, so try there again this year. Also, creel surveys showed one of the best catch rates for crappies this spring (through July) was at C.J. Brown Reservoir. Other good spots should be Cowan and Lake Loramie.

Saugeyes and walleyes: Indian Lake is usually the best around and it should be again this year. Also go to Caesar Creek. There was a good catch rate there this year, too. For walleyes, C.J. Brown has never had a great fall bite and Grand Lake St. Marys has not started yet. Also try Lake Loramie or the Paint Creek spillway.

Bluegills: Rocky Fork will again be outstanding. But C.J. Brown has produced some nice bluegills this year and if you fish in deep water you should find some in Caesar Creek, too.

Muskellunge: This has been the biggest success story in the district this year. Caesar Creek has become a great place to fish for muskies. We saw a 47-inch fish come out of there, so it's just a matter of time before we see one 50 inches. Also try Cowan Lake.

Catfish: Grand Lake St. Marys, hands down. No other lake comes close. Rocky Fork and Lake Loramie will be good, and we're hearing reports that Eastwood Lake (a Five Rivers MetroParks lake, stocked by the state) has been having plenty of catfish catches, too.

Yellow perch: There aren't really any reliable perch places in this part of Ohio. While there are perch in several lakes, it's pretty hard to target perch in any of them. Since the perch bite dropped off drastically at Grand Lake St. Marys a couple of years ago, about the only lake people go to fish for perch might be Indian Lake (in front of the beach).

Smallmouth bass: As usual, the rivers are the best places for smallmouth. And with all the dry weather, they are concentrated in pools. That should make them easier to catch. That will change if we get a large amount of rain and the rivers begin to flow.

Trout: Mid-October stocking of rainbows is planned for Rush Run, Tawawa in Sidney, Sycamore State Park, Stonelick and the east side lagoon at Grand Lake St. Marys. Mad River fishing for stocked brown trout is very good, north of Urbana.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2409 or jmorris@DaytonDailyNews.com.