My black hoodie soaked up the rising sun and radiated warmth to my shoulders Thursday as we pushed from the dock and headed to our morning’s first fishing hole in the 54-degree chill.

Everything is relative, so while 54 degrees is hot in December, it’s not in summer. The chilly dawn called for an extra layer of clothing, but the sun would deliver welcome energy as fishing friend Ted Suffolk sought largemouth bass willing to play.

Cool evenings had reduced the lake water temperature by 6 degrees down to 72, marking the beginning of the inevitable arrival of the annual transition from summertime’s lazy dog days of fishing to the autumn eating spree of our region’s popular fish species.

The food chain is active with game fish like walleyes, bass and muskies competing for sustenance, while crappies, bluegills and perch scurry for cover when they cross paths with hungry predators.

Fish world is revving up now and will only get jazzier as we race toward Halloween.

For me, the big change means it’s high time to schedule fishing trips to my favorite autumn destinations.

Shenango River Lake north of Sharon, Pa., is at the top of my list of fall waters. It’s convenient to home and loaded with largemouth and smallmouth bass, as well as big schools of hungry hybrid-striped bass.

Crankbaits work well on Shenango’s stump flats and road beds, as well as the rip-rap banks around the numerous highway and railroad bridges, and gravel points where smallmouth chase baitfish at first light each day. I also like to flip jigs along the trunks of toppled trees.

Crappie anglers score big time on Shenango as they work the main lake arms with slow-trolled jigs. The experts there pay keen attention to their sonar screens to locate baitfish and crappies and reel in limits of slabs.

Mosquito Lake is another fall favorite. The largemouth bass gather on the grassy flats to accelerate their feasting on perch and shad. Bass in the 3- to 5-pound class are increasingly common at the Trumbull County reservoir and are easier to catch as the water temperature tumbles into the upper 60s.

Walleye anglers are looking forward to autumn fishing on Berlin and Pymatuning. In the fall, anglers rig up with jig-and-bait combos and break out their Vib-E rods to cast on points and jig vertically. The walleye action typically turns on in mid-September and continues until ice-up.

Another of my favorite fall fishing holes is the Ohio River’s New Cumberland Pool. Smallmouth bass are my target species on the river. I use a three-lure approach as I make a milk run up the river from Chester, W.Va., into Pennsylvania waters.

My set-up consists of a Pop-R surface lure, shallow-running chartreuse crankbaits and green-pumpkin finesse worms on eighth-ounce jig heads. I fish all three around gravel bars and other current breaks, hard structure-like bridge abutments and barge tie-offs, and rocky banks when the current is running hard.

I also will be planning a trip or two to Lake Erie in the next six weeks. Big smallmouth bass will move up from their summer haunts in deeper water back to the 20-foot structure pinpointed on my GPS maps. I also might tangle with a hungry steelhead trout or even a fat lake trout as the water cools and the baitfish school on the humps and ledges.

Don’t be fooled by the 90-degree weather forecast this week. My hoodie last Thursday is a sure sign that autumn and its fine fishing are coming soon to lakes near home.

Jack Wollitz’s book, “The Common Angler,” is a collection of stories that explain why anglers are passionate about fishing. Send a note to jackbbaass@gmail.com.