As our green woodlands fade to red, yellow and brown, anglers are reminded that the fish world also is transitioning.

Fall colors bring flying footballs, playoff baseball (we hope) and favorite fish species perking up to longer and more aggressive feeding periods that enable them to store energy to sustain them through the coming winter.

From Lake Erie to the Ohio River, Northeast Ohio anglers are in the catbird seat as they look for a few more weeks of good fishing. As September ebbs to October, we can expect more walleyes, bass, crappies, muskies and steelhead.

A little rain would be good, too, as we await the full impact of autumn’s influence on our region’s fish populations.

Our streams are running low and slow thanks to recent rain-free weeks. Fresh runoff will turn on fish species that respond to increased water volumes as they use the current to help them locate feeding opportunities.

Smallmouth bass and steelhead trout are two of Northeast Ohio’s fish that “turn on” when the rain comes and the rivers swell.

Bass anglers have been pecking away at Ohio River smallies this summer, as the smallies lurk in the shadows and wait for opportunities to ambush emerald shiners and gizzard shad. The river current has been predictably slow during July and August, and the bass bite has been off compared to the peaks anglers expect when the water is rushing.

Rain, of course, is a relative thing. Too little or too much can be problematic, so in the spirit of Goldilocks, anglers’ rain dances are aimed at precipitation that is just right.

Too little rain means the steelhead trout that have been growing fat all summer feeding on the bountiful baitfish of Lake Erie will linger off the harbors instead of charging into the tributaries.

Over the past two weeks, anglers have been catching steelhead near the harbors, but not in them. Success has come for those who locate steelhead hanging around the alewife, shad and shiner schools in deeper waters.

The lake temperature has cooled in its typical seasonal pattern, so the next substantial rain will increase the flow of Conneaut Creek and the Ashtabula, Grand, Cuyahoga and Rocky rivers. The steelhead will be sure to follow.

On the Ohio River, meanwhile, smallmouth bass nuts are doing their own rain dances. The river drains a huge area, including the Allegheny and Monongahela systems, and our own Mahoning and Shenango valleys. A good rain storm or two in the next week would serve well to send water down through Pittsburgh and past East Liverpool, Chester, Wellsville and Newell.

River smallies love swift current. Veteran river anglers say, in fact, that no current is too swift for Ohio River smallmouths. The current creates seams and eddies that predator fish use to effectively locate and attack baitfish.

While many river anglers have been successful throughout the summer and so far in September, it’s a sure bet that a few rainy days will ignite the anticipated fall bite that will deliver more and bigger smallies.

We know what we need. It’s now up to the weather to mix up the formula to turn on our Erie steelhead and river bass.

Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator fishing columnist Jack Wollitz is the author of The Common Angler (2022, Tucker DS Press). Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.