Hawgust Continues

On the Water: 5:25 am - 12:15 pm
Air Temperature: 66 - 75
Water Temperature: 70 - 72
Water Clarity: Murky/ Clear, Visibility 4-6 ft
Skies: Partly cloudy in early morning, mostly cloudy with occasional sprinkle later in the morning.
Wind: 0-7 Mph SW until 10:00, changing to W, NW, N
Barometric Pressure: 29.87 - 29.83

Well, my plans for a 3 day trip were foiled, so I decided to take a trip to a small lake that I visited once earlier this year (see the report here).  Given the weather conditions over the past few days (unseasonably cool, with even colder nights), I wasn't sure what the bass were going to be doing.  I anticipated, that they would be emerging from their summer time haunts, and getting ready to move shallow for the upcoming fall.  But I had a variety of lures tied on, to allow me to adapt quickly to what the fish were doing.  Unfortunately, I was expecting dirty water, but all that rain must have flushed out the dirty water, and replaced it with much clearer water from the stream that flows in from the south, so I had to retie to more natural colors.  As soon as I switched colors, it was game on.

I changed out my junebug colored soft stickbait, for a Watermelon / Red Flake Senko. I made an awkward cast, almost behind me,  to a deep lily pad edge, and I see my line jump, I set the hook and I was in for a ride.  The fish started pulling drag and spinning my kayak around, before swimming 15 feet or so into the thick lily pads.  I thought I lost the fish several times, as I paddled in to get him, and I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the end of my line, and saw the fishes enormous back sticking out of the water.  I scooped it up, and picked the grass off him before weighing and snapping a picture.            

This guy went 6.12

After catching many less than stellar bass on the senko, I finally hooked up with a couple keepers, one was 1.19 the other 2.12.  I took a few casts with a Booyah! Spinnerbait over a large flat, and scooped up another good fish, this one weighing 3.78. 

Here's the 3.78 on the spinnerbait

After a while of catching dinks, and dropping a couple fish on a square bill, I made it to a large tree that sits perpindicular to a steep bank.  I pitched a  watermelon red flake Zoom Ol' Monster into the thick of the tree, and felt a thump on the way down, I set the hook, and was immediately tangled up in the tree, but I could still feel the fish tugging on the other end. Instead of pulling back and trying to force the fish out of the cover, I simply kept tension, and paddled my way over until I reached a more favorable angle. I landed the fish, and aside from a few more dinks, that was the end of my day. 

This one went 4.14

At the end of the day, I wound up with a surprising 17.35 lbs for 5 fish. I caught 14 or 15 all together, but only 5 were keepers. I'm not really sure what is going on with this place. A lot of really small fish, and apparently, a good amount of big fish. But I'm still wondering where all the average size fish are.  I'm not complaining though, so far, I think I've done pretty well this month.  I hope it continues.                  

3 Days, 2 Bigguns, 1 Mildly Disappointed Fisherman

I decided on this location, because it is very different from the last body of water I fished.  Instead of deep and clear, and very sparse grass, this is shallow and dingy with extremely abundant grass, almost to the point of being choked out by milfoil. 

Day 1 8/5/14

On the Water: 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Air Temperature: 74-69
Water Temperature: 80-83
Water Clarity: Stained / 2-3ft
Skies: Clear
Wind: 3-12 Mph S, SSW, WSW
Barometric Pressure: 29.92 - 29.93"

I wasn't really sure what to expect starting out here.  I paddled out to the center to see if I could locate a weed line, but it seemed that with the shallow water, the grass grew pretty much all the way across the lake.  So much for that plan.  So I moved back in shallow, and began working some matted grass.  I figured with the high sun, and clear skies, the fish would be looking for shade.  My instinct was correct, as it only took a few minutes for a bass to explode on my frog.  Unfortunately, I couldn't hook up with this fish.  I moved up the lake a ways, and kept throwing the frog around. I noticed a thin patch of grass that was much brighter than the rest of the drab colored grass in the lake.  I cast the frog just past it, and as I was pulling it over the vegetation, it was crushed by a bass, in the 2lb range.  I thought I had started on a frog pattern here, but that was the last strike on the amphibian imitation for the rest of the day.  I moved further up to a pontoon boat that was tied up to a dock, I skipped a Pumpkin colored Senko underneath it, and pulled out a bass around a pound and a quarter.  At this point, I was just looking for shade, as it seemed that the bass were relating to that more than anything else.  I arrived at an area with several isolated lily pad clumps, and I pitched the senko around and pulled out a couple of small bass, one that wouldn't keep and another that was right on the edge, probably about a pound.  I tossed a 1/2 oz black and blue Booyah Boo Jig with a  Watermelon Red flake Rage Craw, and pulled out a bass about a pound and a half.  It was starting to get dark, so I just wanted to finish exploring this side of the lake.  I moved up to an impassable bridge, and I decided to pitch the jig under it.  Before it even hit the bottom, I felt a thump and set the hook on another two pounder.  The next cast, I pitch in again, same thing, but this time, the fish got the better of me, as he came unbuttoned half way to the boat.  I wanted to get further under the bridge, but my ability to skip with a baitcaster and a heavy jig isn't that great, so I picked up the spinning rod with the senko, and skipped it as far back as I could.  Almost immediately, I felt a thump, and I set the hook.  As soon as I pulled back, the fish made a bee line right towards me, I could barely keep up with it.  Once it got past the boat, it kept running, my drag screaming, I had to tighten it down, to avoid the fish getting engulfed in the nearby weeds.  Once I got it to the boat, it was a pleasant surprise to see that monstrous mouth sticking out of the water, I quickly grabbed the fish and snapped a few pics, and released the beast to fight another day.  I tried to weigh her, but my scale would not turn on.  I'm guessing a little over 5 lbs.  It had the length of the 6 pounder I caught earlier this year, but it just didn't have the gut.  I'm guessing pre spawn, this fish would be well over 6.

I apologize for the poor picture quality. I constructed a mount to hold my phone to take pictures (shown in day 2), unfortunately it was left at the house.

Going into day 1, I must say, I was somewhat intimidated by all the grass.  I feel a little better having caught 7 bass, including a 5 pounder, on a lake I've never fished before.  I just hope I can replicate this shade pattern on Day 2.

Day 2 8/6/14
On the Water: 9:30 am - 12:45 pm
Air Temperature: 74-78
Water Temperature: 77-83
Water Clarity: Stained/2-3 ft
Skies: Clear early, increasing clouds at 11:00
Wind: 5-6 Mph N, changing to 5-12 Mph SW at 11:00
Barometric Pressure: 29.85-29.82"

On day 1, I only had time to explore about half the lake.  I figured I would try the other half on day 2.  It was much of the same, a lot of grass, mats in random places, shallow water, and a few laydowns along the shoreline.  I started throwing a Strike King KVD 1.5 square bill, in the chartreuse/black color, ripping it through grass, and bumping it off laydowns.  I got my first fish on one of the downed trees, that wasn't anything special. Maybe a pound and a half.  The wind pushed me south to the damn, and there was some matted grass, with what looked like current breaks, on the down wind side.  So I pitched a 1/2 oz black and blue Booyah/ Rage Craw jig to the motionless water, and was rewarded with a nice fish, probably around 4lbs.  The next cast, I got another one in the 1.5-2lb range.  Once I figured out this "pattern", I began looking for all the matted grass I could find, but wouldn't you figure, the wind shifted, and the clouds rolled in, and the fish shut right down.

Day 3: 8/10/14
On the Water: 5:30 am - 10:45 am
Air Temperature: 61 - 82
Water Temperature: 74 - 79
Water Clarity: Stained in Open Water / 2 ft, Murky in Dense Grass / 4 ft
Skies: Clear
Wind: 6 - 10 mph N, NNE
Barometric Pressure: 30.09 - 30.12

I got on the water just as the sun was starting to appear over the horizon.  Panfish were slurping bugs off the surface in front of the launch.  I started with a frog around grass and got a few lazy "blow ups", but couldn't connect.  Finally I hooked up with one fish on the Booyah Poppin' Pad Crasher.  I kept throwing it around isolated lily pads, and matted grass, and continued to get hits, sometimes multiple hits on the same cast, and just couldn't get a hook in these fish.  I did everything I was supposed to; I waited for the fish to take the frog down, when the rod would load up, I would pull back, and each time, the end result was the same.  Me dodging a hollow bodied frog coming at me like a rocket. Legs were trimmed, hooks were bent up, I'm not sure what I could have done different.  I've always missed fish on a frog, as we all have, it's just part of the game, but today was unlike anything I have ever witnessed.  I figured at this point, the bass weren't really committed to a topwater approach, so I broke out the flippin' stick, with a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, and a Trokar 4/0 straight shank flippin' hook.  I quickly caught 2 bass off of a grass mat.  I moved up a little bit to the bridge I caught the 5 pounder from on day 1, and skipped the same pumpkin colored senko under again.  Within seconds I had a fish tugging at the other end.  But it was running the wrong way.  I had to tighten down my drag and turn the fish around or I didn't stand a chance if I allowed to pass to the other side of the bridge.  When I finally turned it, he jumped and spat my senko back at me.  The fish was probably 3-3.5.  Definitely would have been my biggest on the day.  I picked up my jig rod, and flipped the Booyah/Rage Craw combo to the front side of the abutment, and pulled out another bass.  Then got two more on a shaky head Zoom Trick Worm.  I got one more on a jig on an isolated grass mat, and aside from a few blowups on a frog, that was all the action for the day.  The downside to this was, it was only 8:00 at this point.  Once the sun climbed over the tree tops (cue the Bill Dance theme song), the bite shut right down.  Perhaps it was the rather large moon last night, but who knows.  I'm not here to make excuses, I'm here to catch fish.  I only caught 7 bass on the day, nothing over 2 pounds, and I missed 12 or so fish all together.  I was never really able to develop a pattern here, although I didn't do terrible, I expected more out of this small lake.

My Lake Rating: I will give this lake a 2/5.  The 2 points coming strictly from the big bass potential. There is just too much grass.  It's hard picking apart a grass flat when it's only a small section of a lake, never mind the entire lake. If it were a little deeper it would be okay, as there would be some weedlines where the grass would cease.  It gets a little more sparse in the middle, but it's all the way across the lake.  However, I do look forward to visiting this lake again during the spawn, as there is a lot of sight-fishing potential.

3 Tips to Catch More Summer Time Bass Schooled Up on Alewife

Last week, I fished a lake with an extensive alewife population.  The bass group up on these fish in the summer time, and are fairly easy to catch if you know what to do.  The process first entails finding the fish.  Obviously if you can't find the fish, you aren't going to catch anything.  There were two ways I would go about this.  First, if it was fairly calm, you could see fish busting on the surface.  On the other hand, when the wind would pick up, that surface activity would shut down, so you would have to rely solely on electronics.  I have compiled 3 tips that I think can help you catch more bass schooled up on bait.

Get 'em while they're hot!: On calm days, when you see bass exploding on the surface, it is often easy to catch these fish.  For one, they give away their location.  But secondly, and more importantly, these fish are fired up, and ready to eat.  If you can make an accurate cast into the ripples left behind by the feasting fish, you have a pretty good shot at catching some good bass. The technique I use most in this situation, is "deadsticking" a Zoom Super Fluke.  Simply cast into the area of the surface activity, and let the bait fall until you feel it get picked up.  If you don't feel anything after 10 seconds or so, twitch it a few times and repeat.  What happens is, the smaller more aggressive fish, will chase the alewife, and possibly injure a couple in the process.  The crippled fish will often hold motionless and slowly sink towards the bottom of the school, where the larger, less active bass are waiting for an easy meal to come down to them. "Deadsticking", is a great imitation of this scenario.

Match the hatch: I know, you're probably really sick of hearing this adage by now, but there's a reason it is spoken so often.  It works!  If you can successfully match the forage, you are going to catch more fish.  It's that simple.  The Albino Shad colored Zoom Super Fluke, is as close to an alewife replica as you can get, and that's what has proven to be most effective when fishing for these schooling bass, at least where I was fishing.  Water clarity in your local alewife lake, may not be as clear.  If that's the case maybe something with a little more white may do the trick.

Open Water: I know this may seem like "going against the grain".  I understand your reluctance to fish a bait subsurface in 30 + ft of water. I'm not saying you should avoid structure all together, because bass will relate to humps and points, when the schools of alewife are there.  More often than not, the big schools of bait, will be out in open water, and the bass will be following.  Perhaps this is what is so intimidating about this technique, the inability to eliminate water.  You have a much greater area to cover, but once you lock on to a school, it will pay dividends.

One of the biggest factors in catching these fish, is to make your bait stand out.  If you are amongst a massive school of bait, you have a better chance fishing the edges of the school instead of smack dab in the middle.  Just like any other day, play around with your presentation until you find out what works.  By no means do I claim to be an expert on this subject, I'm just sharing with you what has worked for me based on my experiences, and can hopefully help you to catch a few more fish.

Back to School: 3 Days on a Local Alewife Lake

Day 1 7/28/14

On the Water: 4:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Air Temperature: 81 - 73
Water Temperature: 82 - 79
Water Clarity: Clear/ 6+ Ft
Skies: Clear with Occasional Clouds
Wind: 3 - 13 Mph SW, WSW, W Sustained, Gusts to 23 Mph
Barometric Pressure: 29.52 - 29.58"

I chose this lake for several reasons.  First, my brother Josh, has been spending a lot of time on this lake recently, and putting up some quality numbers, second, the average fish in this lake is around 2-2.5 lbs, and third, this lake does NOT play to my strengths.  What better way to get stronger, than starting with your weak points?

When I got on the lake, the wind was whipping, so I figured I would paddle out to the center and just let the wind push me along until I found some bait.  I drifted up to a point and quickly got a nice bass on an Albino Shad Zoom Super Fluke, but couldn't get anything else off this area.  I paddled out to a hump a little ways off the point, and was able to get one more.  Again, I let the wind drift me and I marked a few fish, and was able to get another bass.  I kept drifting along, and noticed that I was in 8 ft of water in the middle of the lake.  So I started paddling around and dropping marker buoys, and came to the conclusion that there is either a very large boulder, or a sunken island.  It is 30+ feet on all sides, and one side comes up drastically, the other 3 are a little more gradual.  This seemed like a sure bet to get a few fish, so I started with a Strike King 5XD in the Sexy Blue Back Herring color.  I was only able to manage 2 fish on the crankbait, and one more on the super fluke.  But I was excited to catch something on my new Abu Garcia Veritas crankbait rod, so I had that going for me at least.  It was starting to get dark, so I began making my way back towards the launch, I came up on a hump out in the middle of the lake, and grabbed one more bass on a fluke.  So, at the end of day 1, I ended up with 7 bass, one in the 3 pound range, the other 6 between 2-2.5.  Not a terrible outing, but I was certainly not encouraged going into day 2.  Best 5 for the day was 11-12 lbs.  All fish came in open water, with schools of alewife in the area.

                                      

                                       

                                       

                                       

                                        

Day 2 7/30/14

On the Water: 9:30 am - 1:15 pm

Air Temperature: 72-73

Water Temperature: 77-80

Water Clarity: Clear/ 6+ Ft

Skies: Mostly Clear

Wind: 0 - 9Mph  W, WSW, S

Barometric Pressure: 30.03 - 30.02"

My plan for day 2 was to get out and try to locate baitfish.  Pretty much, the same thing as day 1.  I paddled out to a small hump that usually holds some fish, and I caught 2 right off the bat on an Albino Shad Super Fluke.  The first one was 2.5 the second 1.5.  I saw some fish busting maybe 50 yards away, so I paddled over to the area and began casting frantically, but couldn't get anything to happen.  I moved back to the hump and pulled out one more fish, this one around 3 lbs.  After having some technical difficulties (line twist issues) I drifted down and moved right on top of a large school of alewife, and only managed one more bass.  Another 1.5lb fish.  I stayed on the school for 30 minutes, but couldn't get the fish to hit.  It was about 1230 at this point, so I moved up closer to the launch fishing along the way.  I get up to the launch area, with about 15 minutes left to fish, and my gut told me to take a few casts shallow.  I threw the fluke on the edge of some lily pads, next to deep water, and it got crushed by a 3 pounder that I wound up quick releasing. 

Now that I got a bite near the pads, I wanted to see if there was anything else in the area.  I didn't really have anything weedless tied on other than a Texas rigged Culprit Fat Max, so with limited time, I said "What the heck, I'll give it a shot".  So I cast it out and swam it up to the pads, and dragged it over top, and just as it was about to drop back in the water a bass comes flying out of the water at it, and I hooked him. Another one in the 3 pound range.  I immediately tied on a frog, and had a couple HUGE explosions, including a 3 pounder that launched himself 4 feet out of the water, knocking my frog airborne, but I couldn't hook up with anything.  Unfortunately, I had to leave to get to work.  I hate leaving biting fish, but you do what you have to do.  I really wasn't expecting to see fish shallow here, but I think under the conditions (blue bird skies, increasing temperature) the fish were looking for shade and/or oxygen.  What better place than lily pads adjacent to deep water (18 ft in this location) approximately 6 feet out from the pads.   I have a little bit more confidence now having found that little bite at the end of the day, maybe it will be something I can duplicate on day 3, as opposed to chasing bait all day.  I only ended up with 6 fish, but I am happy to see an actual pattern based on a constant (structure and cover) as opposed to a variable (bait).  Best 5 for day two 12-13 lbs.

This fish was only hooked in the tongue, thus the blood.  The bleeding did stop during the revival process, and she took off like a rocket.

Day 3 8/3/14:

On the Water: 5:20 am - 12:00 pm

Air Temperature:72 - 64

Water Temperature: - 76

Water Clarity: Clear/ 6 + ft

Skies: Overcast / On and off rain

Wind: 0-5 mph S,SE,SSE

Barometric Pressure: 30.07 - 30.09"

I had been watching the weather closely leading up to day 3.  The 10 -15 degree drop in temperature was my main concern.  I was hoping to go right in, and find my grass pattern that I just picked up on at the end of day 2, but given the change of conditions, I did not expect it to hold up.  Unfortunately, I was correct.  After dedicating the first hour or so to shallow lily pad edges adjacent to deep water, and not getting a bite, it was back to chasing fish again.  I found several small schools of alewife, with what seemed like only a couple bass around them.  Occasionally I'd see a fish bust on the surface.  But no matter what I tried I couldn't get these fish to go after any presentation.  It wasn't until the wind started to pick up around 9:30 - 10:00 that I got my first fish.  I wound up with 9 total bass and one random brown trout.  All fish were caught on an Albino Shad Zoom Super Fluke, and my best 5 was probably in the 12lb range.  Pretty much par for the course here. These fish were hitting so light, I couldn't even feel it, I would just notice my line jump or start swimming off.  I also lost a couple that jumped and spit the hook, which prompted me to sharpen my hook, and I had no more issues after that.  I didn't take any pictures, as I was trying to stay on the schools, which seemed to be moving faster than usual.

My Lake Rating:

After 3 days on this lake, I'm sure of one thing, the alewife dictate the majority of the fish behavior and movement.  You find the school of alewife, and there is sure to be a few bass hanging close by.  However, this is not really my style of fishing.  I would prefer a more methodical approach, based on structure or cover.  However, at this time of year, that kind of bite seems to be non-existent here.  This lake shows some serious potential in the size department, as the average bass seems to be 2-2.5lbs, with many 3+ pound fish worked in as well, and an occasional 5+.  I'm excited to fish this lake in the spring, when the bass will be in their more predictable prespawn pattern, and then the true giants come out to play.  I will give it a 4/5, it was close to a 5, but again, the lack of predictability is what turns me off about it.  

New Format

As some of you may or may not know, my goal, if the stars align, is to acquire a boat over the winter, and begin some tournament fishing starting next spring, nothing major, just a local bass club, and take it from there.  Having spent the majority of my fishing tenure fishing from shore, I have been extremely limited as to the bodies of water I was able to fish.  Now, having the kayak, my options are much greater, although, still limited, but I will touch on that later.  In preparation for next year, I have been trying to cover a lot of water, and a lot of new lakes, but I came to the realization, that I was going about it all wrong.

All year, I have been going to a lake, fishing it once, then moving on to a different lake, then another one, and so on, and once I have exhausted the local options, I would return to one of the lakes I felt had potential, or I had good results the first time.  Being that this is New England, the weather can change drastically over the course of  weeks, days, hours or minutes.  Every time I would return to a lake, I would first look for the same pattern that had formed on the previous venture.  Sometimes it would be there, but most times, it was different.  Leaving me no choice but to start almost from scratch.  I say almost, because having been to a certain lake before, I still have some idea of the lay of the land, so I'm not totally blind going in.  However, trying to figure out a lake in a 3-6 hour time period, kind of causes me to rush, and I wouldn't slow down and dissect some areas as much as I would like to.

What I have decided, is that I will pick a lake for the week.  I generally fish Monday evenings, Wednesday mornings, and Sunday mornings, so Monday and Wednesday will be my "practice" days, to get a feel for how a lake is fishing, and Sunday will be my "game day" if you will.

As of right now,  I will only be fishing small bodies of water to avoid pleasure boaters and weekend tournaments, so that's where I'm still limited in the kayak.  But once Labor Day has passed, and it starts to cool off, expect to see me on some bigger bodies of water.  Now, as for how this is going to impact you (the readers), expect to see one report per week, probably on Sunday evening or Monday morning, and possibly one informational piece mid week.  Rather than inundating your news feeds and twitter feeds with multiple reports from the same body of water, I will compact it down into one detailed report that will cover all 3 trips.  So keep an eye out for the reports.  Be sure to "Like" my Facebook Page, "Follow" me on Twitter and Instagram, and Subcribe to my Youtube Channel, you can find all my blog posts, as well as a few other tidbits, on all these forms of social media.  I will also be posting on the Facebook group Fishing CT, so if you are not yet a member, make sure and join up.

Windy Wednesday - 7/23/14

On the Water: 9:30 am - 12:30pm

Air Temperature:  68-72

Water Temperature: 76 - 81

Water Clarity: Stained/ 2.5 ft of visibility

Skies: Mostly Sunny

Wind: 8-14 Mph; Gusts to 20

Barometric Pressure: 29.98 a 29.91"

 I set out on the hunt for smallmouth at a new location for a couple hours. When I arrived, the water clarity, or lack thereof, was not quite what I was expecting. After spending precious time re-tying from clear water colors to murky water colors, I was off to the races; which I did not win by the way. 

I was able to manage two rather small largemouth on a chartreuse spinner bait in the first hour. I figured the bigger fish were out deeper, so I made a move to find some offshore structure that I had marked on my map. However, the wind and current made this a difficult task.  I marked several fish on a deep point, but could not entice them with anything. 

I picked up my anchor and began drifting with the wind and current, casting at the deep vertical banks. I made it to a large lay down that sat over 15-20 FOW, which I was soon to find out had many branches under the water. I pitched in an Electric Grape colored Berkley Power Worm, and I felt the "tic" so I layed into the fish. All I could feel was my 17lb fluorocarbon grinding against the submerged branches, and finally was able to get the fish out of the obstruction, and got it in the boat. A solid largemouth, I'll take it.  After re-tying,  I made my way to the down current side of the tree and pitched the worm in again. Again I felt a "tic", I set the hook, and for a moment I thought I had snagged a piece of the tree.  Then it started pulling back, as I reared back on this fish, it kept pulling back towards the tree and eventually broke me off in the branches. Although I never got a look at the fish, I know it was an absolute giant. It's not often you set the hook on a fish and it just doesn't budge, and in fact hurt your back in the process. The last fish that did this to me, was a 6+ lb fish that nearly ripped the rod out of my hands on the hook set.

The wind really started to pick up, and I couldn't get anything else to happen, so it was off to work for me. 

I will definitely be returning here, hopefully I can locate some smallies on my next trip. 

It's hard to see in the picture, but if you look close, you can see just how frayed the line was after landing the fish. If that had been braid, I never would have got that fish to the boat. 

Confidence Rebuilding - 7/21/14

On the Water: 5:30 pm - 8:45 pm
Air Temperature: 77 - 68
Water Temperature: 84 - 79 (Areas that were 80-81 were most productive)
Water Clarity: Clear / 6 Ft of visibility
Skies: Clear with occasional clouds
Wind: 3-6 Mph SSW
Barometric Pressure: 30.16 - 30.19"

After several sub-par outings, I decided I would go back to some familiar water and rebuild some confidence.  This was a much needed trip as I was starting to become beaten down, mentally.  The last few times I visited this lake, the pattern was much in the same.  Today was no exception.

I made my way to a section of isolated lily pads, and took a few casts with a Cobra Bait Dead Bolt in the bluegill color.  This color is perfect for clear water and bluebird skies.  I think the fish agreed with me on my color choice, as it wasn't long before I got my first fish. I worked my way around the clump of lily pads.  There is also a section of pads coming off the shoreline that form a "point" if you will, and I was able to pull a few fish off this area as well.  I lost two fish in this section, and one I would guess was well over 3lbs, it dove deep and took me into some milfoil, and I came up empty.  The second one I lost was not as substantial, I would guess about 1-1.5lbs, this one took my line into a single lily pad, and when the line hit it, that small amount of slack was enough to jar him loose.

I moved on to another section with some irregular lily pads, and the pattern produced a few more fish, including a 2 pounder.  There was a point right there so I figured I'd at least throw something at it, so I tossed out a Texas rigged 7" Culprit Fat Max worm, watermelon colored, and landed two identical pound and a half fish.

It was starting to get dark, so I paddled back to my first area for a few more casts.  First cast, I threw the worm, and was surprised to pull up a small channel cat.  I also managed a couple more bass on the deadbolt.  I was also broken off on a hookset and that's when I decided to call it quits.

I ended up with 12 bass and one channel cat.  Nothing was particularly big, a lot of 1 - 1.5 pound fish, with a few dinks mixed in, but I didn't really care.  I'm sure I could have concentrated my efforts on the deeper weed line, but I really wanted to just play to my strengths today. The sole purpose of this trip was to rebuild confidence, and I did that.  I was beginning to question my ability to locate and catch fish.  When your confidence is low, your attitude tends to go right down with it, resulting in poor fishing.

Please excuse the lack of pictures, but I think you've seen me catch enough average sized fish, I took a couple, but wasn't really feeling the picture thing today.  I did get one video with the deadbolt however.

Basically what I was doing, was casting as close to the edge of the lily pads as possible, and letting it sink for a few seconds, reel in the slack, twitch and repeat.  

New Water; Poor Results - 7/20/2014

On the Water: 5:45 am - 12:45 pm
Air Temperature: 63-72
Water Temperature: 74-78
Water Clarity: Clear/ 6ft Visibility
Skies: Mostly Cloudy
Wind: 3-9 mph NNW
Barometric Pressure: 30.17-30.20

After checking the CT DEEP Tournament Schedule, I decided try the lake I attempted to go to last Sunday.  It is a rather deep lake, so I figured my best bet was to try to locate the thermocline, and eliminate as much water as possible.  I paddled out to my first spot, a grassy point, and immediately my Humminbird started marking fish.  Most fish were between 12-16 feet, so I turned the gain all the way up, and noticed a distinct black line, at about 16 ft.  This is the first time (I think) I have successfully marked the thermocline with my rather limiting electronics.  I found an area on the point with a weedline stopping at about 11 ft, and it dropped off to 16.  I dropped a couple marker buoys, and started fishing.  I missed a few fish on a wacky rigged deadbolt, and a couple more on a super fluke.  I stayed on this spot for a while and threw a little bit of everything, but failed to muster any more bites.  I picked up and decided to fish some docks, and that landed me a small largemouth on a Zoom super fluke.

After catching my first bass fairly shallow (5 FOW), I decided to change my approach a little bit.  I tied on a Booyah pad crasher and moved up to some lily pads with some matted milfoil on the outer edge.  That first bass must have been a "fluke" (get it?), because I didn't see any sign of  bass in shallow water.  I fished a dead section of water for way too long before I decided to relocate.

I found my way to a nice point, that extends maybe 100 ft off the land, it was 4 ft at it's peak, and dropped off to 22ft.  I wound up catching two bass off of this spot, one about 1.5 -1.75, and the other less than a pound.  I caught them dragging a Texas rigged Yum watermelon seed ribbon tail worm, and hopping it every now and then.


The wind started to pick up, and the pleasure boaters started to make their presence known, so I moved to a protected area between 2 islands, and fished the outside weed edge, and "dropped" a fish on the dropshot.  I went back to the ribbon tail worm, and it got hit as it was falling to the bottom.  I set the hook, and I knew right away it wasn't a bass, and for a second, I thought I lost it, as it wasn't doing anything.  I was surprised when I got it to the boat, it was a large crappie, that weighed in at 1.89 lbs.  I think this is my personal best, I honestly don't think I've ever weighed a crappie before.  So for arguments sake, we will call it my PB.  I cast out into the same spot, and felt a "tic" on the line, and I set the hook, and this felt like a good fish, as it was taking a hard run down to the depths.  I got it close to the boat and then realized it was just a pickerel.  There isn't a more disappointing feeling than thinking you've got a good bass, and it winds up being a pickerel.  Lo and behold, on the very next cast, the same exact thing, a pickerel, almost of identical size.

Generally, when I fish a lake for the first time, I don't really expect much in the way of results.  For some reason, today was different.  I was confident leaving the house this morning that I would have at least caught a limit.  I'm not sure why, but I have a tough time figuring out these alewife lakes.  The three that I've fished this year have not been good to me, whether I find the schools of bait or not.  Maybe I get too caught up trying to mimic the forage, that I lose sight of the basics, I'm not really sure.  But I think tomorrow evening will have to be a confidence building trip.

Alewife Alley: Attempt 3 - 7/13/14

On the Water: 6:00 am - 12:30 pm

Air Tenperature: 64-76

Water Remperature: 78-81

Water Clarity: Clear

Skies: Mix of Sun and Clouds

Wind: 7-19 mph SSW sustained; gusts to 26

Barometric Pressure 30.09

My initial plan was to try some new water. I did my research, marked some areas on a map, and tied on everything I felt would be effective in this new lake. Well, when I pulled up to the launch there were about 10 bass boats in the parking lot waiting to launch, and several more on the way. Seeing as how it was new territory for me, I decided to make my way to some more familiar water. Racing bass boats in a kayak is not my idea of fun, especially when I'm trying to figure out new water. 

When I arrived at the next location, I was the only person there, just the way I like it. I paddled out to some offshore structure and started fishing. I noticed some fish breaking the surface, so I tossed a super fluke into the disturbance. No sooner did it hit the water, I had a bite. I set the hook, and my line came flying back at me bearing no weight. My leader knot had pulled apart. 

I was in too deep of water to anchor, so I retied my leader, and the wind pushed me down the lake maybe 30 feet, when I looked back up, someone else was right on my spot, and catching fish.  Talk about poor fishing etiquette. 

Anyways, I moved to a different piece of structure and missed a few fish on a fluke, and couldn't hook up. I moved closer to shore and started working some ledges with a spinner bait, crankbait, jigs, worms, and was able to get a surprise brown trout on the spinner bait. 

The wind really started to pick up, and was not showing any signs of slowing down. My theory was that the wind would push the plankton; the alewife would follow the plankton; and the bass would follow the alewife. So I made a move to the downwind side of the lake.

I missed one more fish on a fluke here but didn't see the amount of activity that I had anticipated. 

I noticed that the aforementioned spot stealer had vacated my first area, so I went back and promptly landed a 2 pound bass on a fluke and missed a few more. 

Struggling to find any consistency, I started throwing a Keitech swimbait, and got one more fish, in the 3 lb range. 

Josh had shown up about 10:30, and landed 2 fish by the time I left.  After I left, the bite must have picked up, he ended up with 4 more, including a 5.3 pound slob. 

This lake holds large numbers of monster fish. Unfortunately, they are tough to find. If you can find a dense population of alewives, you have a good chance of catching some bass. Otherwise, you may have a tough day. On calm days you can see fish breaking the surface all around the lake. But on a windy day like we had, we saw only a couple fish break. Also, chasing bait in a kayak is quite a difficult task.  I would much rather fish some sort of defined cover or structure as opposed to fishing in 30 ft of water over a flat bottom.  It's hard to eliminate any water when the fish are following bait. You can only try and make sense of it, and hope for the best. 

Just One of Those Days 7/9/14

On the water: 9:20 am - 1 pm

Air Temperature: 78-82

Water Temperature: 76-80

Water Clarity: Stained/Clear

Skies: Sunny, occasional clouds

Wind: 2-9 Mph SSW, gusts to 16

Barometric Pressure: 29.88 - 29.89

Tide: High tide was approximately 9:30

I haven't targeted bass on the CT River in a long, long time.  I figured I'd give it a go this morning. I only had a couple of hours, and those of you who have fished the river, know that locating fish on a high tide is nothing short of a daunting task. I ended up at an old spot, right down the road from my house. 

I got on the water for the last couple minutes of the incoming tide. This particular area, has a small overpass just north of the launch that inhibits your ability to pass under with the elevated water level.  So, I messed around on the south side of the bridge in the heavily stained water waiting for the tide to relinquish. I moved up shallow, and threw a spinnerbait, chatterbait, swim jig, frog, square bill crankbait, and a flipped a jig around but couldn't find any fish. Once the water had fallen enough to allow safe passage under the bridge, I mad my move. 

Now with the tide going out, I was hoping to find fish moving towards outside weed edges. The only problem however, was that there didn't seem to be any weed edges. It was just grass, in every direction.  What was once a narrow channel, with two rather defined weed edges on either side, was now a field of submerged eel grass. Knowing I wouldn't have time to dissect all this grass, I made a move further north. 

I arrived at a bend in the creek, that included a current break with an eddy, a shallow grass flat with some sparse timber, deep water, and a couple of lay downs to boot. Better yet, I found some baitfish in the area. Precisely everything you look for when targeting bass in a river, was right here in front of me. As I paddled over the area to get to the down current side, I marked several fish, all suspended, sitting about halfway down in 12 or so feet of water. I figured this was my best bet for a successful day so I hunkered down. You name it, I threw it, all depths of the water column were sufficiently covered, as well as the casting angles. I fished the grass, the trees, the bend, the current breaks, I slowed down, I sped up, I changed colors.  In addition to the lures listed earlier, I also incorporated the drop shot, wacky rigged deadbolt, a DT-6 and DT-10 crankbait, a super fluke, a Texas rigged worm, and a jerkbait, and couldn't buy a bite. 

It was getting to be that time, so I began to venture my way back, battling the tide and gusty wind. When I approached the south side of the overpass, I noticed that the water had cleared up, a lot, as the tide went out, it took the murky water with it. 

  Unfortunately, my trek towards the launch had taken longer than I anticipated, and was already cutting it close on time.  But I believe, had I been able to wait for that clearer water to reach the bend, those fish would have turned on, and I would have gone home happy.

The river is funny like that, you can do everything "right" and come home empty handed.  If you don't have the timing right, which today I didn't, you aren't going to have a very good outing. But that's all part of the fun of fishing the river. 

On the bright side, I was able to snag a cool photo of the Essex Steam Train.

Pre-Arthur Trip 7/4/14

On the Water: 6:20am - 9:40am
Air Temperature: 70 - 72
Water Temperature: 80 - 82
Water Clarity: Clear
Skies: Overcast
Wind: 0 - 9 Mph N
Barometric Pressure: 30.00 - 29.98"

I figured I'd try to get out before the storm arrived, so I went over to a local lake/pond that I haven't been to since the pre spawn.  I didn't have much luck here the last few times, and it's a place I really want to figure out.  I know there are giants here.

I noticed the water level was extremely low, the launch was almost at a 70 degree angle to the water.  Once I put in I began fishing the edges of lily pads with a wacky rigged Cobra Bait deadbolt and a strike king swim jig.  First cast I got hit on the deadbolt but couldn't hook up.  I worked my way around the lily pads and eventually hooked into a nice pound and a half largemouth.  As I was releasing the fish, the bare hook was submerged in the water, when I picked up on my rod to make another cast, I felt pressure so I set the hook, and it was a tiny crappie on the other end of the line.

I moved off the lily pads trying to find the deeper submerged weed line, and after a few minutes of paddling around, trying to figure out the contour of it, I picked up the drop shot rod.  As soon as I cast out, I heard two rather loud rumbles of thunder.  I reeled in fast, and began paddling back to the launch.  After about 10 minutes, the audible thunder had ceased, so I made my way back to the weed edge.  I picked up another pound and a half bass on the swim jig as well as a pickerel.  While we are on the topic of swim jigs, if you haven't made them part of your arsenal, or you just choose not to fish them, I strongly suggest giving them a look.  The strike you get on these lures is so violent, and so exhilarating, it only takes a back seat to topwater, and like topwater, it can really attract giants.

I followed the weedline out towards deeper water where it comes out to a point, and caught a few more on a deadbolt, and missed quite a few on the swim jig.  I picked up the drop shot rod again, and like clock work, the thunder rumbled, so like before, I started making my way back to the launch.  Someone really didn't want me fishing the dropshot today. Again, I didn't hear any more rumbles, so I made my way back out and caught another couple bass.  However the thunder came back, and was louder and more frequent, so this time, it chased me off the water for good.

In total I caught 7 bass and missed a good amount, plus a pickerel and a crappie. Biggest was a pair of 1.5 lbers, everything else was a pound or less.  Had it not been for the weather, I would have ventured off further to the areas that I had marked on my map last night, but I didn't want to get stuck in a thunderstorm being that far away from the launch, so I stayed pretty close in case I needed to make a fast exit.  If I didn't have to go to work in the afternoon, I probably would have hung out a little longer and waited out the thunder, but I didn't have much time left.

Dual Report 6/29 and 6/30/14

Local Alewife Lake 6/29
On the Water: 5:30 am - 12:00 pm
Air Temperature: 57 - 79
Water Temperature: 76-80
Water Clarity: Clear
Skies: Foggy early, partly cloudy
Wind: 0-6 Mph

Josh and I went back to the alewife lake we tried the other day, hoping for some more large bass schooled up on the bait.  It was exceedingly foggy when we arrived and only got worse for the first two hours before it finally burned off.  There is a large hump that we wanted to fish, it extends half way across the lake, and comes up to 18 ft and on 3 sides of it goes down almost to 40 ft.  I was trolling a swimbait on my way out to it, and hooked up with a giant, but he came off before I could get him in.

We fished around the structure throwing worms, jigs, dropshots and swimbaits and missed a few fish but couldn't hook up.  After the fog burned off, we started seeing some bass exploding on the surface, so we began chasing the movement and I quickly landed a 3 pounder and 2ish pound fish on a donkey rig (double fluke rig).  It was crazy fishing a fluke over 30 feet of water and still catching fish.  Aside from 50 missed fish on a drop shot, this was the peak of my action for the day.  Josh continued to find schools of fish, catching them on the fluke including a 4.9 pounder.  It's tough chasing bait in a kayak, once you get to where you saw them half way across the lake, they always seem to end up where you just were.

6/30/14

On the water: 5:30 pm - 8:45 pm

Air Temperature: 81 - 74

Water Temperature: 81-79

Water Clarity: Clear

Skies: Partly Cloudy

Wind: 3-12 Mph

Josh and I went out again Monday night to a lake I've grown quite accustomed to.  We moved right out to a small isolated circle of lily pads that has deeper water on all sides of it.  First cast Josh gets hit on a spinner bait, then second cast he hooks up with a small bass.  My second cast I hook into a 2.75lb bass on a Cobra Bait Deadbolt.  Then maybe 10 casts later, I catch a 2.5lb bass also on the deadbolt.  We fished mainly weed edges and lily pads, throwing anything from swimbaits, jigs, and texas rigged worms, to poppers, wacky rigged deadbolts, super flukes and swim jigs.

We totaled 19 fish between the two of us, Josh got most of his on a super fluke, and a couple on the popper.  Me on the other hand, I got 7 on a deadbolt, and one on a swim jig.  My best 5 was probably 8.5-9, Josh's was probably closer to 6.  Lots of dinks for both of us with a few quality fish mixed in.