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.