Anyone else notice a recent change is bass Patterns

My last few outings I’ve notice a change in the deeper weedline pattern bite. The #’s of fish seem to be alot less, and the overall size of fish seems to be down some. It seems a little early for fish to be starting the transition into a fall pattern, but it almost seems like it is starting to happen. I guess it is possible that it was just a few off days. There was a few rather big storms that rolled thru the area not to long ago. I was just hoping that we had at least a few more weeks of the good summer bite were were having. Then again all good things must come to a end sometime. I guess I better start getting some of the fall setups ready to roll.

They are moving up. I’ve been finding numbers shallower and shallower. Last weekend I got out and I caught 20-30 bass between skipping docks and chucking a swimjig through coontail and cabbage flats in 4-8 ft.

I don’t think the “summer” bite is over yet considering there are multiple days in the upper 80’s in the 10 day forecast.

This aft/evening, caught less bass in the shallows, docks, etc. started to find the bigger ones outside the weeds and in the flats. Not sure the pattern is really changing that much yet, but could soon..

2 lakes today I completely struck out it happens but was surprised. did shallow deep weed edges etc had 1 blow up that was it heat was miserable today oh well.

My friend is gonna wanna throw froggie in the slop-does anyone know if froggie is on now?

Went this morning for a few hours. Caught 10 bass, 5 pike, and a bonus tiger muskie. Got all of them before 9am when it was cloudy. Didn’t catch a single fish after 9am when it was sunny.

Ribbit
Ribbit
Frog?
Good job G, Tigers are one of my favs, cool fish. Wish I could fish in the fog tomorrow, I’ll be out in the blazing sun tomorrow, but get to fish with a great guy I have not fished with all year, I digress—-frog bite?

Nope, no frogs. I haven’t been on even a decent frog bite in years so I don’t even try it anymore. I like to fish them, they just aren’t effective.

The weedline bite is not dead just yet. Both were 20”. Lost another one that I think was a little bigger

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Dang it you catching nice fish, Fish. What did you get those 2 beuts on? And why do I get 10 19”s B4 I get a 20? (probably bad juju to complain about 19s)

tim hurley wrote:

Dang it you catching nice fish, Fish. What did you get those 2 beuts on? And why do I get 10 19”s B4 I get a 20? (probably bad juju to complain about 19s)

One came on a jigworm and the other on a dropshot. Hang in there, if catching 19’s then a 20 is not far behind. The lake we’ve been catching most of our 20’s + on this year has a good population on 18-20’s. It going to be a Great Lake for a few years. I’m really looking forward to the next 2 or so years out there. I’m curious to see how big some of these fish can get In another year or 2. I really think a 22” is possible. With the fatness of these fish that will be a MONSTER fish. Hope I can put a hook Into one of those.

Cool, thanks Fish-just picked up some 1/8 jigs, they are Gami Skip Gap, think they will be great, keep getting those pigs!

One more thing Fish, did you catch those fish on a lake with a public access?

tim hurley wrote:

Gami Skip Gap

Tim those Gamakatsu skip gap hooks are designed for a tube.

I have and use them, they work well to basically “Texas rig” a tube.

Maybe they were designed for a tube but they are great for T-rigging any plastic that you do not want to slide back. The jig is considered a shakey head jig most other jigs have a keeper barb that will tear into a plastic when Mr. Bucket shakes your shakey, course it all is connected to the superb sharpness of the Gami hook-case I sound like an ad I also like Owner hooks especially their weedless wakey hook.

Did better today still on the weed edges for me between the wife and I got 31 bass tonight Ned rig mostly smaller fish but fun. Water temp was around 78 degrees after this heat up it sounds like it will cool down some.

I was still getting smallies on topwater yesterday. I only fish moving water though.

dbright wrote:

I was still getting smallies on topwater yesterday. I only fish moving water though.

Rivers are the way to go in this heat for brownies.

tim hurley wrote:

One more thing Fish, did you catch those fish on a lake with a public access?

Yep all the bigger fish I’ve caught have been on lakes with public access’s. I use the DNR lake finder and lake Data a lot to research local lakes. I often look for lakes that have a higher than average # of bass as well as those that the data shows a fair amount of bass that are 18’+. You often have to look at the date of the data and do a little mental adjustment for what the lake may be like now. I have found most all of our better bass lakes this summer this way. After I find a lake that the data look good I head out there and spend a fair amount of the time the 1st few outings just trying to get a idea of what kind of cover the lake offers and at what depth most of the weedlines seen to grow to. I also really like when a lake has a few sunken islands. Those that have some weeds on the top of them with fairly deep water near them are often the best spot on a lake in mid summer. After locating the key cover its just a matter of covering water and figuring out where the most and biggest fish are located. My partner and I make a good search team. He really likes to fish a jigworm and I’m a big fan of the dropshot – It usually doesn’t take us long to figure out if the fish tend to be up over the cover or more related to the outside edge. Often were both catching fish at the same time but once in awhile they prefer one over the other.

tim hurley wrote:

One more thing Fish, did you catch those fish on a lake with a public access?

A fair amount of our bigger fish this year are coming from a fairly new lake we have only been fishing for a few years now. This lake seems to have a good population of 18″+ fish and they seem really healthy and well feed. I’m really looking forward to seeing how big some of these fish can get over the next few years. I think its possible that we could see a 22″+ fish out of here in the next year or two if not possibly already this fall. A 22″+ fish on this lake will be a true Monster with the build they have on them out there. I sure hope I get a chance to set a hook into and land one of those Beast !!!!

Great reports Fish, thanks. Noticed their is a hunt club up your way that has an access, big fish in that one.

Nice catch Mr.Pike

Something sure changed this weekend and shut the bite completely down. Fished a small tournament yesterday and was the only boat with a 5 fish bag. Won the tourney with 9+ lbs. It was a combination of the size structure in the lake, but there are nice ones in there as well, but the heat and lack of any wind didn’t help. I heard from other friends at other tourneys over the weekend that many struggled. I’m REALLY looking forward to Fall.

This 2.89 lb 18 inch smallie was our best fish yesterday.

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Fall-bring it!

I did good on Saturday morning for 2 hours when it was cloudy. At 9am when the sun came out it completely shut down. The last couple times this has been the pattern for me.

Lesson here, fish when it’s cloudy, not sunny.

gimruis wrote:

Lesson here, fish when it’s cloudy, not sunny.

Wish my work schedule allowed for that kind of flexibility…..

Same. I might try some more bass fishing at night. I tried it in July when it was hot out and it was very effective.

“Lesson here, fish when it’s cloudy, not sunny.”

Have you noticed if this varies for largemouth vs. smallmouth?

FryDog62 wrote:

“Lesson here, fish when it’s cloudy, not sunny.”

Have you noticed if this varies for largemouth vs. smallmouth?

I’d rather have sun for smallies.

FryDog62 wrote:

Have you noticed if this varies for largemouth vs. smallmouth?

Depends on whether its a river or lake. Bright sun in clear pressured water like Mille Lacs makes it tougher. Whereas bright sun in a river where there’s some murkiness from the current makes it better.

The one item that seems to neutralize the bright sun is shade. Mostly under and around docks. Skipping docks has been an effective strategy during sunshine for me the past month or so. But not every lake has a good dock bite either…