Late summer – what’s working

Can’t prove a negative-some on this site would agree.

The bass have given me a piece of humble pie lately. Both numbers and size are down. Water temp on our lake is 75 with heat coming. The next six weeks usually get pretty good. Hopefully, you guys are doing better than me. Good luck.

ssaamm wrote:

The bass have given me a piece of humble pie lately. Both numbers and size are down. Water temp on our lake is 75 with heat coming. The next six weeks usually get pretty good. Hopefully, you guys are doing better than me. Good luck.

It’s been noticeably slower the past month or so for this guy too. I am still catching fish here and there, but its about half as good as it was before that first heatwave showed up in late July. And the only way to catch anything is to fish plastics painfully slow.

I went this morning, and things began to improve. The water temp had dropped from 81 two weeks ago to 77 last week to 72 this morning. The fish were more aggressive and so was my approach. I didn’t catch any real big ones but the bite was simply better in terms of quantity and quality. It was very comfortable out there until about 10:30am. Then it started to turn hot. By the time I got home it was sweltering.

I imagine that water temps will rise again with several days of hot weather.

Tube jig on weed edges have continued to produce for me in the last few weeks, both quantity and size. I love casting crankbaits over weeds and while that has produced fish, it produces at least 2:1 small pike to bass. The bass seem to be schooling up a bit now too.

Going out in the morning to try and figure out a lake I’ve been working on. Haven’t fished for about three weeks. Got frustrated with the rough summer and decided I wanted to golf more.

Hopefully I’ll figure something out.

The last couple of weeks the bite finally slowed down for me on every trip I took. That basically hadn’t happened all summer, that I can remember. I may have had a couple or three bad trips in a row, but I was always back into them pretty quickly. I caught some bigger fish last week so that somewhat makes up for the slower action.

Caught one 2 lb bass and one tiger muskie this morning. Still felt good to get out there even though I still can’t figure out the lake.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Caught one 2 lb <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass and one tiger muskie this morning. Still felt good to get out there even though I still can’t figure out the lake.

What was the water temp out there this morning?

Mahto I’m going to guess at the lake and if I’m not mistaken I’ve heard that is a very tough lake to fish… So a bass and a ski is not all that bad!

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Mahto I’m going to guess at the lake and if I’m not mistaken I’ve heard that is a very tough lake to fish… So a bass and a ski is not all that bad!

Any lake that produces 1 Bass and 1 Tiger Muskie in a morning of fishing is more than a tough lake to me, and would not be getting another visit any time soon. There are some lakes with tougher bites than others, but those results are beyond tough. Especially for someone who’s got Mahtofire’s bass knowledge.

I already let the name of the lake slip once on here so I don’t want to do it again. Mainly because I’ve been the only one out on it the last couple times out.

You’re probably thinking because it’s terrible fishing, but last fall the last two trips I made in early November got me two 5+ lbers and multiple 3 lbers. I just haven’t been able to figure it out in warm weather.

Gim water temps were 73-75.

fishthumper wrote:

Especially for someone who’s got Mahtofire’s bass knowledge.

My kryptonite in the summer are lakes that don’t have deep weeds. If they aren’t on shallow structure and there’s no weedline for me to run reaction baits or weed edges to target in deep water I really struggle.

fishthumper wrote:

Any lake that produces 1 Bass and 1 Tiger Muskie in a morning of fishing is more than a tough lake to me, and would not be getting another visit any time soon.

I realize that he wasn’t technically after the muskie, but if you catch a muskie during an outing, regardless of whether it was a tiger or pure strain, regardless of size, I call it a success. Because more often than not you do not catch a muskie. Heck, even seeing one is a successful outing in my book. Maybe he doesn’t care about catching a muskie though. I certainly would.

One 2 pound bass is poor. I can’t argue that part.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
Any lake that produces 1 Bass and 1 Tiger <em class=”ido-tag-em”>Muskie in a morning of fishing is more than a tough lake to me, and would not be getting another visit any time soon.

I realize that he wasn’t technically after the muskie, but if you catch a muskie during an outing, regardless of whether it was a tiger or pure strain, regardless of size, I call it a success. Because more often than not you do not catch a muskie. Heck, even seeing one is a successful outing in my book. Maybe he doesn’t care about catching a muskie though. I certainly would.

I don’t but I thought it was still cool. I thought I might have an encounter with how I started out fishing. It blasted my magdraft and was a fun fight.

I’m with you Mahto I struggle on the same lakes drives me nuts.

Update on our league night last Thursday on Clearwater. Windy cool front conditions. Water temp had dipped 2 degrees to 71 from 2 days prior. We found our keeper bass, but it required covering a lot of water. Everything came on moving baits. White spinnerbait, bluegill spinnerbait (after a pike got my only white), and crankbaits. Nothing on dropshot, ned, or neko. Fish were very spread out, but seemed to be aggressive when you were able to send a bait over their head. Largest was 19 1/2″, smallest around 14″.

Have had better luck casting chatterbaits where I see something making sunnies swirl at the surface. Get my share of pike, too. Plastics in any form kinda slow.

ssaamm wrote:

Have had better luck casting chatterbaits where I see something making sunnies swirl at the surface. Get my share of pike, too.

I did good this morning with moving lures. Caught 11 bass and 7 pike in about 4 hours, including several 17+ inch largemouth and a couple of 30+ inch pike. I could not get a bite on a plastic. They wanted it moving pretty fast. Water temp was 74 degrees.

Did well with a DT10 and Senkos. The crank was in a deeper weedy flat, if it hit some weeds I would pause it so it would float out of the weeds, many fish came on that pause.

It sure seems like the bass are starting to transition to a more Fall pattern lately. Seems a little early with the still warm water temps. But then again I’m not a bass so I cant say why they make the switch. I’m more than ready for the fall bite. This summer has be a rather difficult one for me. Just was a Off summer. The fish just never seemed to set up in a good normal summer pattern.

Completely bombed this weekend . Last night 1 bass on a crank nothing I used seemed to work. A few short strikes that was it. Oh well have to take a lump once in a while too. The best is coming yet!

mrpike1973 wrote:

Completely bombed this weekend . Last night 1 bass on a crank nothing I used seemed to work. A few short strikes that was it. Oh well have to take a lump once in a while too. The best is coming yet!

That period of when fish are transitioning from Summer to Fall pattern is often some of the hardest fishing of the season. I like that our fall Canada trip usually is during this transition period. I can always count on returning and having the fall pattern kicking in by the time we return.

The bite has still been good for me. Tactics have changed in the last couple weeks but they’re still coming from deep weed lines, hard bottom, and rocks.
For me it’s all about reaction bites right now. Heavy 3/4-1oz jigs that fall very fast and snapping/ cracking tubes or a small paddle tail has been what’s working for me. Nothing on drop shots, neko, jig worm, or finesse jigs.
Move that bait FAST and erratically and they’ll turn on.

Here are a couple of the nicer largies I caught on Saturday. It was pretty good conditions out there, overcast and windy. Water is still quite warm though. And with 90 degrees next weekend, it may honestly get warmer before it gets cooler.

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