Metro Bassin’ – Last weekend

Anybody been out?

Nobody talks about fishing on this site anymore.

I was on Lake Harriet for about 4 hours on Sunday PM and noticed the the milfoil was in a sad state of decay and had been power mowed. Anyone know if they treated Harriet with chemicals that killed the milfoil?

Still caugh about 10 bass but only one was 4lbs. The rest were in the less than 2lb “dink’ range.

One musky hooked but it broke off on the 6lb test. Had her to the boat but then she started thrashing. The rest is history.

Jigs and Jig worms. Thought about burning a crank through the destroyed milfoil stands but ran out of time. Anybody do this with success in the late summer?

Thoughts?

Dog
Dog

We have a lot of lakes here in WI that the DNR sprays to kill weeds. I found 3 things that work well for the dead weeds. 1. Move! Find healthy weeds. I have better success by moving out to deeper weeds that have not been affected by the chemicals. 2. Look for suspended bass. On deeper lakes, I find more bass move out and suspend right after the weeds begin to deteriorate. I have wondered about if the small particles that break off the milfoil affects their gills???? But I catch very few quality fish in dead weeds. 3. Be prepared to cover a lot of water. I don’t run into a lot of schools of fish after the weeds have been sprayed. More of the one here and there scattered out on deep weeds. If the lake has sand grass in deep water, I would concentrate there first. I view it as a numbers game in those conditions. If I can catch a good bass for every 75 to 100 casts, I’ll try to make as many casts as I can in a day and cover to most amount of water. Watch for any patterns to develop. If they moved from 4 fow to 12 fow and green weeds, the 10 to 16 fow and standing weeds is where I look for and skip the other stuff. Just my nickels worth of thinking

Randy

Thanks for the note. All fish came off a deep water point – 12-18 feet.

I was just curious if anyone has had success running a lipless crank through the weeds – decay or good, this time of year.

Frankly, I can’t wait for a the first cool night the the frog bite takes off in earnest.

Seems like the bigger bass are out on rocks and deep weeds. Crawfish must be starting their molt

Dog

They spray my “favorite East Metro Bass Lake” every year too and it makes a real mess. Like Randy said, one of the keys is to find a weed bed they missed; usually deeper weeds they couldn’t visually spot. My other tactic is to get on the water very early, while it’s still dark. You will find some active fish that are using darkness for cover instead of weed beds. Of course as soon as the sun gets over the trees that bite is pretty much over.

Personally I haven’t been out much because the lakes in my area are so low it’s tough getting the boat off and on the trailer. We need a lot more rain..

Rootski

something to keep in mind with those dead/decaying weedbeds: they consume oxygen…so it’s likely that those areas will have relatively low oxygen levels.

Probably be some fish still there…but would expect the majority would move to more hospitable environments.

Rootski –

Excellent point as far as the low light bite.

A couple of musky guys zoomed by me, on the way back to the ramp, and said they caught several big 5lb. BASS off the swimming beach, using bucktails, at sunrise.

Clearly, those fish were just up cruising and feeding in the low light

I try and get on the water before sunrise and back home by 10AM. I was just getting a little PM fishing in on Sunday, after spending 4 days with the in-laws in my house.

Family are like fish…after a few days of them laying around…they get a little ripe

Dog

Quote:

---

Family are like fish…after a few days of them laying around…they get a little ripe

Dog

---