Summer is here – what’s working??

Fished a tournament on Lizzie, Crystal, Rush in Ottertail county.
Had rain and wind from 7 am till 10:30 am. Was able to fill the live well with largemouth on a drop shot.
Once the sun started peaking out and the wind settled down the smallmouth turned on. Caught them all on a sweet beaver Texas rigged. Culled out all the largemouth but one.
Ended up with 16.5 lbs.
all fish were on the edge of deep reeds (6’).

First place had all largemouth.
A fair amount of boats tried fishing the deep weed line but could only come up with 2 lb class fish out there.

I’m glad some of you are catching them still. It’s been a brutal few weeks for me and my second rough tourney in a row yesterday. Fished Waconia which I had high hopes for. Only caught 6 fish for 8.54 lbs. One fish that was 3 lbs. Just couldn’t get bites. Winner only had 14 lbs and everyone else had 10 or less. Absolutely brutal day. Also had to fight the big storm that came in. My rods were buzzing and I was questioning my decision to be out there.

Plastic crawfish in the shallows/weed/tules is working well

mahtofire14 wrote:

Fished Waconia which I had high hopes for. Only caught 6 fish for 8.54 lbs. One fish that was 3 lbs. Just couldn’t get bites. Winner only had 14 lbs and everyone else had 10 or less. Absolutely brutal day. Also had to fight the big storm that came in.

I think part of the issue may be the lakes you’re fishing. Obviously Waconia and White Bear are very heavily pressure lakes. I’m not saying that you can’t get into a good bite on a pressured lake, but pressured fish are clearly tougher to catch, as opposed to bass from lakes/rivers that aren’t as pressured. That applies for many species of fish too. I was out on a smaller lake prior to the storm until about 11am and it was pretty good. Around 9:15am there was an aggressive bite and half the fish I caught that morning came during a 20 minute window.

I understand you’re in a tournament so you don’t really have any say in where they hold those. Maybe it makes you a better angler, but running into a tough bite is also going to be more likely. Just my 2 cents.

On pressured lakes it can help to be there a little before 1st light or stay after sunset, also probably not an option for you tourney dudes.

Actually we are blasting off right at sun up most tourneys. And I crushed on White Bear. Most of the lakes we fish are highly pressured. What isn’t these days. I think on Green and Waconia yesterday, it was just situational. But man is it frustrating. I had confidence into just about everything I was doing and now I have no confidence in anything and am having a hard time keeping one technique in my hand for more than a half hour. Have Forest Lake next so I’m hoping to get out there a couple times before it. I’ve actually never bass fished that lake for as many times as I’ve fished it.

mahtofire14 wrote:

What isn’t these days.

The lakes and river I primarily fish have virtually no pressure. I fish those lakes on purpose because there is minimal pressure. The only lake that I fish with any regularity that has an overly large amount of pressure is Mille Lacs. Clearly you are able to catch some nice fish in pressured waters though, that is obvious in your videos and photos.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
What isn’t these days.

The lakes and river I primarily fish have virtually no pressure. I fish those lakes on purpose because there is minimal pressure.

I fish from shore in the northern metro area. Everywhere I have been successful is pressured. Sometimes you wait for someone to leave before you can slide into your preferred spot. And you can still catch fish. Of course, my idea of a successful outing would be considered a bust by most of you here. I’m very happy if I get 3, especially if one is in the 3 pound range.

So actually Civil Twilight is a good half hour before sunrise and I was talking about getting out BEFORE that time. (watch out I’m on colanocopy prep so I have time to look crap up, am hungry and grumpy!)

Got out before the storm Sat. morning. This lake has been a bust all year in the normal spots so I decided to fish it different than normal. Came prepared to mostly fish the slop and the fairly heavy weed cover just outside the slop. Could not get bit on a frog. Only a few small bumps of the bait. Switched over to a buzzbait and got a ton of blowups but Hookups were few and far between. I even added a trailer hook after the first few misses. That didn’t even seem to help much. I tried to slow back down and switched back to the frog. Still almost no hits and no hookups. Switched to a swimjig and managed a few fish. Overall a disappointing morning of fishing. On Sunday with the heavier winds forecasted I decided to hit the Mississippi river North of the Sartell dam. I’ve only fished the river a few times and have had limited success on SM bass. I did manage a few fish on both a buzzbait and a chatterbait. probably caught 8-10 SM, a few Walleyes and even a catfish. Overall was happy with the results. I should probably spend a little more time on the river learning it and the patterns there.

Well, I can tell you what wasn’t working last night! We fished Cedar by Annandale for league. Found a huge school of sunfish in our usual area in 10-16fow. They were being crushed by some pretty nice LMB’s. Partner connected on 2 fairly quickly on a crankbait. But, then our bite slowed while the bass continued to bust sunfish at the surface all around us for over 2 hours. I lost 3 nice fish on a dropshot and had a couple short strikes on DT’s. Caught a small one on a ned. Tried various cranks, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, dropshots, and swimbaits, but our 3 keepers were caught on a white crankbait. I kick myself for not thinking to tie on a chatterbait. What’s your go to in a situation like this?

Joe Jarl wrote:

What’s your go to in a situation like this?

Probably something that closely resembles a sunfish? They make sunfish-colored chatterbaits. I also have a sunfish colored jerk bait that I did very well with earlier this season.

Joe Jarl wrote:

What’s your go to in a situation like this?

I think the chatterbait would have been a excellent choice. I also think a buzzbait would have been a good choice. They both resemble a injured baitfish. Often times after bass make that initial rush/blow up of sunfish near the surface they go back and look for any baitfish that were injured and clean up on them.

Joe Jarl wrote:
“What’s your go to in a situation like this“

I agree Chatterbait, but have found it sometimes to be a bit too loud and in their face… or I get one bite on it and then that’s it. Sometimes the more subtle swim jig works better for me, looks like a fleeing panfish, and a lot of times when it works I seem to catch more than just one.

Buzzbait and topwater were both mentioned in our conversation on the way home. So many options, so little time. The swim jig is something I need to force myself to use more. It’s a little finesse and subtle, yet you can cover water with it. I honestly think the setup last night was just challenging. I’ve rarely, if ever, seen so many sunfish (in a fairly sizeable area) getting lit up by bass for such an extended period of time. If anything, it was entertaining. If not frustrating.

You will feel light as a feather. Should do it quarterly. Refreshing. The colonoscopy prep I’m speaking of.

Ya the time of the year where bass seem to be really actively feeding on sunfish on the surface can be both a blessing and a curse. It often make it easy to locate where the bass are, but often if the bass have been feeding heavy on sunfish it make them tough to get them to bite.. I agree with frydog in that a swimjig would be another excellent choice to try in your situation. Lots of patterns available in swimjigs that look like small sunfish. Lots of different size choices as well. The pro swim jig from outkast tackle is my favorite swim jig. The bold gill and sunfish colors are two of my favorites along with white

Joe Jarl wrote:

What’s your go to in a situation like this?

In my opinion you’re looking for a reaction bite in that situation with so much food present. Speed is your friend here with water temps near or at their peak.
If they’re breaking the surface I’d start with a spook first, and move it fast. Second I’d go to a jig in a bluegill color pattern and either burn it fast above them, or snap it off bottom.
Third I’d go to a 3″ paddle tail on a 1/4 or 3/8 ounce jig head and snap jig it fast and hard.
Another option would be a bright colored jerk bait fished with a stop and go retrieve as fast as possible.

Another option is to burn a Caffeine Shad across the top until you get to the bait busting the surface, then kill it and let it fall. It circles like a wounded baitfish and gets slurped up. We see the minnows busting the surface more in Florida, but here at times too. When the bass are pushing everything to the surface like that, the swirling Caffeine Shad sticks out like a sore thumb.

Talked to a guy at a city lake, those breaking sunnies are his main pattern, he uses a jig and does very well. That said some here have mentioned surface lures and then progressing to deeper stuff, same thing you do when you ice fish, you can spook the school if you rip from the middle right away.

Fished a herb on Waconia yesterday. Weighed 10.3, winner had 13.3, still finished 5th.

Last July at Waco weighed 14 and finished 23rd. Not sure what’s happening out there.

brandmoney wrote:

Fished a herb on Waconia yesterday. Weighed 10.3, winner had 13.3, still finished 5th.

Last July at Waco weighed 14 and finished 23rd. Not sure what’s happening out there.

That’s what I’ve seen on a lot of the lakes we’ve had derbies on this season.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>brandmoney wrote:</div>
Fished a herb on Waconia yesterday. Weighed 10.3, winner had 13.3, still finished 5th.

Last July at Waco weighed 14 and finished 23rd. Not sure what’s happening out there.

That’s what I’ve seen on a lot of the lakes we’ve had derbies on this season.

Prior has been the worst by far. That lake has had one hell of a fall from glory

Fished a tournament on Star lake in Otter tail county yesterday.

Most of the fish caught came from 6’ or less of water.

4 of our 6 fish came from 18 to 20’ of water on the weed line with a Neko rig.
Right out of the gate we found a couple docks that were holding fish. Those came on a Texas rigged tube.

I threw a Neko rig 95% of the time other then some early morning action on the tube.

Lots of Rice and Reeds in that lake. We just couldn’t get any action in them.

Fun tourney to fish. Finished just out of the money but caught lots of fish.

Michael Best wrote:

Those came on a Texas rigged tube.

I might be doing some dock skipping later this week. I’d like to try skipping a tube. Normally I use a stick bait wacky rigged. How are you rigging the tube for skipping since they are hollow and would float?

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Michael Best wrote:</div>
Those came on a Texas rigged tube.

I might be doing some dock skipping later this week. I’d like to try skipping a tube. Normally I use a stick bait wacky rigged. How are you rigging the tube for skipping since they are hollow and would float?

Tubes skip ok, but not quite as well as wacky worms or Neko. That being said, I find the Owner Phantom hook with the internal weight to work best to skip tubes. At least for me, if I skip anything Texas-rigged, the pointy nose weight can dig in and catch the surface and limit distance. Plus it klanks off docks, pontoons, etc. spooking fish.

Just my .02

Thanks. I normally do the skipping thing with the wacky and I’ve had good luck with it. I’m just trying to find another plastic to throw at them. I fish a fair amount of tubes but normally not under docks.

If I fish in my tourney this weekend I’ll slop fishing and hitting docks. Nothing else has been working on the lake I’m fishing. Weedline ends at 8 ft and there’s just nothing on it. Can’t find fish on deep structure fishing or scanning. Caught a couple nice ones on a frog so I think that’s what I’ll start with.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Michael Best wrote:</div>
Those came on a Texas rigged tube.

I might be doing some dock skipping later this week. I’d like to try skipping a tube. Normally I use a stick bait wacky rigged. How are you rigging the tube for skipping since they are hollow and would float?

I can’t say I can skip it very well either. Not like a Neko anyway.

Green pumpkin tubes have been producing well for me this year. I make a slit in the body to aid in hook ups. It seems to help a lot.

One other thing I have been doing is using chartreuse spike it on the last inch of the tentacles.

“I normally do the skipping thing with the wacky and I’ve had good luck with it. I’m just trying to find another plastic to throw at them.”

I hear ya, I like to switch off skipping a worm, minnow and craw style lure to see what they like. Probably #1 lure for me last 7-8 years is a Caffeine Shad and it skips even better than a wacky worm. Just have to use it on the right hook. Different look than a worm or craw… not just great under docks, works really well on weedlines or even in open water when fish are suspended..