With the spawn over, there’s lots of transition right now to “typical” summer patterns – in a year where there continues to be a lot of change and uncertainty weather-wise. Thought I’d start a thread where we could post what we’re learning as this process unfolds – water temps, weedlines, fish depth, lures that are working, those that aren’t, etc…
I have family coming to town and don’t know next time I’ll be out, but will be sure to post when I can ~
Looks like there may be a change coming on Friday. Potential t-storms and lower humidity. Thank the lord. These current conditions are miserable.
Hopefully I will have a update for everyone tomorrow. Getting out for a few hours this afternoon/evening. I think we are mostly going to start working most of our normal summer spots. The last outing on Sat. morning there were plenty of fish on the outside weededge and they were more than willing to bite a Jigworm. Mostly smaller fish but thats normal. For some reason the smaller fish always seems to show up in those normal summer spots a week or so before the larger post spawn females start to show up. With the lower than normal water and the mostly sunny days the weedlines seem to be well ahead of normal. I found nice green weeds all the way out to 16+ ft the last outing already.
I will be out for a very short trip early tomorrow morning. I’ll post if I find anything. Will be cranking the deep weedline along with jigs and the neko.
Was out this AM, had my best outing in two years, spot locked and casted into milfoil edges about 7 feet of water with a wacky-rigged 5-inch worm. 14 bass 15 to 19 inch. Was surprised to have them concentrated in a 100-foot piece of milfoil shoreline, they appeared to be post-spawn females. caught a few smaller fish in other areas, got off the water at 9:30. It was hot
Good catch David-hope you marked that small spot.
Made it out from about 3-7 yesterday afternoon. Both the fish bite and the Temps were HOT. I think the final count on the clicker that one of the partners had was at over 70 fish. This was just bass. Did not count the pike ( There were many ) both Jigworms and dropshots worked well on the weedline. Mostly fished the 14-18Ft depth. Lots of the fish on the dropshot came a decent ways off the weedline. With the low clear water, hot temps, and clear sky that was expected. The bite was really aggressive. You had to set the hook real fast after the pickup or the fish were hooked deep. We did a decent job and only had a few fish hooked in the gullet. We cut the line and hook if possible to give the fish a decent chance as survival. Its hard to not deep hook a few fish when the bite is that aggressive.
A word of Caution. Be sure to Drink LOTS of water before getting to the lake and while on the lake. I learned that one the hard way. Even though we were only on the lake for about 4 hrs. I ended up with a bad case of heat exhaustion and ended up rather sick when I got home. After this many years I should know better by now. I wont make that mistake again this year for sure.
“A word of Caution. Be sure to Drink LOTS of water before getting to the lake and while on the lake. I learned that one the hard way. Even though we were only on the lake for about 4 hrs. I ended up with a bad case of heat exhaustion and ended up rather sick when I got home. After this many years I should know better by now. I wont make that mistake again this year for sure.”
I hear ya – was in a tournament last weekend with temps close to 100. There’s a half chance I get out tomorrow with a forecast of 97. I’m drinking Propel/electrolytes today and will probably tomorrow along with lots of water. Nice fishing report thumper ~
What temps were you observing out there thumper? I have not been fishing since this heat wave started.
Air temp was 97
Water temps were over 80. I believe at one point I saw 81.5 – This was main lake not in a bay.
This is the earliest in the season I’ve seen 80 Deg. surface temps.
Low clear water. The weed growth is crazy. Weedlines out to 18ft. Normally this time of the year its only out to maybe 14-15 ft.
Got on White Bear for about an hour early this morning after putting a few new parts in my Mercury. Only threw the Neko in 13-20 ft of water and caught 2 bass, had two more on but the worm slipped out of the o ring on both (never had that happen before) and one pike that a swore was going to be a nice smallmouth. It dug just like one. All on the outside weed edges all on main lake points.
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Mahto – What were the water temps on White Bear?
Mahto – What were the water temps on White Bear?
75-78 Deep, clear lake though. Usually a little behind most of the other lakes. Other lakes around WB are already at 80.
Nice largie for WBL 14.
Nice largie for WBL 14.
Nah that was just a two lber. Just had a nice belly on him. The neko should pull up some 4 lbers from the deep this summer though. First time bass fishing White Bear this year. Forgot how much fun it can be. Not because of the fish but because there is just about every type of structure you could ask for to fish.
Nice largie for WBL 14.
White bear has some real nice large mouth.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tim hurley wrote:</div>
Nice largie for WBL 14.White bear has some real nice large mouth.
Not just nice largemouth…..it’s cousin is in the lake too and there are some dandies as well.
Just don’t tell anyone….
I fished my favorite (shore fishing) spot the last three mornings for 1.5-2 hours each day. Pretty much the same conditions every day but different results. Bass hitting only senkos and yum dingers. No bass on plugs or spinnerbaits. Northerns hitting senko, spinnerbait, small crankbaits.
Tues – good : two bass (one nice 17″), one 28″ northern and 2 northern biteoffs on senko, one after a couple of runs. Also “caught” a small crankbait.
Wed – very good : 3 bass (small though 12″-14″) and 3 northerns (one on the crankbait I caught the previous day).
Thurs – skunked : one feeble bite on senko. Also lost a new $5 crankbait to an overcast into the lily pads.
Question : What causes such day to day variance in seemingly similar conditions? Just the nature of fishing?
Question : What causes such day to day variance in seemingly similar conditions? Just the nature of fishing?
So many things can effect it.
-air temp and water temp
-barometric pressure
-wind (effects surface, water temps, water clarity, and baitfish movement)
-sun vs clouds
-time of year
-water clarity
I try to take note of the conditions when I have good days and bad days.
My worst days have seemingly always come when its extreme heat, which is why I don’t even go anymore in this. The one exception to this might be fishing at night time. My best days of the entire season come when its cloudy/rainy in the summer months.
My worst days have seemingly always come when its extreme heat, which is why I don’t even go anymore in this. The one exception to this might be fishing at night time. My best days of the entire season come when its cloudy/rainy in the summer months.
I would agree with this during the day. However I have found that going at sunrise on these days before the sun gets very high the bite is on. They have to eat sometime and I figure the coolest time of a hot day is that time.
So many things can effect it.
-air temp and water temp
-barometric pressure
-wind (effects surface, water temps, water clarity, and baitfish movement)
-sun vs clouds
-time of year
-water clarity
I try to take note of the conditions when I have good days and bad days.
————————————————————–
Yes, that’s true in general. But I was referring to Tues, Wed, today all at about 8AM. The conditions seemed quite similar. Of the 6 you listed, at least 4 were essentially the same : air + water temp, water clarity, sunniness, time of year, time of day. I didn’t note the barometric pressure, and perhaps it was a little more still today than yesterday.
Often when I get to a spot I’ve fished before, I see and feel the conditions, and I sometimes think “this should be a good day” or “this is not looking good”. I’m almost always right about the latter. When I think it’s going to suck, usually it turns out that way. Also frequently when I think it’s looking like it should be good, it is good. But maybe a third of the time when I think it looks good, it doesn’t turn out that way, like today. When that happens I wonder if the fish just aren’t biting or if I just didn’t solve the pattern.
Question : What causes such day to day variance in seemingly similar conditions? Just the nature of fishing?
I think shallow water fish ( Most bank fishing is usually targeting shallower water fish ) tend to mover around more often than do deeper water fish. I believe that shallow water bass have to cover more ground to find food than deeper water bass do. This is possibly the reason your fishing is different from one day to another even though the conditions seem the same. Another possible reason is I believe fish also feed in cycles. If they feed heavy one day they are not likely to feed much again for a few days. One last possible reason is as the surface water temps get warmer I think there are fewer shallow water fish that are not buried deep into cover. The fish you caught the day before and possibly even those from 2 days before are most not going to bite again for a few days. Each fish you catch one day is probably 1 less fish you can catch again the next day or two. Just a few possible thoughts
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bob P wrote:</div>
Question : What causes such day to day variance in seemingly similar conditions? Just the nature of fishing?I think shallow water fish ( Most bank fishing is usually targeting shallower water fish ) tend to mover around more often than do deeper water fish. I believe that shallow water bass have to cover more ground to find food than deeper water bass do. This is possibly the reason your fishing is different from one day to another even though the conditions seem the same. Another possible reason is I believe fish also feed in cycles. If they feed heavy one day they are not likely to feed much again for a few days. One last possible reason is as the surface water temps get warmer I think there are fewer shallow water fish that are not buried deep into cover. The fish you caught the day before and possibly even those from 2 days before are most not going to bite again for a few days. Each fish you catch one day is probably 1 less fish you can catch again the next day or two. Just a few possible thoughts
Thanks for such a well thought out reply. What you say makes a lot of sense. The area in question is quite shallow, but has a fair amount of structure. Even so, it sometimes surprises me how productive it is.
I got a chance to get out in the West metro from 5:00-9:00 this morning… it was actually quite comfortable, decent fishing but not great yet.
Water temps 79, fairly defined weed edge out to about 12 feet. Inside edge was thicker and dropped straight down. That’s where we found most of the larger fish (17-18 inches) and a few dinks. Jig worms, Texas rigs… worked slow, pretty subtle bite.
Then moved beyond the outside weed edge and tossed dropshot and shaky head. A few 16 inchers but too many small pike. I had my dropshot sawed off 3 times from those scud missiles… argh.
As the sun rose, could really see the bluegills had come into the shallows to do their dance now. Very defined beds, looked like a mogul field and black discs swirling all around (see photo). This activity should get some of the bigger largemouth back into the shallows to feed on them in the coming week.
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Earlier in the season (normal year) water temps trending up is good for all species.
Got out early morning again at sunrise. Hit the pencil reeds with a trig with no luck, then switched to the Neko and hit the outside weed edges where I caught them on Wednesday in about 13-18 fow. All I could get were hammer handle pike.
Moved up the weedline into about 8-14 fow with weeds up to 5-8 ft and worked it with a DT6, burning it through the tops of the weeds. One dink largemouth.
Went to my last spot which is my favorite spot to Neko, a main lake point where the inside weedline meets a sand bar and BOOM. By this point I unfortunately only had 30 mins left to fish but I had a blast catching 7 bass including a smallmouth and a rock bass of all things. I have been reading a lot about bass relating to sand/rock/weed transitions with sand being the key. Going to keep looking for these areas.
I swear if you get a neko rig anywhere near a school of bass you will catch most of them.
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Think I know that spot-SMBs are extra points out there. Rocky? No comment.
I swear if you get a neko rig anywhere near a school of bass you will catch most of them.
What size nail weight do you normally use?
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
I swear if you get a neko rig anywhere near a school of bass you will catch most of them.What size nail weight do you normally use?
I’m sure everybody uses something different, but for me, I use 1/16 oz 80% of the time and 1/8 the rest..
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