Door County Summer Smallmouths

Well summer is definitely swinging into full gear with the recent warm temperatures our water temps have risen to the low 70 degree range by most afternoons. We have still been catching plenty of fish in relatively shallow water anywhere from 5 to 9 feet of water but also finding fish in deeper water from 9 to 15 feet of water.

With the warmer water temps we are finding a lot more weed growth in a lot of the shallow areas that we are fishing and we have been finding some really exciting top water action using the Storm Chug Bugs. On days where we have a slight wave action we are finding that the fish are reacting to a more aggressive action and days where the wind lays down which is not to often the fish want a much slower action with longer pauses between chugs.

Anyone who has fished topwater knows to keep a good eye on your bait and realize that you are not going to hook every fish that hits your bait but it is still a blast watching these fish explode on your baits and sometimes coming completly out of the water. We have been successful using the Storm Chug Bugs over the deeper water but have been finding good success using Terminator Spinner Baits along With Rapala X-Raps.

When using the Rapala X-Raps we have been able to imitate the dying alewives in the system by imparting twitching action followed by a pause. We have been able to fish a little deeper using the Spinnerbaits fishing them a little slower alowing them to sink a little deeper. Both of these baits have great flash and vibration and really resemble the dying alewives. I have been casting both the X-Raps and spinnerbaits on Suffix 832 braid alowing for better action on both baits.

Paul Delaney
www.lateeyessportfishing.com