I’ve been fishing up north since Thursday, July 31st. The dog days of summer has taken over the weather and moods of fish but I am conquering thanks to wise lake selections and selective fishing during prime daytime and nighttime hours. The only blunder I’ve made was exploring some dead eutrophic winterkill lakes for largemouth, but since learning from that mistake the smallmouth has been KING.
When surface temperatures on most lakes are ranging a warm 74-77 degrees, one of my biggest and mostly accurate smallmouth bass theories is the deepest clearest waterbodies I can find and catch fish from will have the best and most consistent bites. During the last three days I’ve lake hopped considerably, spending time with lake-learn mapping sessions and catching fish from nine places. Some have been action while a few have kicked out nothing but trophies, which for these oligotrophic lakes is 17 to 19 inchers.
Morning hours following early AM fog burn-off, and dusk/early nighttime hours past 9pm have provided me with the best catches. The level of sunlight has triggered good feeds at these times, with early morning being best when sun finally rises, and evenings when sun sets and during dark.
Tube jigs (Strike King Coffee Tubes), jig worms, and swimming grubs are taking fish deep, with most midday biters roaming offshore along flats and extensions in 10 to 20 feet. Rock and boulder points, and even sand bars have been great areas too. Some guides are reporting fish using deep rock humps, sunken islands, and deep sand grass patches but I have yet to encounter any bass using these deep open water oases on the HDS units…. but I’ll keep visiting and scanning them regardless.
Besides the deep bite, topwaters in the walk-the-dog and popper variety have been kicking butt during these flat calm, high pressure weather situations. With water temperatures at a summertime peak it seems right now, I will use the topwater often if I have to because the results have been incredible with both action and size.
The topwater bite has been best during evenings and early nighttime hours, 7pm to 10pm. Best areas have been rock reefs and large sand bars extending into the deepest basins of lakes. Reeds with nearby hard bottom and deep sand have also contained fish. As the sun sets, I’ve observed fish surfacing and feeding deeper (on surface) out in the 15 to 20 foot depth ranges. Then as nightfall comes near, to pitch black conditions starting at 9pm, fish are feeding shallower, in 5 feet or less.
In the last two nights I’ve caught close to 40 smallmouths just by camping out on these spots for an hour at a time, catching 10 or more quality smallmouths on them with Rapala Skitter Walks and X-Rap Pops. Water coverage isn’t as important as meticulously covering and zig-zagging through these complexes to cover all of the angles. The surface bite has been phenomenal and will continue with these flat calm conditions and high-pressure atmosphere. I look forward to fishing this way for much of this week if conditions allow.
In no way are these results spring-like, with 100 fish days, but in a full day’s work I’ve averaged 35 to 40 fish days these last two days on the water. The results have been far superior in comparison to what I experienced in end of June and all throughout July. The winning patterns have been established and I will be seeking giants for most of this week while continuing on with the deep water plastics and surface topwaters. Deep clear water lakes it will be!
End Notes –
If anyone wants information on lakes or has questions for me concerning the north, I’ll be more than happy to help anyone out. When I get the new boat at season’s end, I am contemplating on starting an “experimental” guide service for the 2015 season. Give me a shout anytime through my sites at www.ragasfishing.com and www.fishing-headquarters.com
