FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

The Wade Right Fishing Belt

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Another awesome sunrise.

Of course I wanted to catch some fish but the prime reason for the morning was to make sure the plate I re-mounted in the tunnel was going to stay on.  But I followed the fiberglass guy’s directions to a T and it is still on, so hopefully that takes care of that.  So after a month without the Mako, and the electronics, it was on the water at daylight and it turned out to be an fun morning that holds some promise for things to come.

Weather

93/76.   Sun and clouds, very humid with a 40% rain.  Wind  SE 10 – 20 mph.

Lake Level

Today   95.41 msl.       4 days ago  95.47 msl.

Solunar Periods

Minor 8:10 am to 9:10 am.   Major  2:17 pm to 4:17 pm.

*****************The Knockin Tail Lure with a built in tail rattle!   Look for it this winter.

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They Want to Bite

It was dead calm as I headed up lake.  The water temp was 86 everywhere I fished, with good water color from way up both arms to the main lake near the dam.  I started with buzzbait and other than a swirl or two no takers.  So it was back to the stick worm.  And just as it has been they bit right along, but nothing to get excited about.

The run of the mill on plastics and the one that did eat a buzzbait.

After catching 6 or 8 on plastics I put it down around 9:00 and intentionally did not pick it back up.  That pattern is good for numbers right now, pitch it to wood and you will get bit, but for some reason none have been big.   I worked my way down lake giving the buzzbait a go and other than a bite or two, and the one above,  just could not get it going.  So time for a change.  I noticed on a couple of points that there were shad flipping, and that they are really small.  So the next change was a winner.

That is a real one on the Bang O Lure!

First up was a deep point, out of the wind, with shad flipping here and there.  I have been catching a few here and there on the topwater minnow bait but today I learned something, and my results improved dramatically.  Since they have shown no interest in chasing anything it was time to slow down.  Tossing the Bang O Lure right on the bank and letting it just sit there produced a couple of good bites.

A couple more of the 8 or so on the Bang O Lure.

Normally I can “trick” them by fishing it erratically, often catching them when it is pulled under, but that was not the case today.  They wanted it slow, and then slower.  Little twitches, then pausing as long as you could stand it, and they would hit it just sitting there.  A couple even hit the line when it made a “V’ as I pulled it.  The shad are really small.

5 came on one point, 2 or 3 on another.  Though I was fishing the 3 hook the smaller 2 hook on light line just might be even better.  Smaller profile and smaller twitches making that “shad flip” sound could produce more bites.  Can’t wait to do it again.

But no matter what there had to be shad flipping, no shad, no bites.  This is the beginning of the classic fall pattern, find the bait, find the fish.  As fall progresses the shad often move to the creeks as the water temp falls.  If we will just cool off a freakin’ little the fish will get after it.  They are just as anxious for fall as I am.

And as a side note I did re-fish the good place and caught one on a swim jig.  For the morning it was 15, give or take a couple, on 4 different baits, a great sign.  Of course as soon as I figured it out the rain came, and with it a pretty good wind.  I tried a couple of more places but only boated a couple of small ones on the Bang O Lure.  The places I needed to be calm to effectively fish the Bang O Lure all had wind on it, which basically ended the bite, and my morning.  It was good to have the boat back, and boating a big girl was the icing on the  cake.  It has been a long time coming this summer but better days are ahead.

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I was the first boat at the ramp, and the last one out.  The few other folks on the water all called it a day as it rained pretty hard a couple of times and the wind started blowing like the forecast said it would.  Most folks are still crappie fishing and they are catching them, I see them fishing all over the lake, most on deeper hardwoods.  And heading up lake there was a flotilla of jugs with several dancing around, so overall the fishing is good on the lake for whatever is your species of choice.  It often seems that summer will never end, and it was still 91 degrees and humid as a mofo today, but it can’t last forever.

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The forecast for tomorrow will be a repeat of today, so I will be out early.  I want to see if before the wind comes up I can reproduce today’s results.  The Bang O Lure has been good to me over the last almost 40 years, it catches big fish, and I will be throwing it quite a bit as fall finally moves in.  There is just something about a big fish smashing a topwater, I just can not resist.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines