Unusual Summer Weather

[Larry Harp]

I don't know about where you live but the weather here in Oklahoma has been weird. Normally this time of year the high temprature is +100 every day, water temp is in the 90's and nobody can remember the last time it rained. This year, however, high temps are seldom above 92 or 95 and then only for a few days when another rain system moves across. Saturday before last when I went fishing the water temp was in the low 80's. Fishing was slow because of a front that came in causing bright clear skies and winds from the east. Right now at 1:30 in the afternoon the temprature is 73.



My question is how do you pattern for these conditions? Normally, this time of year I would think fish early and go home or hang in there and fish very deep but die of heat exhaustion. But now, I'm almost thinking the bass are going to be shallow and active, almost a fall pattern. What do you all think?



Harpo

 

[Bob G.]

I go fishing when I can regardless of the temps or time of the day! We also don't get the high temps that you do. Lake Champlain was 74* the other night. I am also not very good at patterning fish if they are not in their usual spots.....that's why you'll never see me on stage at a bass fishing weigh-in on TV!!!! LOL!!!



Bob G.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Look for them in shallow cover with deep water nearby.



TOXIC

 

[Rich D]

Tox,



Why would they be there? I am not saying they won't be, but I am like Bob G and have a hard time patterning fish and trying to learn the whys of it all.



Thanks!



Rich D

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

If the water is colder than normal or fluxuating the fish will try to find the constant. For example, when I went to Wisconsin the water was much colder than it usually was. The pattern I established (and no one else did) was to look for shallow docks with a space between the dock and a weedline that transitioned to deeper water. If all of these were present they were up in the cover of the docks. If there was no cover or docks, they were on the outside of the weedline in deeper water. They want the constant temp. Add to that the ambush point of cover (not structure), and they were there. Now I understand that this can be explained in about 200 different ways and reasons but that is my take. The other bass fishermen were catching 10-15 in a week, I was catching 15-20 a day, with a couple of 4lbers thrown in. There are a lot of other factors like clarity, bottom type, and so on, but never over complicate patterning. Search them out, pay attention to how and where you scored then find the same circumstances in another area.



TOXIC

 

[Rich D]

So that's why sticking my head in the water and yelling "HERE FISHY, FISHY!" rarely works....



Thanks!



Rich D

 

[Carl Meyer]

So much for the whole global warming theory. LOL

Carl Meyer

 

[Lamar Gilbert]

Bassin' has really slowed down here in Maine....think they all have that dreaded disease.....lockjaw!!



At least we are enjoying 70/50 days and nights. Love this weather.

 

[TrepMan]

I think the fish I caught at the Rally when he went under the boat a few times, must have painted "RUN AWAY, DO NOT GET CAUGHT BY ANY LURE FROM THIS BOAT"!!! LOL



Thanks for the info Tox, you ROCK!!!

 

[BJ Laster]

NO KIDDING HARPO!!!!!!!!!!!



PRACTICE HAS BEEN NICE THE LAST FEW DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!



YES FISH ARE SHALLOW!!!!!



BJ

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

When I get into cloudy water with a big bloom, it is time to get big and noisy!! Big rattletraps, cranks, chartreuse spinnerbaits with 1 gold willow and 1 big colorado blade, and my favorite is to drag a c-rig starting on the shallow side of a drop on to the deeper water. Jigs with rattles under the docks also...Black/blue.



I by no means have the answer in all situations, I usually go by my gut feeling and it can be wrong but what is never wrong is where you actually catch a fish. If you have not established a pattern as soon as you hook one, STOP and take in everything you need to know about why this fish was where he was. Even if you lose the fish STOP. Too many times (and I am guilty of this myself), we hook one cherish the fight and the release and when you go to make your next cast you go "Now where did I pick up that fish"? Was it in cover, how deep, what kind of retrieve was I using? What's the water temp/clarity. whats the bottom like, which direction is the wind from, where is the sun, and on and on!! Hopefully, all of these things immediatly run through my mind when I get bit not after I release the fish!! I can usually reconstruct the situation in my mind...then you have your first clue to a "pattern". Do that with 2 or 3 more fish and you will see the pattern emerge, some things will be the same. After you get to do it a few times, it becomes second nature. Sometimes I can get lost in my own back yard but on a 13,000 acre lake, I remember every spot I ever caught a fish!!LOL!!



TOXIC

 

[Casey Campbell]

 

[Casey Campbell]

Ouch, BJ, my ears...

 

[TOMMY RICH]

True ToxThese fronts are also times to be throwin' topwater like the new Spitz by Bandit and of course the Zara(one of my fav's but the Spitz is blowin' it outta' the wateraround and in cover when they get tight to it early and late. Just make sure you use heavier line and Jerk em' Outta' There! I'm not killin' em' but, puutin' some nice fish in the boat I don't think I would otherwise