Water temps still in the high 60s low 70s. Air Temps from 9/1 to 9/3 with HIGHS in the low 80s..partly cloudy, winds from 0-10 mph predominantly out of the East. Night time LOWS in the upper 60s. Numbers of Smallies have dwindled in recent weeks but the size hasn't. Caught a number of solid 2 pounders with a couple weighing 3 pounds.
The water clarity has cleared up some. Last week the lake visibility was about 1 foot. It looked like pea soup. This week, viz was about 3 ft. and just a little green color. No topwater action at 0630. The week before, I missed a nice fish (probably a Smallie but could have been a LM) on a Zara Spook next to a dock at 0530. There's no doubt you'll get a better topwater bite in total dark- in the early a.m. hours. Catching most, if not all, Smallies on soft plastics (tubes, jigs, worms, etc.) Threw a crankbait for a while but nothing doing. Tried drop-shotting for a bit and couldn't pull anything up but Rockies- aka Rock Bass, Red-eyes, etc. I have yet to find a spot where the Smallies are stacked up in the depths- which I'm sure they are somewhere. Just haven't found em yet.
Majority of Smallies caught in 6-10 ft. of water near rocks/weeds. Bites are near non-detectable. i.e. you better not be chatting with your fishing partner and not paying attention to your rod/line. I see/hear it all the time when tournament guys pull-in near me. I feel like saying, "You'd catch more fish if you just shut the hell up and pay attention". Sheesh..just a bunch of "Chatty Kathy's". I'm glad I don't tournament fish in local club tournaments anymore. If you want to get better at fishing, fish the bigger money tournaments with a serious fishing partner.
This summer the mid-section of the Lake as well as the upper end section (near Ledgedale) have been better Smallie fishing in the Summer. This is NOT the norm of past years. Normally, the upper end of the lake is only good in the early Spring. That's because it warms up faster because it's shallower. Then, the lower end of the lake (near the dam) gets good in the Summer. I don't know why this year is different. My friend, and professional guide Bill Albright, said he's been experiencing the same. What I have noticed, however, is that the weeds have not been growing as well as previous years. And, you would think it would even be more heavily populated since we had a mild Winter. In fact, this is the first year in a long time that the Lake did NOT freeze in the middle. So much for making sense of the fishing..huh?
Fish ON! Rob
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