Bass Season

Fishing Reports and Lake Conditions Only. Ask your questions and post remarks in the General Forum Please.

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MrSimon
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Bass Season

Post by MrSimon » Fri Jul 22, 2016 9:25 am

I find it interesting that there are all kinds of fishing reports BEFORE bass season opens, then the forum goes dead quiet as soon as it opens.

Anyway, just to keep people informed, the bass season has been fantastic this year!!

The water is really really low, but largemouth are still hanging in the weeds as normal. I've found the biggest ones at the deep edge of weed beds in about 6-8' of water. Subtle drop shot rigs on light tackle worked in the weed pockets is slamming them!

Smallmouth have mostly moved to deeper shoals and rocky structure. They seem to sticking close to the bottom. I get them mostly on jigs and tubes worked slowly through rocks in 8-12' of water.

njmike
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Re: Bass Season

Post by njmike » Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:36 am

It has been very quiet. 6' to 8' of water seems to be prime depth. I have done well with 1/4oz sliver and blue soft swimbaits. 3/8oz blue and black swim jigs are working for me also. slow is the name of the game. picked up a 7lb. pike last weekend. I will try and post a pic. the days I have fished have been bright sunny days but I would like to try some topwater if I get some overcast weather next time I'm up.

Mike
If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.
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johncalvin
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Re: Bass Season

Post by johncalvin » Fri Jul 22, 2016 3:53 pm

Thank you for the update. We're leaving tomorrow morning and spending the week. This is our first time to the lake and we are looking forward to it. For years we've gone to Lake Rideau in Canada near Perth, but this year we are staying in the states. Hoping to find some nice bass, perch & crappie.

Anyone know where to find some carp in the lake to bow fish for? I was told the lake is full of carp.

MrSimon
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Re: Bass Season

Post by MrSimon » Mon Jul 25, 2016 2:32 pm

I hear over and over that there are lots of carp .... but in many years of fishing the lake, I've yet to see a single one.

Maybe I just fish where the carp aren't, I don't know.

The St. Lawrence River on the other hand is pretty much carp heaven!

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Re: Bass Season

Post by njmike » Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:31 am

About a month ago I was on the way back to the house after fishing and saw the water exploding with fish along the shore line just south of my dock. I headed over hoping it was bass but saw it was large carp jumping all over the place. The water was still clear then and slowly moving with the trolling motor you would see the occasional carp swim by. Not sure if this was a mating season thing but I'm sure they were carp. This happened in the same area for the next 2 weekends we were up there.
If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.
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Re: Bass Season

Post by brian_c » Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:36 am

I've seen a couple. The first year I was up, one was frolicking in the weeds where we stay - probably 8 or 9 in the morning.

Last year my cousin caught one right off the dock about mid-day. Fought it for 20 min or so going up/down the dock and across several boats. We were waving boats off so that he could continue to fight the fish. Probably about 2' long.

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Re: Bass Season

Post by johncalvin » Tue Jul 26, 2016 10:50 pm

We have not spent much time looking for
Carp yet. First morning out we ran into some along a shallow stretch below our dock.

Fishing is slow...but I know we're new to this lake. We found some crappies by "the pimple". Early mornings there have produced a few 10" keepers, but not many. We caught one largemouth by wood island that was 17". We caught only a few less than 15" that we had to toss back. Not having much luck finding bass. Any help would be appreciated. We've fished 6-10' of water with soft bait "rubber worms" and spinner baits. Caught almost everything on spinner baits. Picked up 4 small pike with spinner baits also. 16-20". One nice walleye at 21".

We primarily fish early am and 6pm-dark.

Only perch we find are sardine size.

Disappointed in what I am seeing other fishermen bringing back to the fish house and cleaning. Basically buckets of small panfish. 6-7". I had not seen anyone but us bring a single bass in yet. Someone fillet a bunch of crappie the other night but none looked over 10" long.

I believe there are quality fish in this lake...but they sure aren't biting much.

njmike
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Re: Bass Season

Post by njmike » Wed Jul 27, 2016 1:43 pm

John,

This is a tough time of year. The water temps are high and not much rain always seems to slow things down. What worked for me 2 weeks ago may be very different this weekend. Keep trying different lures / techniques and keep moving if the fish aren't biting where you are. As for the guys keeping Under sized ILLEGAL fish. I wish there was an easy answer. Some people think just cause they paid to stay somewhere for the week they are entitled to take some home even though they didn't have the luck or skill to catch legal fish. I hope they overcook those illegal fish and they taste like crap :twisted:

good luck.
If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.
D. Larson

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Re: Bass Season

Post by ShaneO19 » Wed Jul 27, 2016 2:59 pm

I didn't see where he said people were keeping illegal fish. Looks like he was saying 6-7" panfish which I assume are sunfish/bluegills. He can correct that if I am wrong. Sunfish don't generally get bigger then that on Black Lake which most likely is because there are so many of them. So if people have the patience to clean fish that size then kudos to them.

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Re: Bass Season

Post by ShaneO19 » Wed Jul 27, 2016 3:01 pm

By the way crappie have to be 9" to keep John. Your post makes me think you may think they have to be 10".

MrSimon
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Re: Bass Season

Post by MrSimon » Wed Jul 27, 2016 4:33 pm

I think keeping a bunch of small panfish is a good idea!!!! They taste better than bass, are over-populated in the lake, and it keeps the bass alive and swimming.

The weather this time of year is nice ... but it really is the worst time of year to be fishing. Heck, the fish even seem to bite better through the ice than they do in the dog days of summer.

You can still catch them, but you have to fish slow, or hope for clouds/rain/wind which can really turn them on. Or, fish at night. I've caught some tanks in the summer, after midnight.

Image

Image

johncalvin
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Re: Bass Season

Post by johncalvin » Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:35 pm

This morning we fished the pimple and caught 7 nice crappie. That was all we needed for our fish fry this week. My son and his friend went down to prince island and they picked up two nice bass off the rock ledge. Fillet them and found crayfish in stomach. We fished same spot tonight and picked up only a few crappie.
I am aware of the 9" size limit for crappie, I just try to keep stuff that is well over.

To clarify, the guy mainly had pan fish...but I saw a few small crappie mixed in as well.

If the lake is that full of them...then I understand. But to me it isn't as full of them as the lake we fished in Canada. You could fish anywhere with a hook only and catch pan fish at that lake. Here we actually have to fish awhile to catch a few.

Weather has been great and could not ask for more beautiful scenery. This lake is full of places to fish and things to try. I think coming up June or October would be a different story on the fishing.

The fish we are catching look very healthy. The bass look like footballs. Must be all the small baitfish they feed on.

Thanks for posting the photos...that largemouth is a hog!

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Re: Bass Season

Post by 492VS » Thu Jul 28, 2016 1:15 am

Undersized fish. LOL. Makes me remember the the day I sauntered into a fish cleaning house 20+ years ago when I was a renter. As I peered into his bucket, the old gentleman said "Dang those perch were sure biting today" He had a 5 gallon bucket full of small bass. Back then the limit was 12" and they were smaller than that. I told him that was quite a haul and his reply was, for some reason there was not much yellow on these perch at this lake. Guy had to be way over 80 the way his hands were shaking, I just left chuckling and not wanting to be around him using a knife.

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Re: Bass Season

Post by MrSimon » Thu Jul 28, 2016 4:37 pm

If you really want to catch panfish, here is what I do with my kids.

Find a big weed bed that ends in about 6-8' of water. Sit right on the edge, maybe still in the weeds just a bit. Keep your boat still. Get the smallest jig you can find .... I mean TINY. Cut up a nightcrawler into about a dozen pieces. Throw two cut up worms over the side of your boat. Wait a few minutes. Put a small piece of worm onto your jig, just enough to cover the hook. Let it down just out of sight.

I'm not kidding, my kids catch something on 3 out of every 4 casts. If you don't start catching them in the first minute or two, move 10 yards down the weed line and try again.

Evenings work best, once the sun gets behinds the trees.

And you won't catch just sunnies. We've caught bass, pike, bowfin, crappie, catfish, golden shiners, perch, and even walleye doing this. And some big ones too! Sometimes when the small fish turn off, just wait, a biggun often hits just when you think its gone cold.

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Re: Bass Season

Post by johncalvin » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:10 pm

Mrsimon,
Worked great. They caught a ton of panfish tonight. They had a blast catching them.

We were drifting off Wood Island today and started seeing a bunch of gar. We thru everything we had at them including worms. They would not touch anything. What do they bite on? I know from shooting them with bow down south they put up a great fight and would be fun to catch.

Kids went out tonight for catfish and caught a sturgeon. They released him quickly but said it was about 2' long.

Going to fish minnows tomorrow by wood island shoal for bass.

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