The Dog Days of Summer Again...Be Careful!

Friday my friend Mark and I set out to for something a little different, to chase some musky cousins.  I had frog fishing on my mind…no, not fishing for frogs, but using frog imitations worked across lily pads and other slop that we were bound to find on the pond.  We certainly found plenty of that.  Weedless lures logically seemed to be the ticket.  I spent quite a bit of time working the frog baits and Texas rigged plastic worms across the pads and slop during the early part of our trip without the results that I expected.    Although we caught a few fish early, the bite was a bit tough for a while.  I wasn’t sure if it was because the of the fish or because of our inability to cope with the heat.  I looked at my depthfinder to see that the surface temperatures were 96 degrees.

This was my first chainside on the day, measured twenty two inches long.  I had at least three others that flopped off my measuring board  and into the water before I could get a good measurement or photo that were bigger.   From now on, I'm getting pictures first, then measurements! This one fell for a chatterbait. You can tell it was earlier in the day as my shirt actually looks dry.

Rather than waste casts, time and well needed energy in that area, my theory was to move up to the creek where the water source should be cooler.  And, in doing so, maybe find some shady relief for us as well.  We managed to catch a few chain pickerel on the way up as water temperatures improved, from 90’s to 80’s, and eventually in the upper reaches we found temperatures in the upper 70’s.  You’d think that the fishing would be on fire up there, right?  And we saw some really nice sized bass way up in the creek, but they were spooky and just would not bite for some reason even though conditions appeared to be much improved!

Here’s Mark working the upper reaches of the lake where water temperatures were in the upper 70’s…conditions seemed right and the scenery was beautiful, but the fish weren’t all that willing as you might suspect.  There were monarch butterflies everywhere, making my breaks from fishing entertaining.  What a beautiful sight that was!

Well, after spending some time sweating to death in the skinny water, we decided to head back down where we were getting fish (at Mark’s suggestion).  Ironically, as we made our way back toward the ramp, the fishing actually improved.  There was a section of 90 plus degree water that was devoid of bites, but we managed to find that the fish were active where we found mid-80 degree water.

Let me tell you that it was sweltering hot.  We thought that moving up into the upper reaches of the lake would not only prove that the fish were more comfortable and motivated, and we’d find some shady relief for ourselves.  That actually made things worse, because even though the temperatures in the shade were a tad better, the trees blocked any chance of a breeze to help give us relief.  As we headed back, we noticed that where it was breezy, the fishing improved, and the breeze gave us some relief from the heat as well.

On our way back, we decided to fish the scum and slop that we bypassed earlier, working it with frog baits mostly.   I finally had some frog action, having four explosions, hooking and losing two decent bass before giving up on the frog.  I went to the plastic worm and landed a decent bass in the slop.

The worm might have produced more, but I was bitten off three times in a row.  I didn’t feel like tying on any more not only because of the prospect of losing tackle, but I was losing the energy and the will to do any more work than necessary.  So, I fished with heavier tackle the rest of the time.  In the pictures to follow, my shirt looks quite a bit different here, doesn’t it?  I had to reapply sunscreen several times, or I would have had “well done bacon neck syndrome” by days end.

We bypassed this section on the way up and hit the upper feeder stream first, then it on the way out and work it more thoroughly with frog baits.  This section just yells out for frog topwater action!  We gave it a good effort and had plans to fish some other spots, then come back to this spot for the evening bite.

I went to the plastic worm and landed this decent bass in the slop, using the worm to follow up on fish that missed the frog and wouldn't hit it again.  The tactic paid off with this chunky largemouth.

Here's Mark working the slop.  Looking at this picture, I think he must be an alien from outer space because given the fact that it was well over 90 degrees that day, he doesn't seem to be working up a sweat at all!  

The bite improved so much that I’d say that it was as hot as the temperature.  I managed to catch nine quality chain pickerel, all but two between 22 and 24 inches long, and four chunky bass between 15 and 19 ¼ inches long.  Toward the end of the day, for whatever reason, I lost seven fish in a row before landing my final fifth bass on the day, a chunky 15 incher before calling it quits.  And, the hot bait of the day turned out to not be weedless at all, but actually was the trusty Chatterbait, and man was it on fire!

Prior to this trip, Mark caught northern pike from his many Canada trips, but had never caught a chain pickerel before.  Well, he’s added a new species to his list, and caught several nice ones on the day.

Mark's first introduction to chain pickerel.  Here he is showing off his toothy grin (the fish, I mean)!

Here's another chatterbait victim!

Here's another nice chainside that chomped on Mark's chatterbait!

Even though the slop was tempting, we put plenty of time there with not much to show for it.  As we moved down toward more open water, using the chatterbait to cover water quickly around any cover that we could find, the fish really seemed to turn on as the temperature increased.

I must have guzzled a dozen bottles of Propel but it looks like I just poured it all over me.  Fortunately I had enough energy to land this 19 1/4 inch bucketmouth that hammered my trusty chatterbait!  This fish, ironically, hit in open water far from any cover that must have been near 90 degrees.  The purpose of that cast was to get a loop out of my baitcaster from the previous cast!

Not to be outdone, Mark tied into this largemouth that bested my biggest by 1/4 inch, measuring a nice 19 1/2 inches long!  Nice fish Mark!

OK, after reading this, you may be wondering what happened after that?  Well, the bite, like I said earlier, was hotter than the temperature.  We left the lake at about 3:30 PM right during the peak of the bite.  Why?  My muscle cramps were so bad that I couldn’t even lift a fishing rod or nearly work the trolling motor any longer.  I was fully hydrated, and heat usually helps my situation.  But for some reason, I was in a bad muscle cramping cycle and just couldn’t hack it any longer.  I wasted a lot of fishing time all day trying to medicate and recover from various cramps so I could fish.  I don’t know if it was my constant complaining about my camping problem or if Mark was feeling the heat, but he convinced me to stop fishing and call it a day.

I had a very hard time dealing with that decision, still making casts and cranking in my chatterbait on the way back to the ramp, but it was obvious that he was right.  I was pushing myself to limits that I had never done before.  And it was really hot out there.  And, I’ll admit, that there were times that I felt a little dizzy while in the upper end of the lake.  I took breaks and drank fluids, but it was really tough out there.   Mark may have been worn out from it too, and if he wasn’t, he was looking out for my health.  I appreciate that.  He was absolutely correct in his assessment.

It really hurt to come off the water knowing that we may have easily doubled our numbers had we fished through the evening bite, but he was the voice of reason.  As it turned out, my hands were cramped so bad and I was in such terrible pain that I had to pull over and let him drive the remaining ¾ of the trip home.

When I’m fishing, I’m like the goldfish in the fish bowl that doesn’t know when to quit eating that store bought fish food.  Like the goldfish eating, I don’t know when to quit fishing.  Quitting anything, whether it’s fishing or driving, just isn’t in my nature.  I guess that’s a fault though.

My heart wanted to fish, not only because the bite was so good, but because I brought my friend all the way out there to fish, and I didn’t want to let him down either.  Bottom line, we had a ton of hot fishing fun, and we made it home safely, and Mark caught his first ever chain pickerel!  I think he's hooked!

Since I haven't posted in a long time, I thought that I'd add some more pictures from my previous trip...we caught some fish that day, but nothing noteworthy.  It was a very scenic lake and a serene place to fish, Sleepy Creek Lake in West Virginia.

My buddy Bob workin' that plastic worm!

Bob's Son Carson with his best bass of the day.  Man can that boy catch fish!

And look what we saw cross the road as we pulled the boat off the ramp!  This timber rattlesnake was easily four and a half feet long, and as big around as Carson's thigh!  We got close enough for a picture but his rattle warned us to stay a safe distance, or else!

I want to apologize to everyone that has followed my blog for not posting more recently.  I've had many things happen in my life that I won't bore you with here that have kept me away from the keyboard.  But rest assured, I'm back!  My next post will be a little different twist on the outdoors experiences of mine, and include some pictures from my vacation to Spain a short time back.  Stay tuned!

Experience+Luck=Good Fall Bassin'

My wife loves those crisp cool sunny fall days, but bass anglers either love 'em or hate 'em.  Why? Bass anglers love those days when the feeding bell seems to ring all day long as bass binge on any active bait that they can find, or hate those same kind of fall weather days where cold front bluebird skies can cause bass to hunker down and not bite, appearing to have lock jaw.

Windy sunny days with bluebird skies can be hot or tough, who knows why or when.  Either way, they make for beautiful scenic photographs.

Yesterday, my buddy Howard and I hit one of our favorite small lakes in search of a mixed bag of bass, chain pickerel and crappie.  My buddy Bob, who I purchased my boat from, wanted to tag along with his boat, and bring a special guest, his eight year old Son, Carson.  Howard and I have a history of hitting lakes like this in the fall, and every year we seem to learn something new.

Bob and Carson fishing out of Bob's new dream boat, the Riverpro LoPro.

Experience... One of the elements in my equation titling this post.  Last year we hit this spot and had a really tough day most of the day.  We had an early morning start and by noon, not even a bite, fishing for bass or pickerel.  We hit all of the woody and weedy cover and nothing.

Not two weeks earlier did we have a banner day, all day, boating many chainsides and chunky bass that were hammering our chatterbaits and soft plastics.  The upper end of the lake that week was loaded with predators, and massive schools of bait to keep predatory fish happy.  Golden shiners and schools of shad were on the upper lake menu that day.

Last year, prior to the cool down, we caught bass like this and chain pickerel all day long on woody and weedy cover.  They were chasing baitfish in the upper end of the lake.

So where were the predators?  Where they just suffering from lockjaw due to the weather and cold temperatures?  Or did they move?  Not only did we not catch anything in the upper end of the lake or on any of the cover, but we didn't see any baitfish either.

It was so tough we resorted to fishing for crappie and bluegills.  Not that panfishing is bad.  Not at all, they can save a trip and turn a bad day into a good one.  In fact, when the crappie bite is on, fishing days are far from crappy.  They can be as fun as any fishing day of the year.  But, we were spoiled.  Chunky bass and big toothy pickerel were still on our minds.

On that day last November, we had Northeast winds blowing down the lake all day.  The forecast called for wind speeds in the five to ten miles per hour range, but they turned out to be more like ten to twenty.  It made for tough fishing and tough boat control.

While we were drifting from one crappie spot to the next, we remarked how the wind was piling up on the Southern shore.  Of course, warmer temps would be there, it was the deepest part of the lake, and that might be where the bait went.  So, we opted to try for predators once again.

My mind couldn't shake the sight of bass and chain pickerel chasing baitfish two weeks earlier, so I opted to tie on a gold half ounce Rat-L-Trap to imitate the golden shiners that are prevalent in this lake.  Neither Howard nor I had ever fished rattling lipless crankbaits in this lake.  Normally, these lures are hot during the spring, so it wouldn't previously have been my top choice in the fall.  But they do cover water quickly, and do resemble the forage for this lake.

My first cast toward the deep end resulted in too deep of a retrieve and hooks full of snot grass (bottom scum like algae). So, I tried another cast keeping my rod tip up and cranking medium speed, and wham, nice fish on.  After a nice fight, I landed a chunky four and a half pound bass (weighed four pounds seven ounces and went twenty inches long).

Matching the hatch, a gold Rat-L-Trap imitating a golden shiner, proved the ticket to land this fat bass, combined with finding the right location.

The pattern held all afternoon after that.  The rattling lipless crankbait boated several nice fat bass in the three pound range the rest of the day.  In addition, we landed some large chain pickerel in the same area.  As evening approached, we fished the crankbaits on the way back to the ramp around wood, like you might do with a chatterbait or spinnerbait, and that too produced some fine bass and pickerel.

Matching the hatch along with figuring out where the predatory fish liked to be this time of year were keys to our success.  The Northeast winds piled up warm water along the deeper section of the lake.  The baitfish were there, and so where the predators.  As the temperatures warmed during the day, some of the bass and pickerel moved into the cover that seemed devoid of life just hours earlier.

We actually accidentally snagged some of these baitfish yesterday with our crankbaits.  At first, I kept thinking that fish were bumping my lure, or perhaps I was ticking the tops of weeds or cover.  Well, I finally snagged one, and it turned out to be this little critter, a gizzard shad.  Bob and Howard also hooked a couple of them.  When you find these, predatory fish are close by.

So yesterday, we all made it to the ramp.  Temperatures were below freezing, with ice on the dock next to the ramp, and frost covering all of the cut soy bean and corn fields everywhere on the ride to the lake.  The surface water temperature was a chilly 44.3 degrees according to my depthfinder.

After an hour of trying the lily pads and woody cover with just a couple bites and no fish landed, we pondered crappie fishing again.  But wait, remember last year?  Howard and I made the change early and headed right for the deeper water where the wind once again piled up warmer water.  The water temperature there was 46 degrees, nearly two degrees warmer.  And, my depthfinder marked schools of baitfish everywhere.

I had my gold Rat-L-Trap already tied on for just such an occasion.  My first cast was with the wind as the boat drifted in the same direction.  With the rod tip held high like last year to keep the snot grass off the hooks, I didn't crank five times when, wham, a nice hit.  I was pumped up as my first cast in that area resulted in a 19 1/2 inch largemouth with a big head and not much of a belly, but it was a good fish, and my first fish of the day.

My first cast with my gold lipless crankbait golden shiner imitation resulted in this long probably older bass.  But it couldn't have been more beautiful to me after a tough start. 

Howard snapped a couple photos with my camera and my phone.  We then took some measurements and released the fish.  I quickly texted Bob about what we found with a picture of my new fish telling him to bring him and his boy down to our location.

After we drifted several yards , I picked up my rod and made my second cast, again, with the wind and the drift.  About eight cranks, rod tip high, and wham!  After another good fight.  This time I landed another chunky bass that measured a nice 17 inches.  More pics, the release, texting Bob again, and back to fishing.  Things seemed to be working in our favor, the tide had turned, and what seemed like a tough fall day was looking up.

My very next cast resulted in a much fatter but slightly shorter 17 inch largemouth bass.

Not long after that last fish, I landed this 18 inch largemouth.  What was a tough day for me was turning to a banner day quickly.

Like last year, the fall pattern was holding.  My gold Rat-L-Trap fished with the rod tip high in the deeper water was producing.  Bass were gobbling it up.  Even the pickerel where there, as Howard found out.  His Rat-L-Trap was bitten off and taken from him.  That had to be a huge chainside.

Soon, Bob and Carson made their way to our spot.  I told them of the pattern, and soon they were both working the deeper water with the rattling crankbaits.  It didn't take long for Carson, an eight year old quick learning heck of an angler (watch out KVD), to hook up and expertly fight and, with some help of his Dad, land the biggest chain pickerel of his life.

Bob holding Carson's chain pickerel, his personal best.  Watch out KVD, here comes Carson on the angling scene!  Don't worry Mr. Van Dam, Carson still is a bit nervous about holding his fish, so you have some time.

About ten minutes later, Carson proceeded to land his personal best largemouth, a fat 19 incher!  Bob joked about how his fishing karma had rubbed off on Carson, leaving him to start over again.  We also pointed out how his six year old boy had been putting a thumpin' on his Dad!  But Dad didn't take long to show his stuff, landing a nice chainside too.

Carson smiling proudly over his catch, a personal best 19 inch nearly four pound largemouth as his Dad proudly displays if for him.

Bob with a nice chain pickerel caught on a chrome Rat-L-Trap.

We had a very early start, and although Carson was excited to fish and about as happy as he could be over his catches, he ran out of gas around two in the afternoon.  Bob and his tuckered out child angling prodigy headed home, leaving the rest of the pickerel and bass for us.

Howard and I continued to work the area hard.  Fishing wasn't easy, but it was consistently giving up quality fish.  Not only did the rattling lipless crankbait work, but I also did well on a shallow diving shad like chrome crankbait, the Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap.  I also managed to catch four keepers, but also my smallest fish on my trusty plastic worm after finding some deeper water cover.

Like the past year, as the day neared the end, we fished our way back to the ramp hitting the woody cover that was fishless just hours earlier.  By this time, the water temperature had warmed to nearly 50 degrees.  I suspected that once the water warmed enough, some predators would move back into the woody cover.  I fished my Rat-L-Trap again, like a spinnerbait, and hooked and lost two nice chain pickerel, but landed one smaller pickerel and a few more fat bass, including a 17 3/4 inch and 18 inch largemouth.

Another fat crankbait bass, this one on a Luhr-Jensen chrome Speed Trap, again, fished with the rod tip high.

Howard connecting with a quality toothy predator, Esox niger, the chain pickerel.  This beauty inhaled a white chatterbait.

Luck... Experience plays a huge role, but when fishing open water, making that right cast is a combination of luck and experience.  But confidence in what you are doing, based on experience, improves your odds and brings you luck.  You caught fish there last year, doing the same thing, consistently.  Chances are, under the same conditions, your odds are pretty good that it will happen again.  Why one guy catches bass under these conditions and another angler doesn't, seemingly doing the exact same thing with identical lures, well more than likely it's luck.  Or, it could be subtle differences in tackle or technique.

Good Fall Bassin'...Now, another key component with finding bass in the fall is to use lures that can cover a lot of water quickly.  These search baits, like spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and chatterbaits, can really rack up the numbers for you, but may take a lot of casts when bass are in open water.  Rattling lipless crankbaits and diving crankbaits are good choices for locating schools of fish that feed on shad.

My day seemed tough at first, but turned out to be a great fall bassing day.  I finished with eighteen fat largemouth bass, with my biggest seven bass ranging from 17 inches to 19 3/4 inches.  The other ten fish were between 13 and 15 inches.  I managed a nice pickerel too, along with a crappie that inhaled a plastic worm.  Apparently, the crappie thought he was a largemouth.  Eight bass were on the Rat-L-Trap, four fell for the plastic worm, and six quality bass engulfed my Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap.

So there you have it folks.  Experience combined with a little luck, could turn a chilly fall day into one of your best bassin' days of the year.
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By the way, I want to thank everyone who keeps checking my blog for updates, and at the same time apologize for keeping you waiting for my next post.  I'll do a much better job in the future with updates.  Stay tuned with more fishing, hunting, and shark toothing articles.  I have a special shark tooth article nearly completed, highlighting some adventures of some internet friends from South Carolina.  Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Cold Front Fishing Challenge

The great thing about fishing in the fall is that big fish are willing to bite a variety of baits despite adverse conditions.  Cold fronts, extreme changes in temperatures, and shorter days contribute to not only changes in fish behavior, but also to their ecosystem and prey as well.  Two weeks ago my buddy and I fished a lake on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and found a multitude of bass and chain pickerel in areas where weeds and lily pads were abundant.  That area teemed with life.  Baitfish and predators could be seen easily in the clear water slightly tinted by tanic acid.  Just about every piece of woody cover, point of lily pads or pocket of weeds held a predator of one sort or another.  We hit that spot again on Tuesday and that area was devoid of life after only two weeks had elapsed from our last trip. 

What happened?  Where did the fish go?  After spending all morning looking for them, we had only one toothy chain pickerel to show for it, and we all but gave up looking for them opting to catch panfish instead.  We weren't in a tournament, rather, we were out for fun.  And on these particular lakes, multispecies fishing opportunities can expand your fun and panfish can make your day.  But, that last trip spoiled me.  I wanted more chain pickerel and largemouth bass.  I craved that big reaction strike.  So, I'll detail the rest of the trip in this post on how we finally got on those big fish.

We were out on a beautiful fall morning, but the fishing was tough.  Here, Howard is tossing a chatterbait looking for the big reaction bite of big bass and chain pickerel.  We faced post cold front conditions, bluebird skies and other adverse conditions, but were determined to find them, and later we did.

So, before I move on, let me set the stage on what we were up against.  First, the weather wasn't in our favor.  A strong cold front had moved through, and another one was on the way.  The weather normally after a cold front, about three days later, stabilizes and the fishing improves, but when one front moves through soon after another one, the weather doesn't stablize and the fish feel those effects, and the bite is often tough.  And, even though daytime temperatures have been relatively stable, the night time low temperatures have been dropping.  Sometimes though, shorter days trigger feeding behavior in predatory fish that will set them on a feeding binge even during conditions that normally give the lock jaw, and that was what we were banking on.

In addition to the weather conditions, the State Department of Natural Resources launched their electroshock boat to study our lake on this particular day.  They hit four prime spots on the lake, shocking, sampling, and measuring fish along large sections of prime shoreline, deep in cover, out from cover, just about everywhere.  Their modified pontoon boats emit about a thousand volts of electricity using two long metal probes. 

The staff of three DNR Biologists include someone to drive the boat, and two staff to net fish.  After netting stunned fish of all species, they record measurements and population numbers for each species to determine the health of the lake population.  This data helps the DNR to determine the best way to regulate fishing on the lake and to help them determine other management options for the future health of the fishery.  Even though this usually puts a large population of the lakes fish in a non-feeding mode, all of the fish are released alive and well to feed another day, and more importantly will lead to better fishing for all anglers in the long run.  So, we had to decide if it was worth fishing here or moving to another lake. 

We launched on a beautiful morning.  At first, the lake was like a sheet of glass, but that would change.

Also, on a weekday, normally places like this seldom have other anglers.  On our last trip, we arrived to find only one other boat on the water all day long.  But on this day, three other boats followed our launch on the lake throughout the day.  That doesn't sound like much, but on a small lake, it's another concern.  Normally, if the DNR wasn't electroshocking the lake, we wouldn't think twice about that since there's more than enough fish for that number of boats, but about half the lakes prime spots have been fried.  So, that was another reason for us to move.

We fished last trips hot spots all morning and all we had to show for it was this lone chain pickerel.   The question about a spot change lingered in our minds, or should we stick it out?  Quality fish are in this lake, but would they bite?

Finally, the bite seemed to be off.  Where fishing was hot and fish activity once flourished a two weeks prior, it seemed lifeless and dead, and we didn't see but only a few small fish.  The baitfish and predators were gone.  Why?  Where did they go?  We noticed that the lily pads seemed to be dying off.  Also, the milfoil and hydrilla seemed to by dying off as well.  We theorized that the oxygen levels in those areas were low, leaving the fish uncomfortable enough to migrate to other areas of the lake.  The other option was that they may be deep into the cover, up in the lily pads.  We decided to take a look, pushing the boat into the pad fields to see if we could see any predatory fish or spook them, but we saw nothing.  They had migrated to other holding spots.  That was our challenge the rest of the day, to find them.

So, we moved down the lake.  The lake is situated along a wooded shoreline on each side along a Northwest to Southeast direction.  The Northwest winds were picking up as the sun rose over top of us.  The skies were bright blue, and the sunlight and glare were making visibility tough even with sunglasses.  The lake was no longer a sheet of glass.  Maybe the winds were piling up warmer water, oygenated water, down the lake, and maybe that's where the baitfish and predators were.  Our numbers were pitiful at this point, so we both opted to find some panfish to pad our catch rate.  Also, by doing that, you find baitfish and eventually predators.  Once you know where they are, a change in fishing methods is the only thing left to catch them, but that is sometimes a challenge in itself.

Finding panfish like this nice crappie can pad your catch numbers, but also help you find where conditions may be right for finding predatory fish like chain pickerel and largemouth bass.

We found plenty of good sized bluegills, shellcrackers, and a few crappie scattered around lily pad fields further down the lake near deeper water.  In some spots, the panfish bit just about every cast while casting small two inch twister tails on 1/32 ounce jigheads and light line.  That was fun, but I had big fish on my mind, and the panfish were starting to bore me.  We each had several chain pickerel bite our jigs off, leaving our line dancing in the wind.  We also picked up a few small bass on the panfish jigs.  We found the predators.  Now we had to figure out a way to catch them.

Chain pickerel like this one were biting off our panfish jigs.  We also caught a few smaller bass on the small lures, so the predators were here.  We just had to find a way to get more of them.  Plus, getting bitten off and retying new lures wastes fishing time and hurts the wallet.  If they're going to bite, I want to boat them.

By now, we had moved all the way to the other end of the lake.  The wind was stronger here, especially on the Southeastern shoreline, where the warmer water was piling up.  Howard and I tried several reaction baits and finesse presentations, but nothing seemed to work.  I managed to catch a pickerel using a larger grub and jighead, but just about every cast brought back some algae on my lure that I kept having to clean off, and that irritated me.  If the fish were actively striking that presentation, I'd put up with it, but the bites were few and far between.  Something had to change.  The fish had to be here.

Last time we fished this lake, we found lots of these golden
shiners, which we assumed were the coveted forage for
both bass and chain pickerel.

I opened up my crankbait box and searched for an answer.  This lake was shallow and weedy, so deep and medium divers were out.  I needed a good shallow crankbait.  Then, something in my box caught my eye and jarred my memory.  Last time we fished this lake, we found huge schools of golden shiners, and when we found them, we also found big chain pickerel and good sized bass.  In my box, the lure that caught my eye should be the perfect imitation of a golden shiner, a half ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap in the gold with black back color. 

Lipless crankbaits are a good choice when imitating large baitfish like golden shiners, blueback herring, and various species of shad.  And, the rattling noise and vibrations on the retrieve often draw reaction strikes on both active and inactive fish.  The strikes when fishing these lures are often violent, and that was what I was hoping for. 

I had never tried lipless crankbaits in this particular lake.  I never had to, because the things that we tried on this day, like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and plastic worms normally kept us busy with plenty of bites.  But not today.  So, I thought that I'd give it a shot.

On my first cast, I put the lure into an area that was about three feet deep.  After a few cranks I could feel the bait wasn't working properly, so I quickly reeled it in only to find thick hair like algae hanging from both treble hooks.  At first, I thought that I might be wasting my time, but then decided to place a cast toward deeper water, and try keeping my rod tip high while maintaining a medium retrieve speed.  The next cast went out to the deeper water.  After a few cranks, I had a bone jarring strike and a big fish on.  What did I have?  I wondered if I had hooked a chain pickerel or a big largemouth bass.  It didn't matter as I am tickled to catch either species, and besides, this fish was fighting like crazy.  The fish seemed to dig for the deep against the resistance of my medium power fast action St. Croix Avid baitcasting rod.  After a really good fight, the fish finally came up and boiled near the boat. 

Big bass...I wasn't sure how big, but it was big, and on a tough day of fishing, a fish like this can make your day.  Finally, I was able to get the bass to the side of the boat, careful to lip the fish and boat it without leaving two treble hooks imbedded in my hand.  We measured it and weighed it, twenty inches and four pounds, then I released it to fight another day.

This bass fell for a gold Rat-L-Trap, a good imitation of the golden shiner, probably the meal that this four pound largemouth bass was hunting for.  "Traps" make for great reaction bites especially on weedy lakes.

We figured that the predatory fish were in the deep end of the lake, so we decided to use the wind to drift across the lake while tossing our lipless crankbaits in search of them.  At first, it seemed as if I had a one fish wonder bite.  That is, I wonder why only one fish would bite it.  Maybe I didn't find a pattern, but rather, a lone fish that I fooled, while many others were down deep laughing at us.  Howard put on a six inch Senko and caught a couple decent bass and pickerel, so maybe he found a pattern.  I followed suit and tried one also, but no hits for me as we both drifted that deeper water in search of fish.

Howard found a couple nice bass and pickerel using a six inch Senko in the deeper water.

Well, I wasn't about to give up on my gold trap.  Fish like that bite for a reason.  There had to be more.  So, I went back to it, making cast after cast, joking that bass and pickerel were a fish of ten thousand casts, like the mighty musky.  After about thirty more casts, I gave up and went back to panfishing for a bit, kind of like a rest.  Panfish and minnows were dimpling the surface all around us, tempting me to try and catch them just to see what they were.  I landed a nice bluegill, followed by a nice crappie, only to be bitten off a few casts later by another toothy chainside.  Ah hah!  More predators.  Maybe they want my Rat-L-Trap again. 

So, I picked it back up and began chucking it.  Three casts later and I had a massive strike.  What did I have this time?  Again, the fish fought, sounding for the depths, even taking drag.  Big fish, but was it a pickerel or a bass?  Again, I'm thrilled as I fought this fish.  Finally it came to the surface and thrashed about, splashing Howard in the process.  It was a nice sized chain pickerel, my biggest one so far this year.  Now, maybe I was on to something. 

I brought the mighty pickerel to the side of the boat, and with those teeth and treble hooks thrashing about, I decided it wouldn't be the best idea to try and grab the fish, so I hoisted it into the boat.  Bad idea.  The fish thrashed even more and wouldn't you know, one of the treble hooks headed right for my crotch!  I tried my best to avoid the hooks but one of them stuck in the pants leg of my blue jeans, two of the hooks piercing all the way through my pants, right along my right groin area, with the fish still attached and flopping.  I was happy that I wasn't wearing shorts, because that would have been a nasty result.  Finally, the toothy predator calmed down and I was able to remove it from the lure.  I turned and posed as Howard snapped my photo with the fish, with the lure still hooked to my pants.  I released the beast and spent several minutes removing the lure from my pants, thankful that the hooks didn't penetrate any skin.

This nice size chain pickerel hammered my Rat-L-Trap, then proceeded to hook me!

The afternoon was finally heading to toward a close.  I was happy that I had two quality fish slam my lure.  So far, the catch  numbers weren't great, but any time I catch quality fish it's a good trip, and I'm thankful.  Howard and I decided to fish our way back to the ramp and hit the Western shoreline.  Howard tied on a chatterbait and I stuck with my Rat-L-Trap, fishing it as if it was a spinnerbait, working pockets along the weeds and lily pads, around woody cover, and out to deeper water.  We stayed away from shore knowing that the predators were not deep in the cover, but rather, they seemed to be hunting in the deeper water out from the cover.  We proved this on the trip back, as Howard and I hooked several chain pickerel and largemouth bass.

Several more bass and pickerel hit my gold Rat-L-Trap as we fished our way back to the ramp to end the day.

Howard with a quality chain pickerel that attacked his chatterbait.

After landing several bass and pickerel on our way back, some of them being decent size, we both marveled about how tough the day had been, but were glad that we made the right decision to stay and fish this lake out despite the tough conditions.  I finished with some nice crappie, well over a dozen nice bluegills, a good number of chain pickerel, and a bunch of nice largemouth on the day.  Howard did equally well, although he probably caught two to my one on the bluegills...that boy was on fire with those gills!

In summary, when facing tough conditions but you know that you're on a good lake with quality fish, don't give up on it especially in the fall.  When daylight is short, that's less fishing time, and a spot change takes time away from fishing.  You have to pull the boat out, drive to another spot, and launch again.  Plus, even if it's a good lake, you have to start from scratch to figure them out, and there's no guarantee that the fishing will be any better than what you left.  On the other hand, a spot change could really make your day, so it's a tough decision.  On this particular day, I feel that we made the right decision to stay.  I'll take a four pound bass and a big pickerel any day.  Fall fishing, big fish, that's what it's all about.

Mixed Bag Multispecies Fishing Fun

So far, the vast majority of my blogging about fishing has centered around bass fishing, and you'd think that's all I like to do.  Without a doubt, bass fishing for bass is a passion of mine.  However, some of my favorite places to fish are the ones that give me the opportunity to catch good size fish, good numbers of fish, and different types of fish.  Variety, size, and numbers translate to fishing fun in my book.  Multispecies action gives the saying, "Variety is the spice of life" great merit in my book.  This time of year, October, is one of my favorite times to put together multispecies catches that leave me anxious to return another day.  My past two fishing trips were to such a place, where we were blessed with good catches of chain pickerel, largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill sunfish amongst other species.  The pictures on this post were from my latest trip.

This chain pickerel fell for a white Z-man chatterbait with a white ringworm trailer.  Pickerel are toothy, agressive, strike with reckless abandon, and just plain fun to catch.  On this day, a front moved through and the bass shut down, but these toothy critters didn't disappoint, increasing my catch rate and fishing excitement.

My buddy Howard and I fished out of his pond hopper boat, an eleven foot Coleman Crawdad that, for years, supported the hefty weight of our bodies and tackle, enabling us to catch many very good fish of all kinds over the years.  Howard and I loaded the boat with two batteries, attached the trolling motor, paddles, life vests, tackle, snacks, drinks and fishing rods, slid the boat down the ramp, and were off just after first light in search of everything that lived in that lake to catch, photograph, and release. 

The three days prior to our trip were extremely windy, but the winds on this day had died down, and when we launched, the lake was like a sheet of glass.  The sun had just risen but was hidden behind clouds lingering from the low pressure system that had passed through the area a couple days earlier, leaving me with an irresistable photographic opportunity to shoot the silhouette Howard and his craft after he launched his boat.  We had a lot of rain during the week so the lake was full.  The water clarity was excellent, almost crystal clear except for the slight stain of tanic acid, jokingly refered to as "satanic acid" by Howard.  Warm temperatures thoughout the week probably had a positive effect on fish activity by keeping the lake water temperature up a bit in the fishes comfort zone.

The Coleman Crawdad, Howard's fishing machine, launches on a beautiful fall morning.

I loaded the boat with my tackle, and six rods rigged for all my possible hot patterns.  Six rods, really?  Well, when targeting multiple species, you need different rigs, right?  All week long when planning this trip, I spent hours at home fiddling with my tackle and rigging my rods in anticipation of the patterns that might have worked given the conditions that we were about to face. 

For largemouth bass and chain pickerel, I had my flipping/pitching rod rigged with a skirted Strike King Hack Attack jig and Denny Brauer chunk trailer on fifty pound Suffix 132 green braided line, to power fish out of heavy cover and pads.  I also had my medium power, fast action spinning rod Texas rigged with a four inch green pumpkin plastic worm rigged with a light wire hook and light weight on light eight pound Nanofil line for a fine finesse presentation.  I had another medium action outfit rigged with a popping plug on eight pound fluorocarbon line for possible topwater action.  I had a medium action baitcasting outfit rigged with a 1/2 ounce white chatterbait with a white plastic worm trailer, and another heavy action long baitcasting rod rigged with Live Target frog with heavy braided line in case the fish were hunkered down in the lily pads. 

And finally, for panfish, I had an ultralight rod rigged with a Kalin's Triple Threat grub in the lemon meringue color, using six pound test Nanofil that has a diameter equivalent to two pound test monofilament line.  That's a lot of fishing rods for a small pond hopper boat, but really, it's just being prepared for all of the situations that I thought that I'd encounter on the day.  That way, I didn't have to take time to cut a lure off and re-tie a different lure on, at least not as much.

Chain pickerel, sometimes nicknamed "jack fish" particularly in parts of Virginia, like this one can attack with lightning speed, giving the angler a thrill and a good fight.  This pickerel had a run in with one of the lakes predatory species.  Perhaps this pickerel was an osprey survivor.

My first fish was an average sized chain pickerel that came off a chatterbait being pulled from the weeds into the water.  As soon as it fell off the slop, the pickerel exploded on it.  Esox niger, the chain pickerel, is the smaller cousin of northern pike and muskellunge, or musky.  They have sharp teeth and can attack with lightning speed, and are known to cut your line if you don't use a steel leader.  I personally don't use a steel leader, accepting the fact that a few of my inexpensive jigs or plastic worms will be bitten off even when using heavy line, simply because I feel that the lures get better action and draw more strikes.  For some reason, on this day, the chatterbait was driving the pickerel nuts.  I finished with nineteen of them, with some of them approaching 23 inches in length.


Yellow perch like this on can provide good action and, if you really get into them, can really pad your numbers for the day.  They are agressive and hit any lure that will fit into their mouth.  This one hit a plastic worm.

Not long after that, Howard caught his first fish of the day, a chunky yellow perch, caught while he was targeting largemouth bass using a four inch plastic worm, traditionally on this particular day a hot bass lure.  The yellow perch were also very aggressive even after the front moved through and the wind picked up.  On the day, the perch attacked my plastic worm, Kalin's grub, and I even caught one on the large chatterbait!

This nice yellow perch attempted to engulf my 1/2 ounce chatterbait for lunch, showing how aggressive they were.

Soon after Howard's perch, I changed tactics and went to the ultralight.  I caught a nice bluegill sunfish right off the bat.  In my earlier posts, I talked about Nanofil line, the six pound line that I was using that had two pound diameter, or even thinner maybe.  For fishing plastic worms, it casts a country mile, but the thin line would break on my hook sets.  So, I went to the eight pound test for that purpose.  Now, I wasn't about to waste the thinner line, so I spooled my ultralight with the thinner Nanofil to fish for panfish with. 

I was very pleased that I could cast my 1/48 ounce jig just as far as when using four pound fluorocarbon line, if not further, with very little effort.  The line has no memory either, and is very sensitive, which is nice for jigging panfish so you can feel the bites easily.  You can feel every little thing, and the thump of a fat bluegill bite feels like a BIG thump.  At first, I was worried about the line visibility, but the fish weren't line shy at all, at least on this trip, including a bunch of fat bluegills caught throughout the day.  The Nanofil passed the panfish test.  My next test of that line will be through the ice this winter, and thus a final review of the brand for that purpose.

Bluegill sunfish like these were willing biters on my little jigs even on the white Nanofil line.

Normally, this lake produces good catches of fat slab crappie.  But on this day, the calicos were tough to find, but we both caught a few of them.  We were casting and slowly jigging our ultralight jigs.  Perhaps a change in technique would have landed more crappie.  Maybe that change would have been a micro tube jig, or perhaps a Berkley Power Wiggler fished under a float?  With other species cooperating, I wasn't going to spend much time re-rigging, so I stuck with my original plan.  Even though the crappie didn't cooperate as much as I had liked, the pickerel, perch, and 'gills gave us plenty of action.

Usually, on this particular lake, crappie are abundant.  But on this day, we only caught a few.  The other species kept us busy though, with plenty of action on the ultralight from pickerel, perch and bluegills.

What about the bass?  This lake has some big bass in it, and on some days you can rack up some decent numbers of quality largemouth.  Howard and I each caught a three pound bass, but once the front passed through and the wind picked up, the bluebird skies seemed to send the bass off the feed.  We each managed to catch our bass on the chatterbait.  Howard later lost one while jigging his chatterbait in deeper water.  He all but had the bass landed when it decided to behave like an acrobatic smallmouth bass, and leap high out of the water tossing Howard's lure back at him. 

Although the bass numbers didn't pile up, we knew that in future trips they will.  In the mean time, the chainsides kept us busy.  Perhaps one reason my bass numbers were low was because I spent a considerable amount of time catching the panfish on my ultralight.  The way I look at it though, I was really enjoying myself doing that and the fish were cooperating, and the action kept me giggling like a child every time I set the hook and fought the spunky fish to the boat.  After each catch, no matter the species, I took the time to admire the size of the fish, plus the beautiful coloration of each of them.  But, not so much time admiring as to harm them, so each one was carefully released to fight another day in a reasonable amount of time. 

I'm sure that I could have brought home a nice stringer for the dinner plate, but right now I still have plenty of fish in my freezer from my winter ice fishing trips, enough to get me through until we get ice again.  I don't know, but to me, the fish taste better when caught through the ice.  I don't have any scientific merit or reasoning behind that statement, but it just seems that way to me.  For me, open water fishing has become traditionally catch and release for many species (except for some saltwater or brackish fish that I can't get through the ice, like an occasional rockfish or white perch), while ice fishing fills my freezer only to meet my needs and no more.

This chunky largemouth bass annihilated my chatterbait.  The bass shut down not long after this fish was caught.

Howard with a nice fall chatterbait caught largemouth bass.

This golden shiner rounded out our sixth species caught
on the day.  Big baitfish like these are one reason that
the chain pickerel and bass in this pond reach good size.

We found a lot of chain pickerel active in one to three feet of water, relating to weeds that hadn't died off yet, in areas where baitfish were abundant, and especially in shallow water.  They attacked the bass lures that we threw, including Howard's favorite pickerel choice, a Bagley's perch color minnow, plastic worms, and of course, the chatterbait.  Towards the end of the day, the pickerel would charge out for the lures leaving a big bulging wake as they attacked our offerings.

Chain pickerel aren't huge like muskies or northerns, but they are every bit as aggressive.  It seemed as if every other cast along the lily pads, submerged weedbed clumps, or any sunken wood resulted in a savage pickerel strike at the end of the day. 

The evening bite was hot.  I finished with nineteen chainsides, one fat bass, sixteen bumphead bluegills, two fat crappie, one huge golden shiner, and fourteen nice sized yellow perch for a total of 53 fish, and six different species caught.  Not a bad multispecies day!  Howard had similar numbers, not a lot of any one species, but good numbers of everything including some nice sized pickerel.. 

The action picked up at the end of the day with chain pickerel attacking our lures nearly every cast, along with a few fat yellow perch getting in on the feeding action as well.

In summary, lakes like this one that provide good fishing for many different species, all of which are relatively good size, that make for difficult choices on the water.  It's a dilemma, what species to fish for?  The answer to me is clear, and it's spelled F-U-N.  What I mean by that is, I like to go with the flow, for what's biting, to try different techniques for different species, and let the fish tell you what to use.  If I catch many different species along the way, then my day is complete.  This is typical for this lake, to catch some of each species, but not really tear them up, and at the end of the day when you add up your numbers, you realize that you've had a pretty good doggone day of fishing.  On this particular day, the pickerel, perch, and bluegills gave us the most action and kept us quite busy all day long.  So, rather than beat my brains against the side of the boat trying to catch more bass when they weren't as active as we normally find them, I prefer to adapt to make the most of my experience on the lake, and sometimes it's the species that you don't normally target that make your day.  I'll take it!  And I'll take it every time!