Tough Summer Fishing

[slabbandit]

Went out today for about 4 hours. Tried trolling 6 ft. flats with 100 series Bandits, no luck. Checked a few brushpiles and cane condos in 10 to 12 feet, very few bites.
Fished my first condo I put in back in Feb. and found several small crappie using the shade provided by the canes. Probably caught 15 or so small to barely keeper sized fish. Didn't keep any.

This condo is located in 17 ft. of water on the outside bend in the river channel. It comes to within 6 ft. of the surface. I wished I would have put it a little further down the drop in say 23 ft. where it would have 10 to12 ft. of water on top of it.

This particular condo has produced very well for me all through early spring. I use it to gauge what my other condos may be doing.

While I was smearing sunscreen on and wiping sweat out of my eyes I couldn't help but think back to late winter/ early spring to all the 2 to 2 1/2 lb. fish we were bring in off the shallow brushpiles. Where do they go in the heat of summer?

Got to get a better handle on this summer time fishing.


CATCH A BIG-UN

[FalconSmitty]

IMO they are following the shad. That is why you find them up the creeks in the fall. Chasing shad. I am catching the biggest fish in deep(20+) open water below the shad. I stay over a school of shad the best I can and tightline minnows. Had some big fellers bitting last week. I'm going Monday so I'll report if it is still true...

[Tommy]

Hey Bandit. On the lakes that I fish the fish stay right there on the tops. They may fluctuate on their holding depths, due to oxygen levels, but I still catch them on tops in 18 t/ 25 ft of water. You just have to use a little more finesse this time of the year and keep moving until you get to a top that is in the right water temp and oxygen level. On 2 of the lakes that I fish, the fish will all but quit biting when the subsurface water temp hits 78 degrees. The other lake they will bit until the subsurface temp hits 86. But I can guarantee you that they are still there and you can catch a good mess of fish.
The underwater cam comes in very handy on determining the under water temp along with locating the position of the fish. Been using it for 3 years now, and have learned alot about water temps and summer time fishing.

[slabbandit]

My Father-In-Law and a friend of his tried an underwater camera a few years ago but complained they couldn't see anything in the very dingy water.

The lake has cleared somewhat over the last few years to a visability of about 2 feet. I think they have also made some great improvements in the cameras also.

May consider trying one myself one day. Do they spook the fish on the tops?



CATCH A BIG-UN

[Tommy]

Bandit, the cam doesn't spook them much at all, if you don't ram it into the brush. Crappie along with bass seem to be very curious towards the cam and will swim right up to it. I don't use the viewing part now as much as I use the temp gauge. Matter of fact I don't hardly ever get it out of the case now unless I'm having trouble catching fish.