Need Help Finding Those Summer Largies ! :|

[flippinbass]

Thanks for your time, I'm just rejoining the site again after not visiting for probably a year now.

I would really appreciate any help on where to find summer bass. I live in southern Ontario, and primarily fish Lake Scugog and Rice Lake. I was out last weekend on Scugog, and we were mostly fishing shallow flats that lead right up to reeds with pads and grass spread throughout. Scugog is a very shallow lake, average of 5' with a max of around 20-22'.

I hooked up 4 largies no bigger than 2- 2.5lbs and a 1 pound smallmouth while I was waiting to load the boat on the trailer The fish I caught were on a chatter bait, flippin tubes, and a spinnerbait.

I just can't figure out where to find larger quality and quantities of fish. Should I be out on the deeper flats relating to weed edges and such? Instead of fishing so shallow for most of the day? What are some main lake features that are good starting points for the day? What are your favorite techniques for covering water quck on these deeper flats?

Heading out to Rice Lake this weekend, and I definitely will be hitting deeper water with a flippin jig, some big okeechobee craws and other big creature baits, and probably a spinner bait, and I might try some medium diving cranks.

[Nitrofreak]

I like jigs and spinners and creature baits too but the first thing I would suggest is looking for some long points that lead out to deeper waters, hopefully some have some type of cover they can use out toward the end of the points.

Glenn posted a video on how to fish the double Fluke rig recently, that rig is deadly if the fish are active, if even just a little, you may want to consider that rig if you do have some of those long points.

For the jigs and creature baits, they will be most productive if there is some good structure your fishing, especially if your fishing deep, slow movement and bottom contact are key when fishing these baits, if I ever pick one of these up off of the bottom, it's never more than a couple of inches.

The forage in your water should be able to help you dictate what you should be fishing, if it is primarily craw fish, then the jigs and creatures are, or should be, very productive, but from where I see you are fishing then I would have to guess the yellow perch is one of your primary bait fish and should base your crank baits in those color patterns, the yellow perch is mostly found hanging around areas that have deep humps and submerged grassy areas, those would be your most productive, if I were to venture a guess.

Good starting points are simply that... points...points lead to where you need to be looking for deeper structure that fish love to hang out, summer bass are just like fishing in the winter for them, you have to know where they like to hang around, and spending some time just figuring that out will equate to a much more productive day on the water.

Hope that helps.

Good luck and be safe !!!

[Lund Explorer]

Find the deep weedline, put the nose of the boat right on top of it, and start pitching that jig right along the outside edge. You could also throw a deep diving crankbait to run along that weedline. Watch where you are getting bitten at. Most weedlines have a number of points or indentations in them, and these spots attract fish. Also look for larger inside or outside turns which can give bass a prime ambush point.

While you're doing this, have your backseater pitching into the holes in the weedbed itself, or running a shallow cranbait or spinnerbait of the top of those weeds.

At least one of you should start hitting fish. Adjust accordingly.

[A-Rob]

Hey dude I live by Scugog

I find it gets tough in the summer until the weed die off that seems to happen mid summer.

All the weeds pile up against the shoreline and docks. I just go along and flip that stuff once it forms.

Until then, the times I've caught big fish on scugog are from docks in the bays at the north end where there is some access to the deeper part of scugog.

Are you fishing on the east arm south of cesarea there I'm guessin b/c you are from whitby?

[flippinbass]

Hey dude I live by Scugog

I find it gets tough in the summer until the weed die off that seems to happen mid summer.

All the weeds pile up against the shoreline and docks. I just go along and flip that stuff once it forms.

Until then, the times I've caught big fish on scugog are from docks in the bays at the north end where there is some access to the deeper part of scugog.

Are you fishing on the east arm south of cesarea there I'm guessin b/c you are from whitby?

Cool to see someone close by on the site! Yeah that's how we usually fish, flippin tight cover. But yeah that's what I keep hearing is that they definitely prefer that deep water access. And yea my father and I usually launch at Caesarea and fish all the grass and reeds along the south side of the island.

We've had days where we pull 3-4 pounders out all day but there seems to be more and of those days where we're struggling to find fish, but I think that's because we've always concentrated on shallower water fishing.

Thanks for your advice!

[flippinbass]

Find the deep weedline, put the nose of the boat right on top of it, and start pitching that jig right along the outside edge. You could also throw a deep diving crankbait to run along that weedline. Watch where you are getting bitten at. Most weedlines have a number of points or indentations in them, and these spots attract fish. Also look for larger inside or outside turns which can give bass a prime ambush point.

While you're doing this, have your backseater pitching into the holes in the weedbed itself, or running a shallow cranbait or spinnerbait of the top of those weeds.

At least one of you should start hitting fish. Adjust accordingly.

Thanks man! I'll definitely try this out!

[flippinbass]

Awesome. Thanks a lot for your help, I've already picked a new launch spot we've never gone to just to reach the main lake point easier! It's a big inlet that has islands and long deep points, that'll be the starting point! And yes forage would most likely be perch as they are everywhere from the bottom of the lake to the shallows in every lake it seems lol. Again thanks for your help I appreciate it!

Heading out to Rice Lake this weekend, will post any pics of good bass if we can get some!