Mid-Summer Summary

[Swamp Girl]

In a short paragraph, what's your mid-summer summary? Here's mine:

 

                                                          Fours and Forties

 

It's been a summer of fours, more four-pounders than I care to count. It's also been a summer of forties. Forty-bass mornings. Some fifty, sixty, and seventy-bass (just one) mornings too. And it's been a summer of underspinning. Its near weed-proofness has allowed me to catch bass in the gnarliest thickets and extricating them from those thickets has been great fun. Of course, sometimes they won, as is right. Lastly, it's been a summer of exploring my pond, where I bought five acres of shoreline, and I've managed to catch bigger bass than I had the past two years when I was just a visitor and not a landowner. One of those bigger ones is my new avatar! 

 

What's your mid-summer summary?

[bp_fowler]

Right now I’m in the midsummer grind.  The bulk of the fish have moved offshore out of my reach.   Earlier on it very productive as I had developed a pattern that was broadly applicable to most of the places I fish. That being targeting shallow cover near bluegill beds that were also adjacent to deeper water.  I’m sure that is pretty elementary to most folks but it was new to me and more efficient than the prescribed  “make long casts parallel to the bank” method that had been my primary focus for most of my time as an shore angler.  Now that the dog days are upon us my focus has switched to night, or fishing during low light periods albeit with mixed results.  Also have been spending time and money  upgrading gear and organizing tackle for my fishing trip to Canada next month.  

[TOXIC]

I’ll go one better and say that my year up to this point has been pretty good.  It’s gotten a little tougher here locally due to the heat and drought but our trip to St Clair would rank in the top 5 of the 21 years we’ve been going.  Weather was outstanding allowing us to pretty much go anywhere on the lake we wanted and the 1 blow day allowed me to bring home some good walleye fillets.  Early season trip to Florida (February) was productive.  I will say I have fished somewhat less than normal this year so far due to some trips and schedules as well as working on bringing my boat back into seaworthy service.  

[MIbassyaker]

My summary is:   Few Outings, Elusive Fish, Small Bass. 

 

Not a very productive season for me.  It happens.  I get to fish a few hours at a time, usually morning.  According to my records I have fished for bass 19 times by shore or kayak this year, for a total of 125 hours. Been skunked once, had two 1-fish days, and only 3 days where I caught more than 2 per hour of fishing.  I can count the number of bass over 3lb on one hand.  While there is more to go, I'll be lucky to fish 10 more days before winter.  Just too many other things in the Life Queue this year.

 

 

[MN Fisher]

@MIbassyaker - my year exactly. With the ulcerated wound on my right ankle, the pain prohibits me from launching/landing Bass Trek...so I'm stuck on shore until it heals.

 

I get out once a week, if I'm fortunate. I've had one day where I took home some eating size (my standards) bluegill, but the only bass I've caught this year was this past week - and they wouldn't have scored.

 

Maybe I'll get out on the boat a couple times this fall....if I'm lucky.

[Swamp Girl]

@bp_fowler: Where are you fishing in Canada and what are you targeting? 

[Team9nine]

Summer has been a largely non-event for me. Kind of ironic, but moving down south, I simply traded a couple frozen winter months of non-fishing for a couple crazy hot summer months of non-fishing. January through mid-June was great, but once the early heat hit, with our streak of 90+ degree days coupled with 100+ deg. heat indices, the boat hasn’t seen much action, and there are no ponds to fish locally. Also, night fishing is out because all the ramps close by sunset. Last boat trip was 19 days ago, and prior to that, was only able to get out 1 day a week the latter half of June. But it hasn’t been a total loss, either, as I did manage another bass over 5 lbs. from my 4th different reservoir this year on that last boat trip…and then school starts up in another couple weeks, so lake traffic should start dying off a bit just as we begin cooling down, hopefully.

[bp_fowler]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

@bp_fowler: Where are you fishing in Canada and what are you targeting? 

Ontario side of Lake Huron, place called McGregor Bay.  While I’ve been told there’s both LMB and SMB I will be targeting predominantly small mouth since I’ve never really fished for them before.  My Pops will be going for Muskie though.

[Swamp Girl]

13 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

Ontario side of Lake Huron, place called McGregor Bay.  While I’ve been told there’s both LMB and SMB I will be targeting predominantly small mouth since I’ve never really fished for them before.  My Pops will be going for Muskie though.

 

Huron is big water, but I love the great lakes. I'm excited to read your trip reports. Fingers crossed for a 50" musky and some five-pound smallies.

[bp_fowler]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Huron is big water, but I love the great lakes. I'm excited to read your trip reports. Fingers crossed for a 50" musky and some five-pound smallies.

Thanks! Definitely outside my comfort zone.  But you can’t get better only doing the same old same old.

[casts_by_fly]

"negligible" would be my summary.  As in the amount of time I've gotten to spend on the water.  The past 3 years I've been able to get out 2-3 times a week in the evenings.  New job and gym focus has dropped that to once a week max and half of the time I haven't been able to go.  I got out last sunday only to have a tournament follow me to the lake (I was unloading the kayak when the first 3 boats rolled in).  12 boats on a 120 acre lake (plus 2 other guys who weren't in the tournament) meant I got an hour before they started and then another 30 minutes fishing back to the ramp.  I wasn't putting up with that.  It's been a month since the next most recent trip.  I had a good run at the start of June, but that was all before the first day of summer so...

 

I'm going this evening and make no commitments that I will come home at any given point.

[TheRodJerker]

All the lakes in my are are HEAVILY PRESSURED right now. Everyone here thinks this is the best time of the year to fish and it's not, so they are all pressuring the lakes and not even catching anything. I'm staying away from lakes for a while until it cools off and just fishing some crowded ponds that needs harvested. We have 2 ponds and my neighbors pond all are heavily crowded, guess I'll be filling up my deep freezer with some fillets!

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, TheRodJerker said:

All the lakes in my are are HEAVILY PRESSURED right now. Everyone here thinks this is the best time of the year to fish and it's not, so they are all pressuring the lakes and not even catching anything. I'm staying away from lakes for a while until it cools off and just fishing some crowded ponds that needs harvested. We have 2 ponds and my neighbors pond all are heavily crowded, guess I'll be filling up my deep freezer with some fillets!

 

You have two ponds???? You're not a lucky duck. You're the luckiest duck! Any pics of the ponds?

[TheRodJerker]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

You have two ponds???? You're not a lucky duck. You're the luckiest duck! Any pics of the ponds?

Yes sir, I will post them when I get home. I'm out buying groceries and looking at new air conditioner for my workshop right now.

I also have a creek on my property plus 1 lake 200 yards away and another lake half mile away.

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, TheRodJerker said:

Yes sir, I will post them when I get home. I'm out buying groceries and looking at new air conditioner for my workshop right now.

I also have a creek on my property plus 1 lake 200 yards away and another lake half mile away.

 

WHOA! You're in Illinois, right? Any fish in your creek? How big is the 200-yards-away lake? And how big are your two ponds?

[pdxfisher]

So far I would say I am catching a lot of 17-19" smallmouth but I have been having a heck of a time getting 20+" fish. Numbers have been good (20 to 40 fish) most trips but it seems like this year I am catching more small fish than in the past (which is maybe why numbers are up). I have not caught a 5lb smallmouth yet this year.

 

I am guessing the small fish (~10-11") are just reflecting a really good spawn from a few years back and that age group is at that size this year (which should bode well a few years in the future).

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, pdxfisher said:

which should bode well a few years in the future

 

You're a silver linings guy!

[casts_by_fly]

22 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

"negligible" would be my summary.  As in the amount of time I've gotten to spend on the water.  The past 3 years I've been able to get out 2-3 times a week in the evenings.  New job and gym focus has dropped that to once a week max and half of the time I haven't been able to go.  I got out last sunday only to have a tournament follow me to the lake (I was unloading the kayak when the first 3 boats rolled in).  12 boats on a 120 acre lake (plus 2 other guys who weren't in the tournament) meant I got an hour before they started and then another 30 minutes fishing back to the ramp.  I wasn't putting up with that.  It's been a month since the next most recent trip.  I had a good run at the start of June, but that was all before the first day of summer so...

 

I'm going this evening and make no commitments that I will come home at any given point.

 

well it was an odd one.  I'll post more details elsewhere but I managed 4 different species including a jumbo perch that I didn't know were in the lake, landed a musky on a ned rig, got a treble hook in my shin (2 of three points), and lost a PB boatside.  Definitely didn't have any of that on my bingo card for the night.

[TheRodJerker]

On 7/22/2024 at 10:31 AM, ol'crickety said:

 

WHOA! You're in Illinois, right? Any fish in your creek? How big is the 200-yards-away lake? And how big are your two ponds?

The two lakes near me are 150 and 320 acres, both have pretty decent sized bass(they say over 55% are over 15"). The creek does have fish, mostly carp, black bass, walleye, and some brown trout.

One of our ponds have a deck and a highdive. The other one is my "personal pond" that I don't let anyone near. Both have bluegill and bigmouth bass.

Keeps saying the image is too large. Had to upload it to imgbb. Here is my private pond. Roughly half the fish in this pond are well over 15". I pulled out an 8.4 pounder just a couple of weeks ago and that was the second cast of that day.

[Swamp Girl]

7 hours ago, TheRodJerker said:

I pulled out an 8.4 pounder just a couple of weeks ago and that was the second cast of that day.

 

Incredible. You need to change your PB's weight. You have it at 3-4 lbs. You've more than doubled that! Your land and water are so beautiful. Here's a pic of the pond where I recently bought five acres. It's also loaded with bass. It's 169 acres, which is considered a pond in Maine. One morning, I caught 48 bass in 2.25 hours. A lot of them are the size below. Some are bigger like the one in my avatar. However, I've never caught anything there close to 8.4 pounds! I like my pond because of its extensive wetlands where bass hunker. It's a fun challenge casting to them and pulling them out of the weeds and wood. 

 

[The Baron]

My summer fishing has been generally very poor.  I’ve fished far too much for a handful of fish each time, with only a few over 3# and a couple over 4#.  Of about 20-25 outings, I’ve only had three days I’d call good and only one day when we weighed a decent five fish bag (17#).  Thankfully that day was shared with my son, which made it even better.  I took two weeks off in early July to fish, and when it was over I was actually glad I was going back to work and wouldn’t feel obligated to keep banging my head against a wall trying to have a good day of fishing.  I’ve found myself actually coming home angry about fishing, but I know that’s dumb and maybe I just expect too much.  I actually think I fell into the social media trap this year, seeing everyone else’s photos and thinking I’m the only one who sucks at fishing.  When in reality, some of my own posts are of me smiling with a decent fish… and no one seeing it would know that was the only good fish I caught all day.  All irrational stuff and I don’t know what’s wrong with me this year (fishing success and associated mental-health wise). 🤷🏼‍♂️
 

I was out with my son last Sunday and we caught only 2 bass (on was tiny) and a pike for almost three hours of fishing.  He complained it was so slow, I said yeah this is how it’s been.  He asked me then why do you keep going fishing?  It actually took me several seconds to answer and what came out was “because I keep hoping maybe it will be better next time”. 🤞🏻😒

[Swamp Girl]

@The Baron: When I fished Ontario with great success, I used two primary tools: logging roads and https://www.lioapplications.lrc.gov.on.ca/fishonline/Index.html?viewer=FishONLine.FishONLine&locale=en-CA

 

The link is for Ontario's Fish ON-Line, which gives the species for many lakes. It let you search by species. 

 

Using these two tools, hundred-bass days weren't unusual for me. My partner would catch half that many, but a 50-bass day is pretty good too. You'd need a four-wheel drive vehicle. I looked at the area north of Kingston and there are countless lakes and logging roads. You don't just have great fishing in Ontario: You have great adventures down those logging roads and as a citizen, you can camp for free! I had to pay per night, but it was a bargain given the quality of the fishing. The bass below didn't even require a logging road. It was off a paved road.

 

So many pose their bass with arms extended. I did just the opposite, cranking my arm  behind my head so you can see its true size rather than its arm-extended, inflated size. She was 19", but I've caught them up to 21.5", sometimes more than one in a morning or evening that size. 

 

 

20 minutes ago, The Baron said:

I actually think I fell into the social media trap this year, seeing everyone else’s photos and thinking I’m the only one who sucks at fishing.

 

You can fix this. Just be willing to bounce down a rocky and sometimes wet logging road. Read an article or three about off-road driving. Buy a come-along. A bumper-mounted winch is even better, but expensive. Wear boots to walk wet spots before you drive through them. Rock beneath a puddle is not a problem. Even an inch or two of mud atop rock is not a problem. However, thick mud is a reason you should consider turning back.

 

You'll need a canoe, but when it all comes together, it's bliss. I love fishing Maine, but Ontario's bush lakes are even better. Maine is good for an old woman, but Ontario is best for younger folks, who have the strength and flexibility for back-country adventuring. 

 

I've caught seven smallies in seven casts. That's my best, but I've caught two, there, four, five, and six in a row many times. My partner's best was five in a row.

 

The best fishing, of course, is at four in the morning or nine in the evening, but that almost requires camping on a lake. Again, camping for you Is free. 

[TheRodJerker]

5 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Incredible. You need to change your PB's weight. You have it at 3-4 lbs. You've more than doubled that! Your land and water are so beautiful. Here's a pic of the pond where I recently bought five acres. It's also loaded with bass. It's 169 acres, which is considered a pond in Maine. One morning, I caught 48 bass in 2.25 hours. A lot of them are the size below. Some are bigger like the one in my avatar. However, I've never caught anything there close to 8.4 pounds! I like my pond because of its extensive wetlands where bass hunker. It's a fun challenge casting to them and pulling them out of the weeds and wood. 

 

Because I dont count the ones from my ponds as my PB. I just dont think its fair.

[WackyWormNedRig]

15 minutes ago, TheRodJerker said:

Because I dont count the ones from my ponds as my PB. I just dont think its fair.

Even public ponds? I get private ponds and lakes but some public ponds are just as pressured as the big lakes.

[Swamp Girl]

Ah, you've got tough standards, @TheRodJerker.