River Smallies……Dogdays……Bummer……

[Spankey]

Like many of you guys I’m in that Dogdays part of summer. No rain that amounted to anything for weeks, none in the immediate future. A true drought. Slow bite. Dinks and runts on flats and creek mouths. Dinks and runts tight to the bank. My crankbait bite has been down to nothing. Pop-R’s, tubes, grubs and finesse size worms are getting some small fish. 
Gonna change up tactics a bit my next time out. Fish only the deepest holes and drop off on the river with pig and jig and try to suspend some jerkbaits. Varying the depth. Have nothing to loose in my quest for a nice one. 
I’m in that rut where crankbaits are getting bit by channel cats. Fun yes but you’re thinking it’s a nice smallie. 
Don’t know how much control I have of the situation. None I guess. Have to break this cycle with a respectable fish. 

[gim]

We've all experienced that at some point.  Nothing but relentless heat and drought and high pressure for days, weeks, or months on end depending where you are.

 

I keep track of the forcecast and look for that system of incoming low pressure.  It has to come at some point.  When it does, there will usually be a very aggressive bite window prior to arrival.

 

Until then, keep doggin' it.

[Susky River Rat]

Typical for this time of year. I don’t really like it but I need to get better at it. Not that there isn’t big fish to be had they just aren’t as concentrated as in the fall winter and spring. 

[Craig P]

I feel your pain!  I am in SE Pa too and looking for flows.  1” of rain is suppose to come Tuesday / Wednesday.  Should be enough to bump up my favorite Skook spot for a day or two so I’ll have to seize that.  I have been resorting to hitting the banks of my local little reservoir for some LMs but nothing of size and I much prefer fishing from my boat.

[HawkeyeSmallie]

On 7/29/2024 at 5:24 PM, Susky River Rat said:

Typical for this time of year. I don’t really like it but I need to get better at it. Not that there isn’t big fish to be had they just aren’t as concentrated as in the fall winter and spring. 

 

Low level river fishing makes the fish more concentrated.

 

To me it's the exact opposite.

 

Know the holes find the fish.

[Susky River Rat]

@HawkeyeSmallie in our small creeks I agree with you. The susky I do not. 

[bowhunter63]

Suffering with ya all. But a weightless fluke or a slow moving Rage Bug seems to get hit 

[Spankey]

1 hour ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

 

Low level river fishing makes the fish more concentrated.

 

To me it's the exact opposite.

 

Know the holes find the fish.

That’s my plan for right now. Fishing the deepest hole. 

[Rockhopper]

I switch gears this time of year and fly fish for trout.  They are always hungry.

[Scott F]

This time of year, the biggest fish are more difficult to catch, but for me, smallies are easy to find. While floating downstream, I look for deeper spots near current, breaklines, eddies, downed trees, shade lines and weeds. 
But current is most important. Fast water, riffles and rapids add much needed oxygen to warm water. Concentrate your time on the spots I listed above especially if they are near fast water.

[TnRiver46]

Dogs days and drought are the absolute best river SMB conditions where I’m at. The shallower the better and fish topwater. Tons of fun. Unfortunately our mini drought ended when I was up north and now it’s back to normal jungle conditions 

[Spankey]

We are getting some long overdue deserved rain now. But it has brought along some flooding with it. Supposedly to get hammered tomorrow than clear out. The river is a bit angry right now but will calm down. I’m looking forward to getting back on. I believe it will get a bit better (some bigger fish), has a history of doing that for me. 
Hope to hit the lake Sunday or Monday. That’s overdue for some new water also. I seem to do better there with a higher water lever and a heavier stain to it. 
 

[Susky River Rat]

@Spankey I can’t wait for the susky to be 8-10ft on the gauge 

[basscatcher8]

This is the time of year our river gets low and lazy as well and the smallies spread out. Illinois river is a bit bigger than what some of you are fishing though. That's when I go to the unconventional stuff to locate them. I pull crankbaits on leadcore down stream at 3.5 mph. You'll hit them eventually. I normally have the spinning rods ready so that when I do hit one. I'll go back up stream and drift a tube through there and normally pickup a couple more.

[Glenn]

 

 

[Bullett]

Where I live hear in the Texas Panhandle we have had multiple days of record setting heat, well above triple digit heat for the last 6 days. Maybe it will end next week according to the weatherman but then its still going to be in the high 90`s. It's been to hot to fish or do anything unless it gets done in the morning or late in the evening when it starts to cool off. My home lake is 65 miles from my house, so fishing in the morning until around dinner is possible but then it gets hot so you have to get off the water. If you came just for the day you would have to find a place to hang out until it cooled off. I never did like to fish at night but that might be something to consider. On the news at dinner time today the weather showed it to be 110 degrees on my home lake today.

[dytmook]

Big wade on Sunday. Caught a good number of fish. no real size though. Slowed down big time once the sun got high. Still was fun. 

[TOXIC]

I’ve got some friends up on the St Lawrence river that would disagree with it being slow.  I know because they’re sending me pictures.!😂😜