In Fishing & Life

Trust Your Instincts

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Summer Patterns Part 2

Well as I said in my previous post summer time is pattern time. The dog days of summer are near and the fish will now be or already have made another move. For those of you who have been catching them in the 8-12 ft range you are probably scratching your heads saying now why don't they bite. The good news is they are biting you need to look a little deeper.

The dog days are when rain is at a minimum and temperatures have climbed. This means that the outflow from municipal draws for water on the reservoirs has increased and the inflow has decreased due to a lack of rain. The water temps have risen and the water movement is less. The fish you were catching have more then likely followed the thermocline. Start fishing those ledges in 15-20 ft. and see if that doesn't help a little. Good luck, tight lines and remember. Take a Kid fishing!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Summer Time Means Patterns

Well folks the heat is on and the water temps are up. This means that you can find bass at depths ranging from 1 foot to 30 foot. Wow, talk about an huge area to try and find them in but wait there is good news. No matter what you style you like to fish you can find them this time of year. Better yet this is probably the easiest time of year to "pattern fish".

As water temps climb over 80 most people, me included, will start to look for the fish at the thermoclines. This means deep water structure fishing. This is when you go from point to point or from ledge to ledge and catch fish. They are a bit harder to find but once you do the are generally concentrated. They may be holding on a brush pile, rock pile, or suspended in the top of a lay down sitting in 20 feet of water but they will be there. Once you have discovered if the are holding on wood or rocks it gets easier from there. This is when you can locate 15 to 20 spots on the lake that all fit in the type of cover and depth you originally found them at. All you have to do now is to from spot to spot. Don't get discouraged though as they move on and off these places frequently through the day and it may take several tries to catch them. Just keep going back to them and sooner or later you will be there the same time the school of fish has moved up and BAM it's on like Donkey Kong!