Bass Report 8/8

[Scott McKee]

Bruce, our buddy Teddy and I bass fished for about six hours this afternoon in UN4, UN5 and UN6.  We spent most of the trip drop shotting.  If I had to guess I'd say we landed about 40, mostly smallmouth with a few largies thrown in.  Most of the fish were smaller with a handful in the 17" to 19" range.  Bruce lost a big smallie when it ran between the bridge pilings of the south Grand Island Bridge.  The water in the east River was 76.5 to 77 degrees.  Teddy doesn't have an Ontario license yet, so we never made it to the Chip.  The floaters were ungodly yesterday, but not too bad today.  We haven't had a prolific day bass fishing yet.  Last year we were popping 70 to 80 fish a trip.  Today may have been our best outing, but we had to run around a lot to catch them.  First week I haven't popped a musky. Might have to bust out tomorrow.  Good luck everyone.

[John Miller]

hey Scott, what was the mostg rpoductive depths and structure for the bass?

[Scott McKee]

Water depth depends on the time of day and the water temperature.  Earlier this season Bruce and I did well targeting the first drop off steep weed edges.  Now that the water has warmed we do much better focusing on mid-river structure, humps or ridges, surrounded by deeper water.  I love rock piles that shoot up to 13 or so feet out of 25 feet.  It seems that bigger fish are caught in front, next to or behind these humps and the smaller fish are caught on top of the structure.  The shallow weed edges still work, but they seem to dry up when mid-morning rolls around.  We also drift shoreline drops.  I usually start in 15 and then progressively move the boat deeper until we connect fish.  I usually stop in 25’ and haven’t really caught anything in 30’.  You’ll have to drift longer and the fish generally aren’t as concentrated like they are when they are feeding around structure.  When you’re drifting really watch your electronics.  If you aren’t seeing fish or scattered bait, move. 

Here’s a few more tips:

• Vary the weight of your pencil lead depending on the wind.  You want to stay almost vertical.
• Berkley Gulp rules.  Forget tubes and never buy live bait again for bass
• Drop shotting works all day until dusk.  We haven’t caught a bass after dark drop shotting.
• If you start catching rock bass, leave the structure you’re fishing.
• We fish 12 pound fluorocarbon for the business end of our drop shots.  They don’t seem to be too line shy.
• VMC Spin Shot hooks are the cat’s behind. 
• We use 20 pound Power Pro for our main line and connect the fluorocarbon with a small swivel.
• There are always smallmouths around bridge pilings and behind buoys.

I hope this helps.  Good luck.

[John Miller]

thanks for the tips.... I'll need the luck you wished to get me a chance to take the kids out on the water.  Its not as easy as it should be.