Sayers 7/21/2011, and the Dog Days

Fishing during the summer time is generally not something most people look forward to. In Central PA, we are currently in the midst of a record heat wave, so we are no exception. You can do all kinds of research, and find many articles about summer bass fishing, which often relate lockjaw bass to those of use who stay inside in the air conditioning, watching baseball and chugging Country Time lemonade all summer. However, they leave out one big detail. A human's life consists of worrying about food, clothing, shelter, transportation, money, jobs, and the like. Bass, or any fish, essentially have three main worries: eat, don't get eaten, and reproduce.

With that said, bass don't like the heat any more than humans do. Bass will often travel to the deep "flats" during the heat of the day, and eat very little. They will feed more as the water cools when the sun goes down. And the morning serves as one last opportunity to eat as much as possible, before the heat of the day sets in. Think about that for a second. It is natural instinct to want to wait until the last minute to do something. So, bass will generally eat consistently during the night, and will scarf as much as possible in the morning, in prepartion for the upcoming hot day. As a result, the early morning, from sunrise to about 11 AM, is one of the best times to fish during the summer.

Now for the good stuff. I woke up around 5:30, and headed out to my favorite summer spot at Sayer's Dam, the Hunter's Run roadbed. The water was incredibly smooth and calm, and I headed out, admiring the scenery. Now, I had three reels, one with 4 pound mono line, one with 10 pound mono line, and one with 20 pound braided line. While the braided was the strongest, it was also very visible, and I thought, with the bass already finnicky, that may spook them. So, I chose the mono line, and rigged up.

As I stated before, I absolutely love fishing plastics, as they mimic natural forage, along with natural motion. In addtion, I like to thoroughly saturate then with Gulp scent, sometimes even "marinating" the lure in it overnight. This serves two purposes. First, bass have a nose much like a dog's, that can detect scents from far away. Second, the scent helps offset any foreign scents you may get on the bait, such as gasoline, sunscreen, sweat, etc.

I put a Berkley Powerminnow on one rod, and began casting, The action came quickly, and within the first half hour, I pulled out two decent sized smallmouth. I was happy, but knowing big fish feed in the morning, I wanted more size. I was not to be disappointed.

Now, there is a convention that bigger baits catch bigger fish, and this is a logical idea. So, I switched to a jerk shad, which was about 5 inches in length, and I rigged it weedless. I wanted to work the steep drop off on the side, which goes into about 20 feet of water, and contains some huge fish. I did this, working the bait very slowly. Sure enough, the third cast, I felt resistance on the end of my line. This was going to be a "I thought I was stuck" fish. However, as fishermen, if you are able to continue reeling and pulling up, you are to do so, regardless of what scary creature may be on the other end of your line. I did this, and was in a fight with something that made my pole double over. I realized it was a giant bass, when my line rose to the surface, and the large, green monster jumped out of the water and flipped in the air. The fight lasted awhile, and I wanted to tire him out, yet play him quickly so he wouldn't be too stressed. I finaly pulled it up, and boated him before he could even think about throwing the hook. After measurements, I learned the bass was over four pounds, and nearly 19 inches in length. Even his mouth was the width of a pickle jar. I threw him back, telling him to bite again at tournament time.

I was pumped that I had a strategy that was working, and I hooked several nice fish within the next few hours. Unfortunately I missed alot of them. One put up an amazing fight, before my line looped, and I got snapped off. Another one hit, similar to the last one, except he got away.

The third lure I fished was the Senko worm. I had some decent luck with this, pulling up a nice 15 inch, 1.5 pound smallmouth. While not quite as big as the largemouth, it was still a solid, tournament quality keeper.

Around 11:30, the heat really started to set in, and my efforts were beginning to produce diminishing returns, so I decided to quit for the day. I will definately be hitting this early in the morning soon again.

Until then, God Bless, Tight Lines, oh and beat the heat and drink plenty of fluids!

JP

Completely Changed

I used to live by the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." In other words, if achieving the desired results, don't change your ways. However, after today, I am seriously considering how far that is from the truth.
 I decided to fish the Aitch section of Raystown Lake. Raystown is a very popular lake, rumored to be around 140 feet deep in some areas. I have caught some nice fish out of here, but since I have only been fishing it seriously for a few years, I have much to learn. I packed a Shakespeare Tiger Casting Rod, which had a little more length and backbone than my usual rods. While I generally fish for the black bass species (smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass),  I would not at all be against hooking a 20+ pound striped bass or lake trout, that Raystown is known for. So, I decided to use the Shakespeare to troll the deeper waters.

On a side note, for those of you who are following the news around Central PA, the body of a missing Michigan student was recently found at Raystown. You can read about it here: http://wearecentralpa.com/wtaj-news-fulltext/?nxd_id=289927
That is a very sad story, and probably should have had a moment of silence before starting to fish this morning.

I woke up around 5:30 in the morning, mixed a large jug of iced tea, and made the 50 minute trek to the lake. I rarely had the motivation to get out of bed early unless I absoultely had to, so heading out early in the morning was very new to me. I arrived, and noticed a few other boat trailers parked, and a father-son duo in a bass boat throwing buzzbaits towards some cover near the shoreline.

I launched, and headed straight for my favorite spot, the point directly across from the launch ramp. I rigged the trolling rod with a Berkley Gulp jerk shad, and threw it into deeper water to troll, whil I casted on another rod with the same bait. Fished this for the first hour, and missed a few, but didn't land any.  I decided to move to a spot known as "the 100 foot wall" which is a cliff that goes down into the water, and quickly drops off. It is lined with submerged vegetation. While fishing this, I managed to catch one smallmouth, about 9 inches, and one decent bluegill. I was happy to finally get into some fish, but I was hoping for more size. I hooked into something nice on the trolling rod, but nearly had a heart attack after I felt the line go limp.

After noticing that some fish were jumping in the weedy areas, I decided to throw some topwaters, and see if I couldn't get a big blow up. I spent the next hour tossing a Zara Spook and a Zoom Horny Toad (hmm I wonder how many sexual harassment lawsuits the guy who thought of that had to deal with) through the weedbeds. Surprisingly, nothing touched these, but I had to admit, I was running out of ideas. I noticed one last cove, which was mostly open water, but turned to weeds in the far back. Nothing was touching my topwaters, so I switched back to the jerk shad, since there were some baitfish dimpling on the surface. When I finally had a cast that didnt end in a ball of weeds, I felt movement on the end of my line, and pulled up a decent sized largemouth, about 12-13 inches. Not quite a keeper, but I was happy to see the fish were getting a little bigger. Also, I heard several loud splashes around me, and when I turned, I saw a small wake in about five feet of water, right next to a downed tree. I threw my lure into it, and sure enough, my line went out quickly, indicating that something had nibbled. It did this a second time, and I felt resistance. Set the hook, and began to reel in, although I had a ton of weeds on my line. However, most of them shook off, and I felt I was pulling something up. After seeing a silver-greenish flash in the water, I knew I had a bass on the line. Several minutes into the fight, the bass tried to make a break for the bottom, but I pulled it back up.
The fish jumped out of the water a few times, I could tell it was a giant, and before he could throw the hook, I had it in the boat..

The fish was nearly 18 inches long, and over three pounds, my largest bass of the summer. I unhooked him, got the measurements, took some photos, thanked him for biting, and sent him on his way. Unfortunately, I wanted to fish more, but I had prior commitments to pressure wash the deck at my parent's house. I loaded the boat, packed the truck, and headed home, stopping for a sub and a smoothie at Sheetz.

So, back to the initial question, what did I learn from all this? Well, I learned that sometimes, when things aren't going your way, instead of changing your strategy, you should instead stop, relax, and use your usual strategy, except better. 90% of the time, I fish plastics, with some scent. When these did not produce the desired results, I went crazy, and constantly changed my approach, with no results to show. Finally, I went back to the plastic jerk shad, and caught the nice bass. It was alot of work, but thats where the fun of bass fishing comes, when you work hard for the bass, and finally land him.

I have a busy next few days set up, which include heading to Jersey this weekend, and possibly doing some surf fishing.  I will let you know how it goes. God Bless, and Tight Lines!!!

JP

Broken Truck, Stop Complaining, and Still Searching for That One

Well the past few days have been good in terms of numbers. In other words caught a lot of fish, even though there was not much size there.

Thursday evening, headed up to Sayers dam again. On a berkley gulp minnow and a senko, caught around 10 bass, unfortunately nothing broke the 13 inch barrier. However, I did catch two 12 inchers on my bluegill crank bait. I know there are some huge ones in there, I just have to find them.

Friday, took the day off, and had planned to head out to the Snyder's Run section of Lake Raystown early in the morning. Due to some issues, primarily stemming from finding the muffler on my truck to be cracked , I did not get out until around noon, right during the "dog" portion of the day. I worked white jigs and jerkshads around some weedbeds and drop offs, and ended up catching probably around 30 small blue gill, and two bass, each about 10 inches long. Not my best, but satisfactory for fishing in the heat of the day. Definately need to get up there in the morning one of these days.

Planning to head somewhere tonight for a little night fishing, looking forward to it.

Now for a few other things I figured I'd discuss. I opened up the shed the other day, and saw my ice fishing gear sitting in there. That got me thinking about something ironic. Up here in PA, our winter basically lasted into mid April this year (I've heard unconfirmed reports of some people ice fishing as late as April 10). Anyway, I've heard alot of people, myself included, now complaining about how hot and muggy it is. Just think back a few months ago, when, after being nagged by your wife, girlfriend, or mother, you were standing in the driveway shoveling in sub-zero weather, wishing for weather like this. We just can't make up our minds, can we??

Oh, and so far this season, I really have yet to catch that one, special fish you really have to work hard for. I've caught many nice ones, but no true bucketmouths, the ones that make all your others look like baitfish. I just get this feeling that it will require a little deviation from my usual techniques, so it is a challenge to find out what exactly these giants want.

Will update again soon. Tight lines, and God Bless!!

http://maine.craigslist.org/spo/2487982775.html

That right there is an ad for "stripper poles." It's a good thing I'm not a striped bass fisherman.

Thanks to myfishfinder.com buddies for showing me that one.

Coming Through In the Clutch

Well, yet again, headed out to Sayers to fish the Hunter's Run roadbed this evening. I guess I have settled into a routine of the Keep It Super Simple phenomenon

Anyway, arrived, and there was a very strong wind blowing towards the mountain side. The action started slow, as I stuck with the same duo as the other night, the watermelon Senko worm, and the Powerminnow jig. During the first half hour, managed nothing but a small crappie. Then, finally, I was slowly reeling my jig in along the bottom, felt some resistance, until I noticed my line going straight out. After setting the hook, I was trapped in a fight that lasted several minutes, and ended up with me boating a big, green, 17 inch, two and a half pound smallmouth.

Over the course of the next hour or so, I almost had a heart attack after missing several nice fish, and only managing a few dink largemouth. My streak of bad luck broke, when I hooked into a nice 15 inch largemouth, on the good ole' trust Senko worm. A few casts later, I had another one of the same size inhale the jig.

I feel as though I have found a simple, solve all technique for fishing this section: set up on the side of the road opposite the wind, and gradually drift the entire length.

I also have a hypothesis I would like to test. Some say that the giant (I mean bucketmouth) bass come out at night, although I have yet to catch any of these when the sun goes down. However, I notice that there are many schools of small bluegill rising at night. I am thinking about sticking around at night, and throwing my bluegill colored crankbait, and see if I can't fool a fat ass bass..

Will let you all how it goes. Until then, tight lines and God bless!!

- JP

 

First Post

Well, I finally caved into the blogging world, and decided this would be an excellent way to document my fishing adventures.
Without further ado, fished Sayer's Dam (Bald Eagle State Park) in Howard, PA yesterday evening. It's a lake I've been fishing for over 20 years, dating back to when my dad and I would fish it from shore, and I would be excited to catch a tiny bluegill on my Power Rangers fishing rod. Now, as a competitive angler who loved nothing more than to feel a living bowling ball on the other end of my line, I was eager to get the lines and boat into the water.

 The water was slightly stained, in its usual greenish-bluish-brownish hue. I headed over to the Hunter's Run Cove in order to drift over the roadbed there. This roadbed goes down into a deep drop off, providing bass with the structure they crave, as well as the deep water to relieve some of that stress they develop in the summer time. In fact,  during the "dog days" of Summer, I fish this area about 80% of the time.

It didn't take too long for the action to start. I decided to throw a watermelon colored four inch Senko worm, Texas rigged on a Gamakatsu EWG 1/0 worm hook, in order to get the natural, dying baitfish, motion. My favorite technique is to let this sink to the bottom, then give it a firm jig, and let it fall again. A few casts in, and I felt resistance on the other end of my line. After a brief fight, I pulled up a decent footlong smallmouth. Not bad, but I knew there were larger ones down there. About 10 minutes later, I had one wack it on the drop, this time a largemouth, about the same size. Very next cast, I felt something heavy on the end of my line, that actually was able to pull the tip of my pole into the water. It made a few last ditch attempts to jump and throw the hook. but I boated it before it could get away. It was the largest fish of the day, a 15 inch largemouth. A few minutes later, I missed a nice one that was a heavy fighter.

I was pretty happy with four bass in the first hour, but things slowed down. The sky became slightly cloudy, and the wind picked up, sending large, whitecap waves to shore, and also many boaters into the cove to wait it out. Not only could I not catch any fish, I could barely drift right. So, seeing some sun on the far side of the clouds, I decided to relax a little until things calmed down.

When the wind died a bit, I decided to resume fishing. Things were sluggish at first, probably because the fish were weary of a fisherman in the area. I rigged up my other rod with a Powerminnow on a 1/32 ounce jighead, and decided to troll with it. I caught several crappie doing this, nothing of any size.

The bass picked up a bit as they moved a little shallower when the sun went down. I caught one small largemouth on the Senko, and almost immediately after releasing him, I noticed my trolling rod was bending and shaking, as if to scream "JP you damn moron, wake up and set the hook!!" Sure enough, there was a 15 inch smallmouth on it, that practically inhaled the jig.

I took a drift near the shallow shorelines, and caught one more smallmouth and a sunfish, before calling it a day.

I hope to get out and fish it again for a bit tonight. This summer has provided some of the best fishing of my life, and I would love for it to continue.

Will update again soon. Until then, God bless, and tight lines!!

-JP