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I can’t wait until the vegetation starts dying off. It opens up options significantly. Start with something fast to cover some water and find the fish. Also, very subtle indicators of cover become really major things. A slight variation in the shape of the bank or a tree that barely hangs over the water can be the thing that draws bass inNice work. Any fish is good fish. (Except pickerel. Those things look. . . and act. . . prehistoric. I avoided them all season this year successfully.).
Next week it'll be cooler. I suspect the lakes will give up some decent energy over the next few weeks of 60-degree nights. At some point, I'm going to learn how to late-summer/early-fall fish the lake. Once the lillies die, I'm totally lost. Too much lake to be searching in my crappy little boat. LOL
Thanks. Good advice. Sadly, the Lillies are not that thick. Like sporadic, at best, throughout 1/3 of the lake. If they were thick in areas (that aren't in 6" of water, that is), it would be PRIME Larry territory.
I'm grabbing the electronics when down this weekend. I've realized the "problem" with the lake is the immense # of herring in it. It just messes with the bass habits. Was reading an article in BASS mag earlier this year about southern herring lakes and how you have to change your focus to finding the bait almost exclusively. So I figure I'm gonna troll around and see what I can see. I also have a few spots where I wanna see if it's grassy on the bottom or just barren wasteland. Might just blow a few gallons of gas and drive around. Teh day I get my pontoon, I'm getting one of those charting-as-you-go fish finders.
I've been there with multi-hours with nada. I'm not much into it now. I'm good for 2 hours even if I'm doing well. Maybe I just need a 10 min break. But because the weather can change so fast (14' boat in a huge body of water with a 10mph wind isn't fun), I rarely consider a break at all.
I'm off Monday. Might head out there....never fished that lake.View attachment 264997 Finally got out this morning. Beautiful weather. About 6-7 inches of ice here in Georgetown.
I have a day like that every now and then.....but last year I found some honey holes. Flag after flag after flag......couple trips at one point we stopped putting tip ups back in because we we're too tired to keep up with the action. Lots of big pickerelTypical... Drag out gear, dig hole, bait trap, set trap, repeat until no more traps. Wait for no flags and get cold. Drink from a flask, repeat.
Reverse, pack it all up and go home with maybe a fish or two.
Sounds like a good day on the ice.Got out yesterday. My friend got 5 small perch. I had a couple hits but didn’t pull anything up. Guy next to us scored a nice 16” rainbow on a shiner.
Lots of big. pickerel
I just bought shiners for tomorrow.....Donny up at Merrimac bait And tackle is almost sold outdidn’t get as much snow as expected so I’m heading back out to use up bait from yesterday. Hoping it’s busy out there.
Great for him, I’ve known him for a long time. Good guy, hope he keeps getting a lot of business.I just bought shiners for tomorrow.....Donny up at Merrimac bait And tackle is almost sold out
He's been the only place for me to get live bait for 20 plus years. Great guyGreat for him, I’ve known him for a long time. Good guy, hope he keeps getting a lot of business.
That’s a lot of bait to donate, class act there helping people out.He's been the only place for me to get live bait for 20 plus years. Great guy
He's donating the bait for the country pond fish and game club ice fishing derby on Feb 3rd.