It’s summertime and there’s 3 baits that I prefer every summer so this week I’ve been making the transition to less topwater with more spybait and more drop shot. Lately I’ve noticed that the topwater percentages are dropping but the spybait percentages are going up so by this weeks end I’ve shifted some of my focus from topwater to spybait with some drop shot sprinkled in. I’ve been able to figure out a bit of a pattern and it’s pretty much the typical summer stuff and that probably won’t change much for a while. This week the topwater was good, especially early in the morning and especially if there was wind. The problem was that there wasn’t always wind so I had to switch to other tactics besides the topwater to get them bites.
Basically I spent the bulk of my time out on the main lake checking humps and points. The way I approached an area was with the Ima Skimmer Grande or the Emerald popper to test the topwater bite, especially if there is brush on the point or hump. Typically, if a fish is going to hit the topwater they do it rather quickly and then the topwater shuts down if I catch a fish. Sometimes I can milk out the topwater bite if the wind is blowing and if there is a chop on the surface I utilize my spot lock on the Minn Kota to hold the boat up wind of the target area so I can fan cast the topwater.
My second plan of attack is the Duo Realis G-fix 80 spybait, especially during the afternoon, evening, or when the surface was flat. It’s a slower process but during the summer on Lanier it’s necessary so I make a dozen or so casts around the brush on the point or hump. With the spybait, I make a very long cast, I real in all the slack so the bait won’t run over itself and I count it down to 10 seconds followed by a slow steady retrieve. Once you get the retrieve right you’ll know it because the fish really react to it with the right retrieve. Once I’ve made a lot of casts with the spybait, I move into the brush and start dropping the drop shot stuff. Dropping right into the brush pile with Lanier Baits Blue Lily worm is about all I’ve been dropping with this week and I’ve been getting some very nice fish. I have the drop shot at the ready and I’ll utilize it from now till fall. That’s the pattern I’ve been on this week and probably more of it for the next few weeks to come. Here’s a couple of useful videos for the spybait and drop shot tactics.
The setup I’m using on all 3 rods are 7′ and 7′ 3″ MH rods with Penn Fierce reels loaded with 8lb Tatsu line.
The lake is a little above full pool and the lake temps are in the mid to upper 80’s. Here’s a video of the baits I used this week and some pictures of my memorable fish this week.
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