….summer, that is. It seems like it came and went in a flash, and speaking of flash, that’s pretty much the main reason I’ve caught a lot of fish this summer. I’m still totally baffled by the lack of interest in the translucent baits this year. It’s the first year in 6-7 years that the emerald popper wasn’t a big hit and usually I would be hammering them on the popper by now. Another very successful translucent bait that they have been turning their noses up to is the Azuma Z-dog walking bait in the Casper Shad pattern. It’s a translucent of mine but they just don’t want it. I’m not saying that it’s the gospel and no one else is catching them on the translucent baits but I can only speak for my own experiences, good or bad.

After having an awesome week last week, I started out this week feeling like I was playing on house money. I kinda already knew the deal, it was just a matter of letting it play out again. It’s pretty much been the same with these fish for the past few weeks now, and the bluebacks controls the whole deal. It’s not totally a blueback deal right now because one of the fish I caught this week spit out an orange crawfish on the way to the boat. That tells me that either that crawfish was an oddity or there are some crawfish molting right now. If there are crawfish molting, now would be an excellent time to throw a crankbait or jig around some rock…….Maybe drag a worm?? Heck no!!! My focus has been on 100% topwater this week and it’s my big Kahoona right now, the reason I’m getting in as much fishing as I can before it all comes to a screeching halt for my knee surgery. Hopefully it will only be another month or so and I can finally get some relief.

The topwater this week has been pretty good, and timing is the main thing with the active fish right now. I’ve found that there are very few herring feeders schooling well in the early morning hours but as the sun gets high up in the sky the bluebacks rise to the surface in big numbers and the bass start the topwater routine. Every year is different and this year it’s been about the chrome and the flash.

If you read my report last week, I caught my fish on a chug bug that Jeff Nail had graciously given me right after I lost my last chug bug on a breakoff. I had tied on Jeff’s loaner and was back to catching fish. I liked the little chugger so well I just rolled with it this week and it’s all I used. It was a little slow in the morning hours but around lunchtime the bite was starting to fire up and the bass were committing to the bait. It always started the same way for me. At 9-10am the fish would roll and swirl on the little chugger, but they wouldn’t really commit till after lunch. The fish were very cautious in the mornings, but they turned into full on predators by midafternoon. The main reason for the predatory behavior was these guys below, the mature blueback herring.

The walking bait is a 4-inch Azuma z-dog, and the herring is close to 6 inches. That big ole herring could be seen floating on the surface from a long way away because it kept flashing in the sun. Those floating dead herring we’re seeing out there on the lake in the areas your fishing didn’t die of natural causes or some disease, those herring died while being terrorized by bass and stripers. The flash from those floating bluebacks has told me a lot about what the fish want, and I just rolled with the chrome chugger once again for success. I just moved around in the heat of the day, which btw was hot this week. If you could stand the heat of the day the topwater action out on the main lake was on fire. I sit in a steam sauna 4-5 times a week, so the heat isn’t something that bothers me but the key is to stay covered and cool down with icewater.

The bass were full on chasing bluebacks out on main lake humps and most of the bluebacks were in the 4–6-inch size. It was just a matter of throwing the bait around where the fish were coming up and most times they would come back up after popping the chugger a few times. It was the back-and-forth motion of the little chugger that made it flash and the flash and splash called the fish up. On an afternoon I was hitting 20+ different areas and only spending a few minutes in an area. If the fish were there and wanted to eat it would generally happen on the first few casts and most of the time the biggest in the pack ate first or was the most aggressive. After that initial catch I didn’t hang around much longer. At some places I was able to spot lock in the wind and fan cast for a few more fish but most of the time the biggest fish came up pretty quick out of the brush or in a wolfpack.

Most guys are pretty good about this, but I tend to forget from time to time, and that’s checking your line periodically. Especially when using what I call “flex baits”. If you’re using a bait like a walking, chugging or popping bait, you’re putting a lot of flex at the knot. A lot of fluorocarbon line is very rigid and after a while of flexing at the knot, the flex point becomes weak, and it is the weakest link in the chain. I found that the best knot for flex type baits is a Palomar knot hands down. Much fewer breakoffs at the knot.

I fished on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, a couple hours on Thursday and a few hours yesterday. Here’s a few memorable fish from my week with most coming off the chug bug and a couple on a Rapala Skitter Walk. Water temps are probably in the upper seventies this morning and the Corps is generating a few hours on the weekdays. The lake is almost 3 feet below full pool and dropping right now.