I think I’ve gotten out every day this week, at least for a few hours each day and it was a polar opposite of the week before. Last week we were enjoying the lower temps and some overcast days with wind to help the bite and this week we were greeted by sweltering heat, beating sun and glassed over surfaces on the lake. The topwater bite is good if you’re in the right place at the right time but it’s been kinda hard for me to call them up. A few weeks back, I wrote about the difference between the fish feeding up and the fish pushing bait up. This week was another week where the fish are pushing bait to the surface and quickly retreating back down to the depths. Not uncommon for our lake, especially in the summer months when the thermocline is setting up. There isn’t a lot of oxygen at the surface right now so when the fish does surface, he’s taking care of business quickly and is generally focused on one bait. If I was lucky enough, I could make a cast to the fish while he’s still up or within a few seconds of the fish going back down and connect.

It’s hard to fish topwater with any kind of hope of success when the fish just aren’t coming up when you call them so the next best thing for me this week was the spybait. The spybait bite was good this week and it was a good way to fill my time while waiting on surfacing fish. It was very important that I had my topwater bait handy and ready to cast if a fish or a small wolfpack of bass came up within casting distance. That’s how I caught the majority of my topwater fish this week including the big striper pictured above when a massive school of stripers and bass started blowing up all around me at 2:30 in the afternoon, in the sweltering heat on a main lake hump. I gotta brag on my little topwater bait this week and once again the little Azuma Z dog got it done for about 90% of my topwater needs this week. In the movie Titanic, one of my favorite villain actors, Billy Zane said, “I believe in making my own luck” and with the Z dog I had to make my own luck to call them up this week. Back in Oct. of 21 I wrote a report called “Shake and Bake in the Chop” and I explained the technique I used to make the Z dog work for me in tough times for topwater bites. I explained that instead of a traditional “walk the dog” fashion I increased the speed of the bait to a quick skipping across the surface and just slowing it briefly. The reason being that I didn’t want to give the fish a good look at the bait, and I wanted to make it look like a fleeing bait in distress much like the bluebacks I see every day skipping across the surface while being chased down by a bass. The predatory mentality of a bass, however small, reminds me of the predatory mentality of a cat. The bass are also very competitive and if they see a bait being chased down or a quick moving bait, they are drawn to it. All I had to do was speed up the cadence with the Z dog, so it turned into a reaction strike. If you’re not familiar with the Z dog Here’s a picture of the Z dog I’ve been using for a few years now and it continues to put them in the boat.

About the only other topwater baits I used with success this week was the little chrome chug bug, a chrome Livingston walking bait and a chrome Whopper Plopper. I used the chrome Whopper Plopper with some success very early in the morning but any other time I tried it, it didn’t work for me this week.

Spybaiting was good but the fish were a bit more finicky to the spybait this week. I had to change colors mid-week but I was still able to do well. I will say this about the importance of line size and even line type. I bought a spool of 6lb Inviz x and I spooled both of my spybait rods with it and I was rocking along just fine but experiencing some break-off here and there. Probably more break-offs than I’d like since the baits are 13 bucks a pop so I decided to up the line size to 8lb Inviz x since that’s what I’ve been using lately for my topwater leader. I used the 8lb Inviz x Wednesday afternoon and yesterday morning and the whole time I didn’t get one fish to even sniff the spybait with the heavier line on it. It just didn’t work at all for me, and I was losing 20 feet in distance on every cast. Distance is very important when spybaiting. I dug around my shop and found some Tatsu 6lb and spooled it up at lunch yesterday and within five minutes of going back out to try the Tatsu I was back in business with the spybait. Moral of the story is that I highly recommend the 6lb or even 8lb Tatsu for the best success with the little G-fix 80 spybaits. Technique is everything with spybaiting and there are all kinds of different spybaits out there now. I’ve used every size of the Duo Realis spybaits and I’ve caught fish on every size spybait by Duo Realis. They are a lot of fun during the summer months and if the fish aren’t coming up the spybait and drop shot combo is a great duo. I posted this a while back in a report, but I thought I’d put it out here again to explain the spybait technique in a little more detail. Here’s a video I made of the spybait breakdown.

Here’s another good spybait video with some cast to catch and technique stuff.

I haven’t broken out the drop shot rig yet but it’s coming very soon. I’ve seen all kinds of fish hanging out in and around brush for the past few weeks and if the topwater bite kinda fizzles this summer there’s always the spybait and drop shot bite to pass the time. A few things to keep in mind this summer out in the heat is to stay covered, stay hydrated and keep moving. I don’t spend very long in one spot in the heat of the summer, and I’ve always got plenty of water. I highly recommend a good buff and it never hurts to wet it every so often to help keep you cool.

Before I forget, I wanted to give an update on Chigger and our little Wren in the fern, Caroline. Chigger is plugging along and he’s slowly getting it together. We heard him barking for the first time in weeks today and he seems to get a little more excited when we come back from being gone. His eyesight is getting bad, but he can still see squirrels in the trees and stray cats in the driveway, so he isn’t exactly blind. He’s gotten back to eating a little more every day and it looks like his back legs are working better. We’re just taking it day by day with Chigger but he seems to have a little more pep in his step this week. On another note, our little Wren momma Caroline, who lives at the front door added another egg to her clutch for a total of 5. I’ve been leaving her alone with her eggs but hopefully I’ll get a picture of some little Wren chicks soon. I finally was able to snap a quick pic of Caroline this week.

Back to the fishing, I had it narrowed down to just 2 baits this week with a couple others that get honorable mention. First off, when it came to topwater it was lights out Z dog time with a little shake and bake action on the Z dog, a close second was the Duo Realis G-fix spybait in American shad. The two are pictured below. Thos two baits accounted for about 95% of my fish with the chrome chug bug, a chrome Livingston walking bait and a chrome whopper plopper getting honorable mention.

The corps is only generating an hour or two a day right now and the lake is about a foot and a half below full pool. Water temps are hovering around 80 degrees. Here’s a few of the memorable fish from my week.