This is the second week since the ole Ranger took another hit in the battle with the spotted bass. Last week I lost my front sonar function on my Humminbird, which I suspect is the transducer mounted to the trolling motor. At a quick glance I saw some chaffing and nicks in the shielded wire going down to the transducer and I’d almost bet that is the cause of my front sonar going out. To top it off, the whole front unit died so I had to take my console unit and put it up front. Since the transducer is fried, I only have mapping up front which presents more of a challenge. 2D sonar is good to have this time of year to see underneath you, especially if you like to shop brush piles and drop shot but forward-facing sonar is great for locating fish near the boat and targeting topwater and suspended fish in 360 degrees. Since I didn’t have sonar, I had to alter my plan a bit but to be honest, I really don’t need sonar to catch fish right now. The only thing I’m running is mapping and faith.

It’s been 30+ years since I worked on the F-14 Tomcat, but I can still remember working on the complexed systems that kept the jet in the air. They say it took 72 manhours per flight hour to maintain the aircraft and I believe it. We were always fixing something, and the jets were constantly breaking. The more they flew, the more they broke. One thing we had to discern was whether the aircraft could still fly and complete a mission without a certain system if that system was inoperative. Things like air-conditioning or maybe autopilot were nice to have but not critical to the mission so if the pilots air conditioning didn’t work the jet may be “partial mission capable” but not “non-mission capable” and not quite “full mission capable”. For the past 2 weeks I felt like my sonar wasn’t really mission critical to getting the job done as long as mapping still worked, but I couldn’t do all the things I like to do with sonar, so I was “Partial Mission Capable” and running nothing but mapping.

For the past two weeks it’s been hot, but I’ve been on a pretty good topwater pattern lately. We’ve basically had the same kinda days where it was very sunny, hazy, hot and humid and the morning topwater bite was kinda slow but early in the morning there was usually some wind to work with out on the main lake, so I was chasing chop. The way it started out each morning was that the creek was slow for surfacing fish. You might see one come up here and there but there was very little chance to call a fish up. To me, the main lake has been fishing much better than the creek in the morning and early in the morning there are a lot of bass boat transients around the points and humps in the creek, so I’ve been heading out to the main lake to start my mornings. My target early in the morning is the main lake points and humps. To me, the fish are much more active chasing bluebacks early out on offshore stuff and the creek really doesn’t get cranking till after lunch when the bass start chasing bluebacks near the surface on certain points and humps. That usually works out well because I can be the first one to hit a lot of the productive humps out on the main lake before the bass boat traffic gets bad and by 11am or so, a lot of the morning creek bass boat traffic has moved on. I can work my way through the creek, and I can be back at the dock for a late lunch.

Last summer’s topwater bite is turning out to be just like this summer’s topwater bite. It’s just a matter of finding the choppy surface and matching it with the areas that produce fish. Just about every morning for the past few weeks it’s been the same weather pattern, light and meandering winds throughout the morning. There are moving veins of chop on an otherwise flat surface out on the main lake and my goal is to match the veins of chop with the productive areas, whether it’s a long point or a hump. The good Lord has blessed me with good eyesight, looking from a distance and I can usually find the areas that are productive and have a vein of chop over them by just driving up lake and looking around. If I see an area that has been producing and it has chop on it, I’m going to ease up on it from upwind and make my casts down wind into the area. I usually hit Spotlock and fan-cast the area. If there are active fish there, success usually happens quickly, and I usually don’t spend very long at one place. Within a few minutes the fish usually figure out what’s going on, and especially if you release a fish or two. After a release or two the bite quickly shuts down in most cases and I’m moving on within 5-10 minutes. The water is very clear, and the fish can see very well so usually after a catch or two a lot of fish have chased or followed your bait and seen the big scary boat, so they shut down and head for the safety of the bottom. With the extreme heat right now, moving every few minutes helps tremendously also. For that reason, I’m probably averaging 25-30 stops per 5-6 hour outing and I carry a big Igloo water jug with ice water to keep hydrated. I sit in a steam sauna for 30 minutes 3-4 times a week and the temp in the sauna tops out at 160 degrees, so the heat doesn’t really bother me as long as I stay covered and hydrated. To be honest, I think the bigger fish have felt more comfortable feeding in the hottest part of the day so if you can stand the heat the rewards have been great for the past couple weeks.

I gotta brag on the gear and bait I’ve been using for the past few weeks. I’ve been having success with some bigger fish lately and my gear has been put to the test more than once. I’m running 15lb braid and an 8lb flouro leader about 6-8 feet long. The braid to leader gives me the longest cast and when casting downwind with the braid to flouro system I can cast a mile. I had been using a Diawa Fuego spinning reel for a while and here lately I noticed the drag system on the Fuego was floating or backing off randomly during the course of a few casts. It was really turning into an issue, so I replaced the reel with a Shimano Stradic 2500 and I coupled it with my winter shaky head rod, the 7′ medium Shimano Zodias. I really like the medium rod for my little topwater bait for a few reasons, one being longer casts and another being more rod flex when fighting a fish and they make those bulldog runs that big spotted bass on Lanier are known for. The pairing of the rod and reel worked great and having a reliable drag system is a must, especially this time of year when you have a good chance of hooking a bigger topwater fish.

My bait selection has been pretty basic, I’ve been running a 95 Gunfish in Aurora Black for the past few weeks, and it has just flat out produced. I mixed in the Spro emerald colored popper early in the morning with some success, especially in a no-wind situation. I also used a Castaic CT-105 chrome topwater bait and I also threw a plain chrome 95 Gunfish with success but the noticeable size difference was in the color. The CT-105 and the plain chrome Gunfish produced numbers but the 95 Aurora Black Gunfish produced the size. It was just a matter of finding the right cadence that the fish reacted to best and once I hit that right speed and cadence the bigger fish responded well, especially around noon and into the afternoon. The Aurora Black fooled them the best into thinking the Gunfish was a fleeing blueback on the surface. The key was to keep it moving and not give the fish a chance to get a good look at it. Even if they were schooling under it, it was best not to stop it but keep going no matter what the fish did. A lot of times they would swat at it to see the reaction, but I’d just keep moving it and usually they would get frustrated and attack it.

Basically, the past two weeks have been running and gunning out on the main lake chasing chop using nothing but mapping and a topwater bait. I really haven’t checked the water temps lately, but it has to be in the mid to upper 80’s and it looks like we’re just a couple feet below full pool and dropping. I haven’t been able to access the corps release site, but I’ll bet they are moving water for a few hours during peak power usage during these hot days. I don’t expect much to change anytime soon as far as the pattern goes but I may be closer to getting forward facing sonar very soon. If that’s the case, that should make my summer more interesting. We’ll see. Here are some memorable fish from last week’s outing and this week’s outings.

This week I had a lot going on and I was very limited to my time on the water, (which is a good thing sometimes) because I need a break to rest these old bones. On Monday I got to fish for a good 5-6 hours and for a few of those hours I felt like a rockstar. Same with yesterday, different day, different bait but same result. I felt like I could catch a fish on just about every cast. For the past few weeks, I’ve been gravitating towards a topwater or bust mentality, mainly because I’ve lost a lot of confidence in the spybait for bigger fish, and I’m not fully committed to the drop shot or spoon bite just yet. Right now, it’s hot out and there hasn’t been a whole lot of wind to play with if you want the topwater to work the best so my remedy is to keep moving and keeping my stops short. It’s mainly been up to the fish as to whether I get bit or whether I move on and usually that happens rather quickly.

I’m going to get this out of the way before I get to the fishing this week and chat about the topic of Livescope and it’s place in fishing imho. I’m sure some kind of forward-facing sonar will be on the bow of my boat soon but I’m going to wait a bit longer to make sure there aren’t any long-term negative mental effects or crossed eyes from the addiction. Just joking! I had the opportunity to fish with a friend in a tournament this week and we relied heavily on Livescope for our success. It’s not the first time I’ve fished in a tournament with a friend who used Livescope, both for winter and summer fishing. I’ll never forget the first time I saw it, right after it came out when my Friend Jesse Tacoronte from the Bassmaster Elite series pulled up to my dock and let me check it out around our cove. Jesse told me it would be a gamechanger and he was right. He said that if you’re not using it on Lanier, you’re behind the power curve. Fast forward a few years and what Jesse said has come to fruition and I’ve gotta say this, “if you are in business or competing in tournaments on Lanier, you’d better have it”. That “power curve” Jesse was talking about was strictly from a business perspective and that’s the mentality of some fishermen these days. They see an opportunity that tips the scale more in the fishermen’s favor so why not capitalize on the newest technology.

I’m by no means a technology denier by any stretch of the imagination, after all, to be perfectly honest, I’ve seen technology that would make the technology of Livescope resemble the design technology of a baby’s rattle. Sitting in the cockpit of a real modern-day fighter jet running diagnostics while staring at 4 different screens to figure out a complexed weapons system problem involves technology at a whole other level. I always enjoyed learning the new technology. The whole idea of technology in a military sense is to give the edge to you verses the enemy or adversary. Same with Livescope, it gives the fishermen more of an edge.

If there is an argument to be made about Livescope, it would be a “where do you draw the line” argument. A good example of drawing the line is Major League baseball and the Houston Astros scandal back in 2019. The Astros used technology to tip the scale in their favor, but MLB stepped in and drew a line by making a new ruling to counter the use of technology to tip the scale. Something similar happened in the NFL a few years back and the NFL stepped in and drew a line. NASCAR drew a line with restrictor plates when teams were using technology to tip the scale. It’s not uncommon for the implementation of rules to throttle back technology.

Right now, the Livescope transducer is tethered to the boat or the trolling motor but in my technical mind, it doesn’t have to be. Sound travels very well under water so it’s only a few years before we could possibly have wireless systems like smaller drone or pods to go beyond what you can see on Livescope at present. How about a much stronger transducer that can reach out for hundreds of feet and see beyond the next point in high definition? How about a fish ID that can analyze this fishes size with a high degree of certainty. It’s possible, and technology will continue to tip the scale in the fishermen’s favor as long as there is money to be made, but where do you draw the line? Is it when a sport changes from a sport to a business? Recently I was reminded once again by someone half my age that “if you’re not scoping, you’re hoping”, and I once again had to chuckle at that one. It’s the absolute truth but I have all day to hope because I’m retired now, live on the lake and I have well over 50 years of fishing knowledge under my belt. I really wouldn’t call it “hope”, after all, we’re all hoping to get bit and that’s entirely up to the fish, not Livescope. I’d call it “faith”, faith in my wisdom in fishing. Speaking of definitions, my definition of “sport” is leaving a hook straightened or smashing the barbs of my hooks to give the fish more of an edge after all, to be honest, that 4-pound spots brain is the size of a chic pea and figuring out what fish want isn’t exactly conquering the splitting of atoms. Why not tip the scale more towards the fisherman, but where do you draw the line?

This week I started on Monday with a pretty good trip once I figured out what the fish wanted. When I first started out around 7:30 Monday morning I realized that my sonar on the front unit wasn’t working and I had no way of seeing my actually depth or what was beneath me, so I just relied on mapping and shading to hit the spots on my milk run. I started out with the Z dog again and I learned very quickly that the fish had grown tired of the walking action. The mornings are a little tougher for the topwater because the fish aren’t schooling well in the early morning hours like they do in the sunny afternoons. I gotta say that I spent the first 3 hours of the morning on Monday fishless. I tried all kinds of different techniques and baits but just couldn’t connect. Around 11am I tyed on the little chrome chug bug and started tossing that around areas where I could find chop over long points, humps and brush out on the main lake. I hadn’t really used the little chug bug that much in the last week or two because the Z dog had been so successful, but I’ve learned that sometimes the fish need a little coaxing like splashing or popping to bring them to the surface. The little chug bug did the trick and for a couple hours the fish were absolutely locked onto the chug bug. I could just about call my shot at the height of the bite. As the early afternoon progressed, I realized that the fish were schooling just as well with no chop as they were with chop. Sometimes they were blowing up on the chug bug while it was just floating around without any action on the bait whatsoever.

One of the biggest reasons the little chug bug is so successful in the summertime with our gin clear water is because of that little dressed hook on the back. A few years back I proved that point on an afternoon much like an afternoon this week when I literally wore the dressing off the back hook after catching a lot of fish on the bait. Once the dressing on the back hook was gone the bite percentage dropped drastically and it picked right back up when I replaced the dressed hook. I realized that the holographic mylar dressing was the key to triggering the strike. Same with the original emerald popper, once the holographic dressing was gone the bite percentage went way down. These bass we have react to flashy things due to their curious nature and catlike predatory instincts. Another reason the little chug bug works so well is because of the chrome. These fish see the chrome as a possible blueback flashing on the surface in the sunlight and they react to it. Although the bite died off around 3pm and I headed home, I had a solid 2-3 hours of success using the little chrome chug bug again. Here’s a few fish from Monday.

I didn’t fish on Tuesday but I jumped in the boat with my buddy Matt O’Connell for the Hammond’s tournament on Wednesday and we did pretty well. Matt relies on Livescope a lot this time of year and when you’re using Livescope while tournament fishing, it’s pretty interesting. It’s much faster paced than I’m used to and reading the fishes posture is very important to success. Matt could read the fish we were scoping, and he could tell with a lot of certainty as to whether we would be successful just by the way the fish were positioned. Sometimes my old crusty butt was barely out of my seat when we were moving on. I won’t get into specifics but working together with Livescope is very important in a team setting. Each person has a roll and it’s not like beating the banks and covering unproductive water. The better you work together with Livescope, the more fish you’re going to catch. Matt and I were very consistent with the 3+ pounders at just about every stop but there was just a lack of connecting with the bigger class fish. We had opportunities and we were in the right places but sometimes that 3lber jumps on just before the 4lber. Nonetheless, I learned a lot, as I always do when I fish with Matt, however old and stubborn I may be, we still came close to the win, and I had a lot of fun.

Yesterday I was back at it, hitting my summer milk run and once again I was greeted by the early morning topwater grind. One thing I learned from fishing with Matt on Wednesday was that the fish were not reacting to the little chug bug as well as they did on Monday. On Wednesday, they would follow it, but rarely would they strike out at it. It was like they were growing weary of the chug bug. Matt threw an array of baits on Wednesday but one bait he threw triggered my memory of a couple of baits I bought back in June after having a conversation with Jeff Nail and his success with the Gunfish topwater bait last year. I told him that I had great success with the Aurora Black jerkbait pattern on Lanier for the last few years so that same pattern would probably work well as a topwater pattern and it kinda looked like the chrome chug bug. I had ordered two of the 115 and two of the 95 sizes, but I’ve had so much luck with the chrome chug bug and Z dog the new Gunfish stayed on the tackle box till yesterday when I tied it on and figured out a cadence that the fish couldn’t resist. That Gunfish flat out put them in the boat at every stop from lunchtime till mid-afternoon, but the problem was that I only had one and the other was back at the house. After a good run with the bait a big striper took the Gunfish down into the timber and it was time to head back to the house anyway, so I called it a day. Here’s a few pictures from the Gunfish run.

That’s it for me this week. It’s time for boat maintenance so I’m off the water for a few days. Right now, water temps are in the low to mid 80’s and the lake is a foot and a half below full pool. The corps is generating for a few hours a day during peak usage.