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.