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5/22/09 Well, I guess summer is officially here. Water levels were holding at about 7 foot low a couple of months ago. But with all the rain, Big Sam is almost back to pool level and the bass have spawned out and are doing their typical summer deal. Shallow on the topwaters early and late, and holding on outside grasslines and brushpiles during the heat of the day. First for the shallow bite. When the water came up, it flooded a lot of bank grass and pepper grass that was holding along the bank line. This grass is now in about 4-6 feet. This is perfect depth for fishing topwaters. Although, the Yellow Magic is my favorite topwater, and I’ll never hit the lake in the summer without it tied on, fishing the heavy grass with an open hook bait can be tough. So if I can’t get em to hit the Yellow Magic on the edges, I pick up a weedless topwater such as a Big Bite Baits Top Toad. The toads are a blast to fish, but just a few helpful hints here. Use heavy line, preferably Braid or Flourocarbon due to their lack of stretch. A heavy, long rod is must as well. I have a lot of guys give up on the surface toads because they miss so many fish. As hard as it may be, don’t swing when you see them blow up on it. Just drop your rod tip and wait. The bass will usually hit it from behind, push slack, and you won’t know if they’ve got it till they swim off. If they miss it, letting the bait fall on a slack line will get you a lot of follow up bites as it sinks into the grass. In either case, when you do feel the weight, hammer em hard and crank em out of the veggies. Once the sun gets up it’s time to move to offshore hydrilla lines. If it’s overcast, try the inside lines in about 5-8 feet. Short, light Carolina rigs with a 4 or 6 inch Finesse Worm, Kriet Kreature, or 6 inch Pro Lizard will all get your string stretched. I go with variations of watermelon or green pumpkin when they are in this shallow pattern. If that doesn’t work, and especially if the sun is bright, move on out to the outside grassline in 12- 15 feet. Out on the outside grass lines I seem to have better luck with darker colors. Redbug, Junebug, Back Neon, and Black/Blue work well. As far as rigs, a 6 or 10 inch Texas rigged Kriet Tail worm is hard to beat. Jigs follow as a close second, a Carolina rigs will work well too. I’ve been playing with the dropshot and shakey head a lot the past 2 years and they will flat put fish in the boat. Granted, you might catch a bunch of Spotted bass and small Largemouths, but the big girls will bite them as well. I usually use the Kriet Squirrel Tail worm or the 6 inch Finesse Worm on my shaky heads and drop shots. Both of these lures are made by Big Bite Baits and they come in a large selection of colors. As most know, my bread and butter in the summer is brushpile crappie. We seem to have had a late crappie spawn this year as a lot of the fish my clients are cleaning still have eggs in them as I write this. Usually by late May, the spawning bite over the hydrilla is a memory and the big crappie will be piled up on the deeper drops. This is still the case, but instead of 75-100 keeper fish outings, were boxing 40-70 on a 5 hour trip. I think that June and July are gonna be off the hook on the brush. Live shiners are the best bet for a meat haul but a 16th ounce jighead with a plastic curl tail will work too. For jig trailers in clear water I like natural colors, Pearl glimmer, Arkansas shiner, or salt and pepper. In dingier water, I’ll switch to something a little louder like Pink/White, Chartreuse/White or pink/chartreuse. I have about 10 days left available on the pontoon boat for July and quite a few in August and Sept. I am running a new pontoon this year with more room and it is laid out for specifically for fishing. If you wanna book a trip or just talk fishing, gimme a shout at 409-FRY-FISH, 409-379-3474. Set the Hook Hard.
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