Optimal Weather Conditions
Bad storms and heavy rains make for tough living conditions for some humans but make good living conditions for lake dwelling smallmouth bass.
If you’re a serious angler take advantage of it because it doesn’t happen very often in late June and early July, and the good fishing conditions probably won’t last very long.
All the rain water pours into the lakes and reservoirs increases the oxygen content in the water, cools it down and puts some much needed stain into the water. Each of these three things helps the smallmouth bite. The three of them together causes it to explode. We can see that explosion right after heavy storms.
Let’s talk about the oxygen first. The more I fish, and the more time I spend on the water, the more I believe that oxygen has as much to do with fish activity as anything there is out there. It activates the fish, causes them to burn calories and makes them go on the feed. High oxygen content means good fishing. Low oxygen content means poor fishing.
That rainwater also causes a drop in the overall water temperature.
This causes a movement towards shallower water which has been helped by all the dirt that’s washing in, too. It blocks the sunlight so the fish feel more comfortable than usual. (Water is a lot clearer in the fall then in the spring.)
For us smallmouth anglers all of this put together means we can catch them a lot shallower than usual. Even in waters where there’s mostly a night bite right now there’s some pretty good early morning and late evening action. Try throwing spinnerbaits, small crankbaits and deep-diving jerkbaits. They’ll all catch their share.
Don’t limit your fishing to areas near the creek mouths, either. That’ll work in most years after a heavy summer rain, but not in this year. The rains have been so heavy that the lakes are changing everywhere. An offshore hump a 100 yards from shore might work as well, or better, than your favorite creek.
This is not a perfect world, however. You’ll still have to fight the pleasure boat traffic and all the vacationers. But that’s a small price to pay for good smallmouth bass fishing in the early summer. That’s the way I see it, anyway.
Top 10 Fishing Tips
No comments:
Post a Comment