Bassin' Mich Lakes mid summer

[Fatherof3]

As you all know, it sure gets tough this time of year on inland lakes. High fishing and high boating pressure, plus lots of easy forage. I've read all the articles about them heading deep. Other articles say they just want food and cover, and can still be shallow and always check there first. All you catch is pee-wees up shallow in July it seems. However I don't think the water is really hot enough to drive them down yet. Problem is my deep weedline fishing has been a bust. I've gotten a few on Carolina rigging, but not enough to have confidence. Most lakes I'm on have thick weed lines on the drop-offs, and flats with that milfoilish emergent weed thats dang near impenetrable. Whats are good ways to get these bass that are buried in the weeds or weedlines. Texas rigs worms foul pretty quick. You either get them on the fall or you get fouled. Cranks foul easy too. Spinnerbaits seem ideal, but I'll be honest, I just don't catch much on them. Fishing times are 6 - 10pm.

[TrailFndr]

SLOW Down your spinnerbait. Let it just nick the top of the milfoil, as slow as you can go and still keep it moving. Try adding a trailer to it, either a grubtail or even a worm, or small tube jif body.

Use a larger Colorado type blade, ( the ROUND one) and let it fall till it hits the weeds, and then slowly retrieve it allong the bottom, this worked onders for me on Houghton 2 weeks ago.

Also try a Lizard. Rubber Lizard with a small splitshot or even no sinker if possible. you can run this slowly over the weeds and Bass will attack it often.

Good luck

[jpollman]

If you're fishing 6-10 p.m. , that's PRIME TIME for me !

Actually I find that for me the "prime time" starts about 7:30 or so. If you've got a lot of heavy weeds, go TOPWATER ! Get yourself a Scum Frog and have at it. It's a BLAST. Do a search on this site for "scum frog", you'll turn up a few posts I've made about them. It'll describe how to fish them. I fish a small local lake near me that is CHOKED with weeds most of the time. That Scum Frog does the trick. They're almost completely weedless too. You can throw it into the heaviest "slop" and it'll pull right through. You just need to twitch it through and you'll almost surely entice a strike if there's a Bass nearby.

Good luck.

[jstfish48162]

the top-water would be my first choice....along the weed edge, over the clear spots. you can throw a popper, spook type bait or even a buzzbait. the scum frog is unbeatable right in the thick stuff.

if you are wanting to throw texas rigged worms, give this a try.....get yourself a pack of green pumpkin/black flake 5" senkos, made by yamamoto.

rig them texas style, NO WEIGHT, cast it to your spot, let it sink to the bottom (if it makes it that far), let it sit in one spot for at least 30 - 45 seconds. if nothing takes it, work it a little ways like a worm. when the bait hits the water, immediately start watching your line......the fish love these baits, and will go out of their way to get to them. when a fish picks this bait up, it will take off with it, without hesitation, so be on your toes.

after a few fish on this bait, YOU WILL NOT GO BASS FISHING WITHOUT IT....trust me. this is the hottest bait going right now.....and for good reason....it works.

[wickedcarpenter]

I'd have to agree the Senco's are the ticket no matter what you're fishing in. i fish a clear lake and use the wartermellon color(get a 100 pack their that good)Seth at south street tackel in Belleville sells them for around $38.Cabelas sells a weedless spoon with a crazy jig body on it that works great. it will go through anything and at any depth the action is killer!

[jigworm]

I fish the norning hours, usually from 6 am til about 10 or 11. I fish a deep a clear lake with some weeds on the drop. I do well with a pop-r or a devel-horse early in the am on the flats and then have to switch to a small jigworm about 8am. I SLOW troll the 4" worm on a 1/4 oz head right at the base of the drop in about 17-23' of water and it works great. I've tried casting in the same area's and it doesn't seem to work as well. Have even picked up some nice pike doing this. I use a good straight tailed tailed worm like the Mann's Draggin Finess on a round jig head. I don't kow why they like it , but they do!

[subocto]

Ive been fishing around 7-9pm almost every night lately, and I start out with rubber worms, texas riged with a bullet weight, then, if I get nothing, which usually doesnt happen, ill take off the weight and work it slower along the drop off, right in the weeds, and out away from the weeds along the dropoff. Then if I still get nothing ill start trying crankbaits run parallel to shore, and then if im still out there by the time it gets dark ill try some topwater. but usually if I havent gotten anything by dark, im pretty frustrated and give up. I dont get much on topwater in my lake, the gills nip at it, but ive only had a few bass hit on the top. :)

[jaid]

I pretty much agree with everyone so far. Any soft plastics texas or carolina rigged should work fine. I like to use larger grubs (5" Kalins Salty Grubs seem to work well), crayfish, or small lizards. For worms, I like the finesse style worms(like 6" slug-o's), and the Mann's Augertail(8"). I prefer to use them to fish the pockets in the weeds as opposed to right in the middle of the weeds. If the weeds are submerged and there is a couple feet of water on top of them, a spinner bait worked slowly right over the top of them works well as TrailFndr pointed out. Personally, I prefer willow blades to colorados for this type of presentation. A spinnerbait in the 3/8-3/4oz range with a 4" or 5" grub on a trailer should work very well. If the weeds are closer to the surface, topwater should work out well. Ive been getting the most explosive hits on a zara spook this year, but have done quite well on jitterbugs in the past.

[LittleMac]

The following information represents a body of experimentation and development through the years. It in no way is intended to be contradictory to the use of the great Senko, or any other Senko type bait. I accidentally stumbled upon a lure that emulates the image of a senko type lure, but other than looking like one, I assure that it does not at all act like one. I think the following will assist you in your fishing and hopefully will be added to your arsenal along with other lures and techniques.

I have never used a senko because of the price, in substituting, I found a much better alternative that falls much more slowly, is cheaper by far, casts like a bullet, skips well when rigged texposed on a number 2/0 hook, and doesen't tear up like a lot of the current baits. Can be wacky rigged and fished well that way also.
I buy from Bass Pro Shops and order the Ultra Vibe Speed Worms in Watermelon/Red. I then cut off the tails one inch up from the actual paddle type tail, leaving the worm body which immediately resembles a senko...fine ribbing, also nearly identical in size, but nicely slow falling and costing only 20 cents each. When wearing out, hook punctured and torn, I repair them with a pencil soldering iron from Wally Mart, under 5 bucks, with one slight alteration....I wrap a piece of wire (about the size of pencil lead) around the tip three times and let about 3/4 inch protrude off the end. I use this heated wire for repairs...works well.
The worm body does not have a "smooth ring" like the senkos, but the fish don't mind. The fine ribbing seems to do the trick. They are also pre-salted, and do not require a scent. Watermelon/red outfishes all the other zoom colors in my Eastern Tennessee location as well as in southern Michigan for large and smallmouth.
Fishing the lure......texposed on a 2/0 offset shaft worm hook, cast to likely cover, let sink to bottom and wait (watching line always) 30 seconds, lift slowly to feel for fish, if nothing, let re-fall and wait an additional 20 seconds. Lift again, slowly, if nothing...reel in and cast to another likely spot.
My wife casts, lets sink, waits 15 seconds with thumb and forefinger on line, then takes two s-l-o-w cranks on reel handle, waits another 15 seconds, two more slow cranks......until the lure has gone about 10 to 12 feet across bottom. This method works well also.
On the initial cast....sometimes helps to throw a high arc to get a good splash upon entry, sometimes works well to skip the lure. On weedbeds, sometimes reel in so the lure skates across the top and then letting the lure fall at the near edge of the bed works well. In thick weeds, I reverse the worm on the hook...narrow end pointing toward me....if the lure still hangs, switch to a zoom lizard, watermelon/red, texposed and fish weightless also, the very same way. Lizards will even crawl over lily pads with rod tip up and can be dropped into little pockets....I wait 15 seconds after drop and then add a couple of twitches before moving on.
Wacky rigged...I use a number 2 octopus hook from Wally Mart, again, fishing weightless I use two retrieves....one is to let fall just under surface, begin reeling slowly with intermittant syncopated twitches...after 30 seconds of s-l-o-w reeling an gentle twitch, reel in and try again. Otherwise, I will let it slow fall to bottom, twitch several times, let rest...reeling in slack and begin twitching again.
If you want an even more slow falling lure and a lure to be even more supple, core out the center. I cut a telescoping radio antenna into sections and sharpened each hollow section on one end using a countersink on a drillpress. After sharpening I noticed a slight flare on each sharpened end....using wet/dry automotive sandpaper, I sanded on the sides by laying the section flat on the paper until the flare was gone. Even a small hole down through the middle makes a big difference in fall rate and flexibility. This tip I received from BassBob5 on the smallie board. Works extremely well.
The concept of slow falling is to give the bass a lazy bait, no hurry, easy to grab.....also lets the bass get an eye on lures before they drop into the submergent weeds. The concept of pausing on the bottom, deadsticking, is used to draw out the territorial instincts.
I did find, when the wind was drifting the boat, that the use of a Slider hook helped get the lure down before the drift took over, it was the snagless head 1/16, but mostly, no weight is necessary. I've since internally weighted upon rare occasion with a little piece of wire inserted between eye and point of hook somewhat just under the "skin".....best not to use any weight if possible.

Good fishing, Mac

[discdrag]

ill agree with the senkos, but the ultra hot bait for me has been a jitterbug, tuesday i was out using one at about 2 in the afternoon in a small pond that is notorious for picky bass, when on my second cast as i was reeling it past a little piece of weeds, it exploded in a bucket sized swirl of froth- and produced a fat 18 inch bass. i also did well with the same jitterbug the last three days in the middle of the afternoon in pigeon lake working it over weedbeds. oh yeah, dont underestimate the power of a green or white tube jig.

[subocto]

Friday morning I went out on my local lake and hammered the bass like I never have before. I landed 12 fish over 15" and 4 of them were 20"+, I was having a blast. I wished I had the camera but didnt.
I went out this evening and things changed a lot. I was hoping to snap a pic of one of the lunkers, but had no such luck. I dont know if it was the air pressure of wind or what but the fish were OFF. Anyone else have a tough time tonight? I managed this one fish on a crankbait, and was happy to have it after many many empty casts. FISH ON!:D http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/526/5529swanlakebass.jpg :p

[mschmidt]

Yea... yesterday was amazing and today was slow... though yesterday I did not get any huge fish, but today, one of the two was a big smallmouth. Just face it fish are weird...