07-09-2003, 11:40 AM
[cool]Hey, Leaky, glad Bud decided to come back before you left without him. I guess there is just something about the bond between a man and his dog.
I didn't chip in on your post on the Utah board, but I have a theory on the reason for the slow fishing for smallies. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together. Right now there are hordes of small perch in the water. The smallmouths feed heavily on the abundant forage. Therefore, they are not as susceptible to a curly tailed jig being earnestly offered by some old dude with a dog in the water.
There's another factor at work here too. During the summer, with higher water temps and more boat traffic, the bass...both largies and smallies...tend to become more oriented toward feeding at night. If you were to go back after the sun went down, and the toys were off the water, I bet you would find some more active bass. Sometimes it can be like you are fishing on a different lake.
If you can't or won't fish at night,at least be there before first light and fish until the bite shuts down. You can always catch the occasional bass during the day, but low light conditions, with minimal noise, will always be more productive.
Next, we have to get you rigged up with sonar, so you can know for sure that the fish are there, even if you aren't getting them.
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I didn't chip in on your post on the Utah board, but I have a theory on the reason for the slow fishing for smallies. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together. Right now there are hordes of small perch in the water. The smallmouths feed heavily on the abundant forage. Therefore, they are not as susceptible to a curly tailed jig being earnestly offered by some old dude with a dog in the water.
There's another factor at work here too. During the summer, with higher water temps and more boat traffic, the bass...both largies and smallies...tend to become more oriented toward feeding at night. If you were to go back after the sun went down, and the toys were off the water, I bet you would find some more active bass. Sometimes it can be like you are fishing on a different lake.
If you can't or won't fish at night,at least be there before first light and fish until the bite shuts down. You can always catch the occasional bass during the day, but low light conditions, with minimal noise, will always be more productive.
Next, we have to get you rigged up with sonar, so you can know for sure that the fish are there, even if you aren't getting them.
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