Well it’s Thursday and since I slacked off last week being at Huntstock with my plate full, we have lots of great content from the last 2 weeks from the JigHeads!
Andy was only able to get out on the docks at Otis Reservoir for about ten minutes, but it paid off! Fortunately I knew where the weed bed was and pulled this one out and went back home to finish yard work. There’s nothing like squeezing in a quick send and having it pay off! It feeds the soul!
Shirtless TJS has made it out a bit in the last two weeks! Last week he made it out to a Central Mass lake for a club tournament. Pre- fishing led him to concentrate offshore in the 6-10 range, and he said that tourney day was a hot one Once again , I feel the heat has put these fish in a funk. I managed 4 fish for 5th place. Tim reported that he caught those fish on a topwater early and then drop shot within submerged weed beds. His next outing took him to Congamond on another 90 plus degree day, and he started off on a point where he marked bait on my sonar units. While fielding a phone call Tim saw some bait busting around and quickly grabbed a soft plastic jerk bait; immediately the fish smacked it. That happened three times during that phone call. That bite died so I went searching. I was able to coax a large pickerel and a bass off of deep structure dragging a C-rig. I finally finished the day with a couple of dock fish caught on weedless stick baits
This week he got out tournament on Massachusetts, New Hampshire a border lake in a hidden area. Right off the bat there were four fish in the boat throwing a little finesse jig on a rocky area would intermittent weeds; when he came back around about a couple hours later he had another couple fish off that area. Tim said that they thought they had a pattern figured out and that it would reload throughout the day. Unfortunately, we spent way too much time trying to catch those reloading fish, which they didn’t, we ended up one fish short of limit and did not place the money but again all of our bites were on a finesse jig and a little finesse Ned rig. Next, he was on Cam on three early morning bites one on a crank bait off a .2 on a Carolina rig off that same point with lots of bait showing up on the sonar, move area to some boat docs in the marina cut three fish on a senko and he’s just out there having fun more than a freaking tournament.
Goes to show you when you fishing tournament just relax have some fun. Go fishing more often. You’ll catch the fish that you need when you do your regular every day fishing!
Bobby Roast Beef has been doing some serious fishing! Two weekends ago he he hit the Oxbow on 3 different days and reported increasing water levels each day. So much of the vegetation TYPICALLY on the surface, is now submerged by a decent amount of water. Current out in the main river is bananas, oh and the water out there is straight up chocolate milk. Friday, he hit the marina with his dad, managed to put crappie, largemouth, sunfish, and pike in the new boat. He reported that they mainly targeted that submerged vegetation, although some fish were also found tight to the submerged wood as well. Bait wise on Friday, it was a bladed jig that put in the work, and a finesse jig up around some docks.
Saturday evening he went back out with a buddy thinking that we were going to put the hurt on em! Spoiler alert, we didn’t! He said that his buddy couldn’t buy a bite, and he threw the kitchen sink at em and was only getting bit on a wacky rig black and blue stick worm. Managed to hook one, a smallmouth (yes, in Oxbow) up tight to some trees. You can tune into last week’s Jigs and Bigs episode (the one with Charlie Moore) for the details on how that went. We ended the night at dusk and drowned our sorrows in beer and wings. As one does, after such an abysmal outing.
Sunday, Mr. Roast Beef woke up looking for redemption and hit the oxbow again; unfortunately, he wasn’t able to track down any fish in the areas he had fished before. This led him to experiment a bit; looking at the newest real estate that the increasing water levels were providing. When I did find fish, it was like pulling teeth to get a bite. I did manage three bites all day, but unfortunately didn’t get any into the boat. Monday he went out early to Central MA with an old friend to simply catch some and hope he. could check off some boxes in the July Scavenger Hunt. He managed to catch a bunch of different species, mainly bass. I was primarily throwing finesse baits, BFS for the most part. I was slowing upsizing the presentation and getting great results. The heat ultimately kicked us off the water by noon.
Bobby has been in the new Lund 3-5 times each week, and said that it’s been kind of like relearning fishing using only topo maps; he also commented that it’s been very rewarding when he has been able to get on some fish. This week Bobby fished a spot with “Who the fuck is Joe Brown”, just two morons in their perspective new boats literally fishing the same ledge. He managed a 15″ Brownie though! That fish hit a 2.75″ swimbait on an 1/8 oz. Jighead. The key was waiting for it to hit bottom and use quarter turns to have it take off and land again. He also got his hook into a nice 13″ crappie on the same technique. BRB also fished up ‘da shires at two spots, putting on a major grind all day. He reported the second spot was the only place that produced any results; lots of follows, but a 6″ Magdraft got it done for us. Also this week he took his daughter Chloe out fishing and said it’s been years. I managed 5 cookie cutter LMBs on a variety of different moving presentations, she was not so lucky, but having the boat and her interest peaked on fishing for the moment means that I can PROBABLY convince her to venture further than Congamond Jr. nawmean…
Shawn the Fisherman made his way from upstate New York to central Minnesota a couple weeks ago. Got a few days of fishing in before the next 3 days of work, wind, and afternoon thunderstorms kept me on land. He said he found fish deeper than the past, hanging around on the insides of weedlines. I extracted them using a 5″ stickworm rigged on a 1/4oz EWG rugby jighead. (Bass and Pike. STF also finally managed to pull a semi-respectable Smallmouth out of Lake Mille Lacs on a jerkbait prior to a 4th of July thunderstorm.
The stickworm pattern held for the rest of his MN time, then also worked a bit on his return trip to upstate New York. However, dropshotting 3″ plastic worms in 20″ of water in the St. Lawrence was what really shined. Doing that, I nabbed numerous Smallmouth and a 19″ Walleye. Shawns said the dropshot has continued to find fish deep for him out on Cape Cod, with fish closely suspended over grass beds. He pulled a couple 19″ fish out of a small pond this past weekend, then pulled *the exact same 2 fish out with the same lure this morning*. That’s a new one for me. Anyhow, look deeper than normal for our finny friends these days. Once the heat breaks up here in New England, I expect the shallow bite to pick back up, but for now plumb the depths.
If you’re heading out this weekend, it’s going to be toasty but the nights look like we are cooling off. Stay safe out there, and tight lines!!
Wild Woman 