Neil McCauley

Water levels are dropping that's for sure. I can barely get my canoe out from my hand-launch site. I miss May.

Kayak fishing on anything but small/medium ponds is stupid. There, I said it. And kayak fishing on the Great Lakes- Lake Michigan in particular- is a whole other order of stupidity.

Any favorite techniques or tips for catching big Northerns this time of year?

Water quality is exceptional on the lake I took the smallmouth from. I think they were just big crusty old bass. Maybe more like 18+ inches now that I look back and probably way over 10+ years old. I never really measured them but they were good size. I did throw back a 20" from that day and am glad I did. Anyways... I've learned- stick to small fish now. Perch, rock bass and pumpkinseed.. And even with those.... may want to toss back the big ones. This big pumpkinseed (below) for example. On the plate was not terrible, but definitely not as good as the perch or an average size rock bass. Smaller fish are just tastier I guess.

I never fish live bait, but it's tempting. I expect lots of rock bass and perch though if at the slightly wrong depth.

Can't cover this topic enough imo... Fall bass fishing can be as great as spring, but with much less predictability. Personally I throw crankbaits, but I often have to search with them first to find the right depth.

I also am sick of the shad fixation by lure companies and fishing articles. Everything marketed for shad, shad, shad. No shad on my lake. And it's not THAT common of a baitfish.

Mercury must be loving the pic.

I keep a very sharp 4-5" fixed blade knife + sheath on my belt for removing hooks from eyes. The sharper the better, so you can just graze the surface of the eye and allow the hook to come out. If you can't get it out you should just keep the fish.

Close to 10 but a lot of myspace angles going on by holding the fish out away from your body toward the camera. Really alters the perceived size.

No intent to side-track here... but I'll be damned if that isn't a $%!*ing travesty. A man can't even raise a tank of fish caught from across the street - for eating or entertainment or whatever- in the privacy of his own home without worrying about Big Brother's jackboot kicking down his door. To the OP, I'd go with Bluegill. I wouldn't want a strictly carnivorous fish in there.

Great bait/lure advice. What depths are perch typically at in late summer into early fall? Will they go below the thermocline?

Line- depends what you are fishing. If it's little poppers and surface flies, you would want a floating line. Streamers or sub surface lures, sinking line. There are other variations as well, but it's over my head. Since I stick to surface fishing in the spring for bass, and occasionally brook/brown trout in small streams, I exclusively use floating line. Backing is the line that goes on the spool first (furthest from fly), then the fly line (30-40 yards or so), then the last 9 feet are the leader attached to the fly. I suppose the backing could become necessary if a fish really ran off with your line. But about 99.9% of the time you will never even see it come off your spool. I have never needed it, but in Florida it could have a realistic purpose. Fly fishing really can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be.

It's worth it.

It's worth it! SMB has slowed somewhat but LMB fishing is still hot. I launch from 2 places, one in Northwest Bay and the other further south. They're hand-launch only, so only canoes/kayaks. PM for details.

Great investment if you fish in the spring when it works best for bass. Overall - Decent 9'-10' Fly Rod -- $100-150 - Basic reel - $40-50 - Line + backing - $40 - 3-4 leaders - $20 - Set of a few basic poppers - $15 - Various other bass flies - $3-5 each About $200 for startup costs. You can probably save some on the reel, line, flies. Just don't go cheap on the rod.

Any advice on catching Yellow Perch? I have not had great success with them, but know my lake is full of them- a couple years ago, two guys ice fishing were busted for poaching (exceeding their limit bigtime...between the two of them they had over 400 perch! Shameful, but impressive) Anyway, they are plentiful, they are low on the food chain, and they are tasty. What are your go-to lures, methods, and type locations for each particular season?

Caught a laker in May on a 3" perch pattern Rapala Shad Rap crankbait. Lots of lakers on various perch jigs ice fishing. Overall I think any baitfish imitation that catches bass can theoretically also catch trout, the trouble is getting it deep enough. Tubes with 1+ oz jigs and dropshot rigged soft plastic minnows work with light tackle (no wire, no downrigger).

Scary. Overcast weather is the most dangerous imo, because the low cloud cover prevents you from seeing anything approaching more than a mile away, you can't see the height of the clouds. Even radar isn't much help with the late afternoon "pop up" thunderstorms that don't show until it's raining.

Is my lake just unusually inclined for this presentation, or am I just a hack who can't catch fish by other methods (been doing this 25 years, I promise I can)? Do tournament participants have too much pride for it, is it banned, are other methods really still somehow better? what is the deal? Or do people actually do it and just not admit it? Definitely would never see it done by pros...and yet sometimes they still get skunked. I have had way too much success lately with this tactic. It is, 9 times out of 10 where I fish, "the" pattern. Just no way around it. I have been doing everything else for years, and I could continue to slow down and throw jigs and texas rigs and catch some of the same big fish, but just not with this kind of efficiency and predictability. It's a difference between a solid fish every half hour vs every 2 hours. There really just isn't any other way to keep lures at the target depth for so long. When I need to catch fish I admit it- I troll. Not multiple rods either, just one.

I am assuming you're asking because you want the line to sink less?? Please tell me you're not trying to actually lighten the spool itself.

Watching Bill Dance is kind of like Bob Ross....he paints some quick happy trees and talks about slapping the brush dry. The resulting painting is impressive looking and easy to reproduce and no one claims it is a masterpiece. That's not the point, it's just for entertainment and somewhat also for education.

It might be worth picking up a book on bass fishing basics to get the fundamentals down. Videos and advice might help you pick up a fish here or there but in the long run if you want to really be successful you should build a good foundation of the basic knowledge and reading is the best way to do that.

If you are catching dinks, you are too shallow. Not in depth of water per se but in your presentations. The adult SMB may be 30 feet below the surface in 35 fow, or 30 feet below the surface in 70 fow. Either way, they are 30' below the surface and your gear is only reaching 20'. Were you casting, primarily? A problem with casting is the lure, whether a spinner or a crankbait, only spends a brief portion of the retrieve at the target depth. Maybe 25% of the cast distance at most, the rest is spent diving/sinking down to the target depth or being pulled back up to your rod. Jigs are an OK solution- they drop to depth quickly and then you can keep them at depth essentially until they're underneath you, 100% of the distance. LONG-casted (60+ yards) crank baits are another option but then you need soft low test monofilament line, while fluorocarbon is far better for detecting crankbait strikes. My preference is just trolling- lure stays at the target depth constantly, you don't need to cast far, can use FC, and you can cover a ton of area. Crankbaits are still the ultimate search bait imo, but the caveat is that if the fish are beyond 15' deep you have to troll them to keep them in the target depth long enough.