bobby_stripes

Thanks guys, I’ll let u know how we do!

I’ll be up in the Belgrade Lakes region next week and I was wondering if those in the region are seeing the fish in a summer pattern or are the fish transitioning? I typically hit Maine in the summer months when it’s very much soft plastics near weeds and rocks. I’m wondering if I should bring more moving baits this time of year?

Can we talk more about this Honeoye lake and why we think the bigger fish are so difficult to catch come summer? It reminds me of a small pond I fish in NJ where the fish are certainly catchable during the pre-spawn and spawn but come post-spawn everything changes. The lake is full of vegetation and post-spawn you're left with one of two options: flip into the grass and hope to hit one on the head (because it doesn't seem like they will move very far for the bait), or wait until you see some surface activity and try to hightail it over there and throw a horny toad over the area to catch the attention of whatever is actively feeding. I've seen videos where pros like Seth Feider say that bass in grass lakes will school up on specific spots in the weeds but that hasn't been my experience on this lake for whatever reason and it sounds like it's a similar story at this Honeoye Lake. Do we think there is a lack of schooling because there's just so much food available for the fish in these lakes or because the food they're eating doesn't require them to school up? And do we think that with an entire lake of slop that there are so many great ambush points that the fish are naturally spread out and don't have to work hard, and thus won't move very far for a bait?

I was bank fishing one day twenty years ago and someone very large asked me what size my sneakers were. I kept my sneakers but I never did go back to that spot.

Worst year ever for me as well. I am taking Claritin (daily), Flonase (daily) and if the eyes get too bad then I use Pataday eyedrops. I am going to the doc to get a steroid injection because it's so bad it's impacting my breathing. I know from past experience that the steroid injection should help a lot. On a separate note I don't know if this is the worst year ever just because of happenstance with whatever allergens are in the air, if it's because I had Covid, if it's because I'm unaccustomed to the allergens because I didn't go outside last spring, if it's because the vaccine kicked up my immune system, or if it's because I'm spending a lot of time outside. Or, some combo of some of those things!

I'll qualify this first by saying that I am no expert, but I do a fair bit of kayak fishing, this was the first year that I fished in the spring, and I figured out the spring bite on my two "home" lakes-- and no one else responded to you, so here's what I would do: - Check the water temp right when you get on the lake. Also, check the water clarity. The water temp is for guessing as to what stage of the spawn they're in and the clarity is for gauging how deep the beds will be/to aid in lure selection. - I would guess that by now there should be at least some fish shallow. I would start in that south end of the lake where the creek feeds in. Don't charge all the way to the back, work your way in slowly once the sun is up enough for you to see. Wear your polarized sunglasses with an amber/brown/green tint (not gray) to help you spot cruising fish and beds. The beds will be isolated mostly by at least a few feet (from my limited experience) and anywhere from right up on the bank next to reeds/under trees/on trees or wood under the water out to just beyond where you can't see the bottom. Go slow. Be quiet. It helps if you have a yak you can stand in. Try to position yourself best to see into the water depending on the location of the sun. On some parts of the lake that will mean being right on the bank and on others it will mean being off the bank considerably. It may require you to paddle out around an area and then come in from the other direction so the sun's direction is advantageous. - If the water is at least upper 50s by now, which I would think that it must be, then I would focus on using both a moving bait and a finesse bait if the moving bait isn't getting bites. If the water is very dirty or it's very windy then throw a chatterbait, if it's cleaner or less wind then throw a jerkbait or fluke. Retrieve them slowly but with erratic action. Try from right on the bank out to just beyond where you can no longer see the bottom or out to 5 foot of water, whichever is greater. If the water is very dirty then throw a 6" senko as your finesse bait and if it's clean then throw a 4" senko. Everyone else is throwing 5" senkos. Wacky rig them if there's not too much cover. Throw it out, let it fall on a semi-slack line, twitch it off the bottom once, check for the weight of a fish on the line and then reel it in and throw it again. If you're throwing it up onto the bank try skipping it so as not to spook those very shallow fish. - If you see the fish then you can cast past them. Remember that prey doesn't swim at bass it swims away. - If you see a bunch of blue gill beds tight together the size of pie plates in the shallows and/or bass fry then the bass already spawned in that area of the lake, but there may still be some spawning elsewhere in the lake that takes longer to warm. Also, not all of the bass spawn at once, there are waves. Plus, you can catch pre-spawners, spawners and post-spawners up shallow on flukes and wacky worms. You can still catch lots of males that are fry guarding in the areas with empty bass beds. You can also catch big females around those bluegills that are spawning by working topwaters like buzzbaits and with those other baits I listed. - The lake is only 70 acres, you should be able to fish around the entire perimeter in a few hours and then go back and refocus on the most productive areas. - If the water temp is already at 70 you can try shallow and you may catch a lot of males but don't be surprised if those big females who just finished spawning are in a funk and won't eat. - If you find fish on the bank in an area there may be more fish heading into that area throughout the day from adjacent areas/deeper water. Please let us know how you do.

Thank you Chip!

I was just up in Maine for my annual bass fishing trip and was surprised to catch a number of female largemouth that were very clearly post-spawn (split tails, super skinny) in one body of water and on another we had trouble finding the fish and I'm now wondering if they were actually not on main lake mid-summer spots but instead back in the coves spawning at this time of year!?. In all my years visiting Maine during this time of year I don't recall the spawn ever being this late. I was in the Belgrade Lakes region. Is this the latest you resident Mainers have seen the spawn?