Fished before the weekend clown show and had a good, solid day for a change. Didn’t set the world on fire, but just about hit double digits from the bank. Only one dink today, and only one miscue…on a monster of course. Man I’m still going over that; us shore guys don’t get too many chances like that. Good thing is she did come back after, looked at my worm hard again and never did spook, so I should have a chance down the line

Got a few on power worms, but Texas rigged senkos fished weightless were good. With the high, flooded water, that was a good way to fish with limited mobility. I prefer to fish senko style baits on my spinning rods, and the MH put it to them well today. Haven’t fished jigs as much as I wanted give them a break, but I did  get a halfway decent smallie on a jig for the road. Fish were overall decent today and nothing I didn’t mind catching 

 

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Yes @Swamp Girl, that's what I'm talking about. Fish will often be on the edges in low light and buried up in the thickest parts when it's sunny.  Also, keep your eyes peeled for isolated clumps outside the main weedline. They're prime targets that often hold a quality fish. 

 

Thanks, Tim. I'm fishing Monday and Tuesday mornings and am going to rig two jigheads with Senkos, one weedless and one not. I'm going to try dropping the weedless jighead right into the weeds. My canoe is quiet enough that I can park atop them and they won't spook. Just about every morning, I bump a bass with the bow of my canoe because they don't hear me coming. FWIW, most of the deep water weed patches I'm fishing are much bigger than what I photographed, but there are smaller, isolated ones and I'll be sure to hit them as you suggest. Thanks for the guidance, Tim.

 

@JonB2: There are those high quality photos again. All those handsome bass from the shoreline are impressive too.

 

 

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

By deep weed line, do you guys mean working the edge of weeds in deep water? Like these, which are in 8' of water:

 

 

I ask because this is where I caught them a couple mornings this past week.

 

Yes. Deep weedlines occur at the deepest spots that enough sunlight can penetrate to the bottom for plantgrowth.  Usually a dropoff or slope to deeper water where the weedgrowth just ends.  With pondweeds/cabbage and milfoils, you often get a "wall" of vegetation coming up to, or nearly to, the surface that faces deeper, more open water.  In the lakes around here, this is usually around 8 to 17 feet of depth, depending on water clarity.  

 

This a classic summer pattern in northern natural lakes, where many largemouth (though not all, of course) will decamp to this area as a "summer home", using it as hiding/feeding/resting spot. Being "object-oriented", they naturally gravitate toward changes and transition points, so will often be found right on the line of weeds, just inside, or just outside, and at varying depths.   

@MIbassyaker that’s pretty close to how I would explain it.

 

Proximity to deep water is important. The weeds here are not visible at the surface; so electronics play a crucial role. I can see where this “wall” of weeds ends on my sonar. I position my boat just on the inside of it and cast out deeper; that weighted stick bait falls quickly and quite often a bass will take it on the fall. If not, I’ll pop it, let it fall, repeat. It’s a pattern that also works with other plastics but they need a faster fall rate to reach depth quicker.

 

Largemouth school up in these locations in big numbers and when you catch one, you catch more. But not every spot is created equal either. When you find a prime location with a school of big bass, you can catch a lot of them quickly. That’s what has occurred for me several times since mid June.

8 hours ago, gim said:

The weeds here are not visible at the surface; so electronics play a crucial role.

 

Well, since I don't use electronics, I'll have to fish the deep water weeds that I can see. 

 

You guys have encouraged me to buy a simple sonar, but I'm already carrying my tacklebox, water, six rods, camera, and phone through the woods. I can't carry anymore. 

 

9 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

In the lakes around here, this is usually around 8 to 17 feet of depth, depending on water clarity.  

 

My pond is ten feet at its deepest. Right now, with little rainfall, it might only be eight to nine feet at its deepest. My pal's pond is the same. Anyway, thanks for the detailed explanation. I've been catching bass this July mostly through precise casting along the edges of the wetlands. When I land my lure under an overhanging bush at a point, I have a pretty good chance at catching a bass. 

 

My pond, being shallow, has a LOT of mid-pond weeds. The grass and lily pads hold some bass, but I've discovered that the Pondweed holds the most bass. So far, I've only caught bass on the edges, but come Monday morning, when I launch, I'll try the middle of the Pondweed patches too with a weedless wacky Senko, which I've never tried. Pondweed, thankfully, is the weakest weed in the pond, as opposed to reeds and lily pads, which are strong and bass use their strength to free themselves. So, when a bass plunges into Pondweed, I'm probably still going to land it. 

 

I sure feel like I'm late to deep water weed party, but now that I've finally arrived, I plan to party like it's 1999!

 

@Swamp Girl One tip with senkos I’ve found, and maybe it’s just because I fish current a lot, but a senko rigged weedless wacky sinks quicker than a senko rigged Texas style weedles. I prefer Texas because it goes through weeds way better and I have more control over the bait. Wacky seems to get down quick and I’m having to consistently pop off bottom to drift a little more. I will say, there’s something entertaining about a weightless senko bite…not sure what lol

1 hour ago, JonB2 said:

@Swamp Girl One tip with senkos I’ve found, and maybe it’s just because I fish current a lot, but a senko rigged weedless wacky sinks quicker than a senko rigged Texas style weedles. I prefer Texas because it goes through weeds way better and I have more control over the bait. Wacky seems to get down quick and I’m having to consistently pop off bottom to drift a little more. I will say, there’s something entertaining about a weightless senko bite…not sure what lol

 

Well then, I'll toss a T-rigged Senko too. I'm not going to dawdle on Monday morning. I'm going to launch and troll right to the Pondweed beds, not fishing shorelines along the way. 

@Swamp Girl when I was posting and reading about this deep weedline bite, I thought about your situation being that the ponds you fish are probably not as deep as our natural lakes, and you don't have any sonar.  Positioning the canoe would be tough too if there was any wind.

 

In some years, I can see the tops of the weeds on the shallow side but we've had a lot of rain this spring/summer, so the weeds are not emergent this season.

5lb 15oz.  I had people around the lake staring at me because I weighed her three times while pleading (loudly) for one more ounce!  LOL.  I'm not complaining, however, still a wonderful blessing!

 

36 minutes ago, gim said:

Positioning the canoe would be tough too if there was any wind.

 

Wind is also problematic for me because then I can't see the Pondweed. At least the Lily pads will flap a bit in the wind. I'm super excited for Monday morning. I'm shooting for twenty bass, but hoping for thirty. Of course, bass fishing being what it is, I'll probably catch 14...AGAIN!

 

A big head on @BigAngus752's bass!

Got a couple at the church pond this morning. This fish fought so hard I thought I’d hooked big mama at first…

I haven’t really fished much  since memorial day, other than the church pond and a little in the backyard…Busy on all fronts + it’s been miserably hot 🥵. I hope to make up for it soon..

I just checked your weather forecast, Mike. It's brutal there. 

With the rainy, cloudy afternoon forecast…I decided to hit the same section as yesterday. This isn’t typically a great idea as it’s often much tougher the next day. Today started a little quiet, but picked right up as it got towards evening. Senkos were best again, and they were pulling the line tight quickly on the bite with the right casts. I went down to 1’s(wacky) and 1/0(texas) to help prevent deep hooking. Quietly placing the bait inches from the bank was taken instantly if an active bass was around. I pretty much trudged around tall weeds in swampy, flooded wetlands, but I sure didn’t mind 

 

@JonB2: When I was a kid, I waded the muck at farm ponds. Good memories. 

@Swamp Girl

 

I love being back in that stuff, and pulling in bass. I saw a good sized snake yesterday, and I constantly forget about them because they don’t worry me. I see tons of turtles, muskrats etc. A lot get fairly close as I don’t storm troop the bank like tourists do. This is some of what I’m typically trudging through, but it’s very satisfying getting bass here 

 

 

@JonB2: Ha! We're fishing the same kind of thicket:

 

 

3 minutes ago, JonB2 said:

A lot get fairly close as I don’t storm troop the bank like tourists do.

 

I do the same in my canoe. I take pride in literally bumping bass with the bow of my canoe. They don't sense my coming because I'm not clanging and banging like a tourist.

It was time for a river float trip. A few decent bronzies showed up: 

 

A few more that didn't get a board pic  -- 15", 17.5" & 18.5":

 

All but one of the bigger fish hit this "Crawdaddy" rage menace grub on a title shot head:

 

A Whopper Plopper 75 produced The 17.5", along with three pike, including one that must have been around 30", maybe more (I don't take them out of the water unless I need to - better for them and me)   There were dozen or so smaller bass as well on the menace, whopper plopper, senko, and tiny torpedo.  

@MIbassyaker: A 19-inch river smallie, with an 18.5-incher and some seventeens?!? Plus, they all look gilded? I'd love that river!

The heat and humidity has been pretty intense lately. I went out Saturday intending on getting some scoping practice in. I guess I did, but it seemed like all I could find were crappie. I rarely catch them out of that lake, but I caught a bunch of them. The bass were much less cooperative. I finally gave up on the open water scoping and went more to the bank. Found a brush pile in 12’ of water and finally got a nice one on a T rig.

 

Found a few more deep piles but only caught one more dink. 
 

Hit an old beaver dam in the back of a cove and pulled 3 off it with a tail weighted Trick Worm, one was one of the right ones.

5 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

@MIbassyaker: A 19-inch river smallie, with an 18.5-incher and some seventeens?!? Plus, they all look gilded? I'd love that river!

 

The gilding is a reflection from the bright orange kayak! 

@Bluebasser86:

 

Clayton could pert near catch bass anywhere under any conditions. If he posted this trip report, I'd believe him: I launched in a hurricane, but the straight winds weren't all that challenging. It was the tornadoes the hurricane spawned that were the real challenge, but I pinballed between them and ended up landing six bass. Two were 19-inchers.

Sunday fun day on a shallow river. Fished with my wife for a few hours, she was catching them on a fly rod and janky popper that I tied years ago. About 5 pm, she had to break loose and go farm sit for a friend. My buddy Bobby joined me for second shift and we caught a few more. I was getting mine on a watermelon seed tiny fluke on a 1/16 oz dart head 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Russ, I think everyday is a fun day for you. You are the King of Fun. Your majesty!

 

I don’t know, I scraped up a bunch of sticky carpet glue on Friday, it wasn’t quite so fun 😂 . Luckily we hung out with some friends and ate pizza and burgers after work, that was much more fun than carpet glue 

20 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I don’t know, I scraped up a bunch of sticky carpet glue on Friday, it wasn’t quite so fun 😂 . Luckily we hung out with some friends and ate pizza and burgers after work, that was much more fun than carpet glue 

Scraping carpet glue requires more than just a few beers