I’m largemouth fishing an eastern Ontario lake. A few weeks (start of August) ago the milfoil was laid over on the surface, creating healthy green mats that the fish were relating to. Now, it’s been hot hot. A lot of that milfoil turned either brown and much of that surface grass turned to yellow cheese. In some of the lake, even that yellow cheese is disappearing, presumably falling back into the lake. Some of the mats that do exist are brown, are larger and are still holding some fish but not the same amount. I hear that in the fall the bite is really focused on the clumps as the grass dies off but I thought that grass died off because of cool temps and we have had the opposite. A couple questions, is the yellow cheese (milfoil dying) a function of the hottest part of the summer and not the cooler? Where/what do the fish in that area (shallow, 5ft or less) relate to ?

Your lake still has green weeds somewhere. I'd find those green ones and fish them because they're still producing oxygen, whereas the brown ones are consuming oxygen.

 

I'd also fish hither and yon. Whereas there are maxims in bass fishing, like the one I stated above, bass are mysterious too, hanging in places that make no sense to me, so I both cast to the places I expect to find them, focusing on those places, but also fire off random casts to places where I see no reason for them to be. The kid and I caught a couple 19-inchers in such a place a couple mornings ago, a place where we have rarely caught bass and where there is no cover nor structure to attract them. Even though I don't have electronics, the water at the kid's pond is low and clear and we could see the featureless bottom. 

This time of year, the milfoil around here has already starting to die off, regardless of temperature. When this happens, I target pondweed instead, mainly the broadleaf, largeleaf, or curly leaf varieties. It stays green into October, and fish stack up in it. 

1 hour ago, Jar11591 said:

This time of year, the milfoil around here has already starting to die off, regardless of temperature. When this happens, I target pondweed instead, mainly the broadleaf, largeleaf, or curly leaf varieties. It stays green into October, and fish stack up in it. 

 

Great info. I'll apply it. Thanks!