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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing Article Summaries |
The Joys of Summer Fishing
By Mike Guarino During the last few weeks the talk among fishermen has settled around the topic if water temperatures and where the fish are during this time year. Water temps have hit the low 80's on some of our local lakes, causing some fish to search out deeper and cooler haunts. The warmer water seems to influence different fish species in different ways. For example, the trout trollers are still catching fish near the thermocline on lakes like Great Pond, Long Pond and Messalonskee. Trollers are doing well in deep water running flashers like a Dave Davis rig and traditional spoons like Mooseleuk Wobblers, Sutton Spoons, and Flash Kings. Lately the hot colors have been orange and copper on overcast or low light times of day and silver/blue during the brighter days. Another tactic that's been working on browns on Great Pond has been trolling a dodger and fly on 3 or 4 colors of lead core around the deep hole off Hoyts Island. The browns have been hitting later in the day and into the dark. Of all the fish species that change habits when the hot weather settles in, the northern pike is definitely the most notable. The pike, specifically the larger pike that lurk in our lakes, do not spend much time in the shallows when water temps reach 60° or more. You can certainly catch them at times, but it takes a lot of casts and some good timing. Right now, bigger pike can be caught on or near significant drop-offs where they can cruise the deeper water to keep cool and slide up onto sunken humps to feed. Prime water depth for big northern pike range from about 18 to 35 feet, so if you can find a sunken hump with deep water access, you just might hook into one of these big gators. Trolling big rapalas or large spoons works really well or cast big shad-style swim baits over the top of the humps at dusk. One swim bait that has been working lately is the 5-inch Yum Money Minnow. This will definitely up your odds if a giant pike is what you seek. Pike are notorious dusk feeders and will often move shallow just as the sun sets. Perhaps the most difficult fish to figure out when the water temps rise is the largemouth bass. These things can be anywhere and nowhere all at the same time! Last Saturday in a bass tournament here in Belgrade, we managed a limit of seven bass and caught every fish in really shallow water. Each time we caught a fish, we'd make the same remark, "I can't believe he was in there." We caught shallow bass all day in 90° heat. However, three days before, while pre- fishing, all the big bass we caught were in 10 to15 feet of water just off the primary weed beds. Sticking with your game plan and trying to get a pattern on these fish will definitely help put more fish in the boat. Worms are still working very well. Some good choices are Yamamoto Senkos in black flake and the Berkley Fat Worm in Watermelon. The warmer water temperatures may slow the fishing down a little bit now and then, but there's a lot of big fish out there. Good luck to everyone this week Mike Guarino can be contacted at | ||
