Summer Smallies

James, just wanted to answer your question about the weird summer and how it affected the smallies on the bay. I thought the cooler weather would keep the fish shallow longer in mid summer but this was not the case. The smallies went right to deep rock and channel edges and there was basically no weed bite this summer. Sparse weed beds may have had something to do with this!! One thing I did find is alot of fish suspending out over deep water. Obviously, this is where the bait fish were and the smallies opted for them instead of structure. One evening in late July I was catching smallies on topwaters over 37 ft of water. They were crashing minnows on the surface and it was a phenomenal bite for about 15 min. Current areas were also consistent summer spots. Usually the fish move in and out of these areas but it was almost a daily bite at the ends of piers, breakwaters etc. Have the fun is figuring out where the fish are from day to day! The fish really moved in large schools both summer and fall.
Chris

Thanks for the info. The walleye bite was “weird” on the river this summer too. The unusually cool temps did not keep our fish shallow. In fact we found some what of the opposite. In a typical summer the walleyes move to shallow areas with high current to find cooler water with high dissolved oygen levels. We typically find this pattern to unfold in VERY shallow backwater areas with a sand/rubble bottom. That pattern never really set up this year and when it did it was during one of the few extended warm stretches we did see.

Although we did miss out on this “count on it” pattern the change in conditions certainly did help us get a better grasp on why things were happening in years past.

Like you said, figuring it out is half the fun!