Greers Ferry July Forecast 09

[Cody Smith]

Hello All, the summer's heat has definitely arrived. Days in the upper 90's and heat index's in the 100's have been the norm so far early into this summer. These warm day time temperatures and warmer night's have sky rocketed the water surface temperatures to the mid to upper 80's. Typically we do not see these number's until the latter part of July and into August, not so for 2009. Fishing has been really well overall with a few tuff day's in between. However, even on the hardest of days we have managed to put decent numbers of fish in the boat. Greers Ferry is still slightly above normal summer pool of 461.4 feet and on the fall back to normal summer levels. June started out extremely wet and provided a lot of places for bait fish to hide and survive. After the past two springs of copious amounts of rain, this reservoir is quickly turning into a premier fishing destination. Last month I had the privilege of fishing with Bill Burnett of Big River Marine, (870)732-9300, we had a great day on the water boating Cat's, Walleye's, Largemouth, Small mouth and a few spot's. A great trip out and even better company on the water. The walleye bite has pulled off slightly since May, however eye's are still being boated every trip out and providing good solid action for those that choose to pursue this tasty fish. Like all great fishing trips that end with a story we had a couple of eye's hooked up this month that where easily in the 15lb class but where unsuccessfully in getting them to the boat. Folk's, there is definitely another world record fish spending it's days in our fine reservoir. Your best bet for catching these fish is to keep it simple, key in on channel swing areas with rock and wood cover in 18 - 32 feet of water. Rig a night crawler on an 1/8 oz. lead head and fish it thorough on the bottom in these key areas. The hybrids and White's are starting to school pretty good with all of the bait out on main lake areas. Fishing for the ones that are on the surface providing some of the best action all year. Flukes, Pop-R's, Chug Bugs, Spooks and alike will get a voracious strike from the frenzied fish. During the day when the sun is higher in the sky use your electronics to find pods of these fish suspended in open water. Once located drop a Cotton Cordell spoon to them and hang on for some great fun and excitement. Most all of the bass in the lake are making there way to there summer haunts feeding at select times of the day and taking advantage of an easy meal passing by them. C-rig's, Shakey Heads, Jigs, and spoons will provide the best action when presented on main lake points and ledges just off the main channel. If your looking for some good action and don't want to load the tackle bag up, keep it simple and go after them with a simple lead head jig with a whole crawler or large shiner. These fish will simply demolish this live bait offering. Look for the end of this month to provide some excellent night fishing, the night bite will only improve as the water temperature rise. August and September are by far the best month's to hit the water at night. If you choose to fish during this time, please make sure all your boat lights are working and you have an anchor light on at all times. A great spot to look for when fishing at night for all of our game fish are under lighted boat docks and marina location's. The light's from above will draw the bugs, inturn this will draw the bait and the game fish will show up. Good Luck out there and be safe. If you have any question's or would like to book a date on the water, shoot me an email (smittyc888@hotmail.com) or give me a call anytime at 501.691.5701,