Whites, Hybrids and Stripers?

[nomolites]

They essentially behave the same in the hot months(now) except rather than the backs of coves they move up onto or around flats late in the day.  Same old saw...those near deep water and on an inside turn are the best....

Mike

[snagged in outlet 3]

We got on em at a lake up north in Illinois a couple weeks ago right outside the marina.  They were ripping it up for about 20 minutes first thing in the morning and then......silence.

We boated a couple.

[Old plug]

On 8/7/2018 at 6:48 AM, bfishn said:

 

On 8/7/2018 at 2:10 PM, Bushbeater said:

Pink out is a term, I believe coined by the Wrench, describing the last bit of daylight after the sunset. It seems the Hybrids aren't worth fishing for except during that time. Go out as the sun sets and come in with your lights on. BTW the Largemouth were biting some earlier in the evening, had 3 keepers and some dinks, all off outside corners of docks on cranks. I couldn't get bit on Jigs or plastic baits. 

Maybe Wrench coined out pink out time. But I never know him to use it. But then again have never heard him utter a word.   I use the expression pink UP. Thats what I learned. I guess it goes both ways.  It is a prime fishing time in the summer period provided you got the other two sides of the golden fishing triangle in place. The right place and right way. Its takes all three.

[fishinwrench]

15 hours ago, nomolites said:

They essentially behave the same in the hot months(now) except rather than the backs of coves they move up onto or around flats late in the day.  Same old saw...those near deep water and on an inside turn are the best....

Mike

You've got me trying to think of where a decent shallow flat is that isn't in the backend of a creek arm/or cove.   I can't think of a single one that is below Porter Mill bend.   

Don't you mostly fish the lower lake?

[nomolites]

14 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

You've got me trying to think of where a decent shallow flat is that isn't in the backend of a creek arm/or cove.   I can't think of a single one that is below Porter Mill bend.   

Don't you mostly fish the lower lake?

Likely an issue of semantics.  Shoal may be the better word, with the good ones having a significant area at roughly the same depth adjacent to deep water.  For example 6 Mile, Gibson, Tony’s, Sheldon, and the hump( I refer to as Guido’s)on the lower end of the Gravi  And one as you approach Lakeview moving up Lake - depending on conditions and boat traffic they can all be very good or very bad.  I have also had success at Rainbow(mouth of Bogue) and others with smaller “flats” but you get the idea.  They can be completely barren but as the shadows descend shad get pushed up by the temperate bass and walleye and it gets busy fast.  The presence of shad nearby is the key, and in that regard current helps.

Mike

[Blazerman]

18 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

You've got me trying to think of where a decent shallow flat is that isn't in the backend of a creek arm/or cove.   I can't think of a single one that is below Porter Mill bend.   

Don't you mostly fish the lower lake?

Great info.

[96 CHAMP]

On ‎8‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 12:53 PM, fishinwrench said:

No, but when that happens it's a bonus.  

In another month or so they will start herding shad into shallow bays like this one 

and I can load up in no time at all when they go on their 30 minute-to-3 hour long gorge fest almost every evening in the backend of these coves.  They will be hanging out over that 18-25' water at the mouth of the cove all day.... but you'll wear yourself out trying to catch any.    Once they make the move back into water less than 10' they become way easier to catch.  Sometimes the feed is quick, sometimes it lasts until dark, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all.  There's no pattern to wind, cloud cover, water generation, or anything else that I can pinpoint, they just do what they do and you either get them or you don't.  But it's always a late afternoon/evening thing.  Mornings and mid-day is a waste of time.

that's when you need to sit back and have a cold one and wait wrench!!

[Old plug]

On 8/7/2018 at 8:59 AM, fishinwrench said:

I wish I knew how to catch them before they move onto the shallow flats, but so far, for me, that has proven to be about as successful as playing horse shoes blindfolded.    Once they put 1/4 to 1/2 mile between themselves and deep water then the odds of me loading the boat increase dramatically.  

Trolling is the key for catching them deep. Got a friend got 8 Hybrids last week trolling nothing much more than 2 lbs. Trolling is just not in me. and neither is chasing them around when they on top.. I will take my chances on a place they come to with some regularity.  Have tried putting shad down into schools of them deep to no avail.  Of course threre always that odd ball that does not conform to the norm. I just do not have the patients for that.I enjoy the hunt.  I think the best time to get them is when they are on their way to feed. The bigger they seem to get the deeper they stay as well. I fish a break a lot that they seem to come over. I have caught my share of larger ones there down 20 ft or better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nomolites]

The larger(size fish) schools do tend to stay deeper this time of year for sure.  I catch most of my better fish in 20-30 FOW....

Mike

[fishinwrench]

I can't understand why any fish would want to spend the majority of its life at that depth in this lake.  The lake floor below 15ft. is mostly covered in a thick blanket of silt, so your visions of bass hanging around clean Rocky ledges and such are nothing more than a figment of your imagination.   Imagine the landscape after a heavy snowfall and that's what things are like down there.   Nothing aside from some insect larvae lives smothered in that 12-20" layer of yuck along the bottom.

I'm certainly not denying that fish (lots of them) get located and caught down there, but my confidence is always short lived when trying to catch fish deeper than 12-15'.  If I don't catch them pretty quick then I'm right back to fishing the shallower areas where I know things are more the way I think a fish would prefer.