raywriter
08-07-2012, 03:35 PM
I have been out on the river 3 times since Mon. 7-30 when we slammed the smallmouth bass so hard (See the "Smallmouth Rampage" post). On Fri. 8-3 I landed 13 bass in about an hour. On Sunday 8-5 my wife and I fished with two other people and in about 3 hours we landed/released 38 bass, and today my wife and I landed 22 bass. All three outings were in different places, spread out over a wide portion of the Escanaba River. The longest trip was 3 hours, the shortest was one hour.
The fish were active in shallow water today and the deepest spot we fished was about 2 1/2 feet. At least half our fish were shallower than that. This was mid-day, bright sun, and I could easily see the river bottom where we were catching them. The largest was 16 inches. Many were 12 to fifteen inches. Our casts were directed either upstream or downstream to keep some distance between us and the fish. We were wading on all trips, and this can spook fish.
Since we fished so shallow today, we used lures that float during the entire retrieve. Tiny Torpedos, Chug Bugs, and One I call "The Snake" were all good. The Snake lure is a shad imitator with no lip. I snap the rod tip during the retrieve which makes the lure zig-zag across the surface. It looks like a snake's head swimming along. The other lures are "popped" along with a "drift and twitch" retrieve. My best run today was five bass on five casts.
The fish were active in shallow water today and the deepest spot we fished was about 2 1/2 feet. At least half our fish were shallower than that. This was mid-day, bright sun, and I could easily see the river bottom where we were catching them. The largest was 16 inches. Many were 12 to fifteen inches. Our casts were directed either upstream or downstream to keep some distance between us and the fish. We were wading on all trips, and this can spook fish.
Since we fished so shallow today, we used lures that float during the entire retrieve. Tiny Torpedos, Chug Bugs, and One I call "The Snake" were all good. The Snake lure is a shad imitator with no lip. I snap the rod tip during the retrieve which makes the lure zig-zag across the surface. It looks like a snake's head swimming along. The other lures are "popped" along with a "drift and twitch" retrieve. My best run today was five bass on five casts.