JULY bass fishing report (whats working now)

[TNFL]

I was out on Tuesday and caught 9 bass over 13 inches and another 1/2 dozen under 12. All fish came from reed beds. Weightless senko (chart/pepper, white/silver fleck, and crawdad), 1 on a chart spinnerbait d/willow. Points and pockets on the edges of the reeds worked well. I was trying to pre-fish and get a look at as much water as I could so I didn't bother pitching deep, but I'm sure I could have found a few more doing that. I really noticed that the reeds in 2-3 feet of water greatly out-produced the reeds in 1-2 feet.

[rippinlips]

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Well I finally found my lost school of fish that have been hiding from me, found them on an inside deep weedline turn that comes out of a very deep point and then comes up onto a 10' to 8' flat covered with clumps of coontail and man they are in there thick. The good thing about the spot there in is that point is fished by walleye guys and has never been known for holding bass.

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Right after I got done writing that My buddy called me and told me he watched 3 hmong fishing on that deep point for walleye and they caught 15 bass not a one under 4 pounds and six of them between 5 and 5 1/2 pounds and kept them all so he confronted them at the boat launch and looked at them and weighed them and also tried to explain the importance of selective harvest and should they should put some of them back he said they told him to f#@* off so he called the game warden and he got within 3 min because he was already heading to the lake and the warden even tried to explain the importance of selective harvest and they would not listen. But they made the mistake of telling the warden about all the bass they had in the freezer that now they had enough for a big family fish fry so the warden was leaving with them to go to there house's and check the freezers. If they would take the time to understand our rules and laws things like this would not happen to them or maybe they don't care. I know this should have been in a different post but it just follows what posted about five minutes ago. This is just fustrating.

[Central Bassman]

lol doesn’t surprise me... I hate hearing stories like these... It really Pi$$ me off!!!!

[st.crioxfishin]

Had a club tournament on minnetonka yesterday. Man was it a scorcher! Found all my fish up under trees along rip rap banks with deep water close by. I caught them on a jig and a sweet beaver texas rigged. Prefishing I had a good topwater bite going in the morning, but that failed yesterday with only two blowups that were misses. Moved to the trees and got a quick limit, then went out deep in crystal bay. I had one really good deep spot, but wasn't able to stay on it very well, with a small boat on a sunday on tonka you can imagine. Went back to the trees about noon and caught a couple more. Ended up with a little under 14 lbs for the day so it wasn't all bad.

[Jakesbuds]

June 29th I went to a lake in McGregor that shall remain nameless for the first time in years and probably had the best fishing I've ever had. Caught upwards of 70 - 80 Bass all over 12" easily with about 10 fish total under 12". Didnt matter what plastic you threw as long as it was under a dock they smashed it instantly. I didnt even have time to trip my bail half the time and they were already in the air or running with the bait. Defintely will be heading back up there some time soon with another hundred dollars worth of plastics!

Last Friday had a club tourney on Lake Alexander. Fishing was pretty good for us, we managed to pull in a little over 14lbs all six were smallies with the biggest weighing 3.8. Sight fishing all day which was a nice little change. Plastics again, dropped senkos, Yum hawg craws and Zoom flukes in their face and they were hammering them.

Saturday was the second part of the club tourney at Fish Trap Lake. I personally hate this lake lol, never have had a good day out there anytime I've ever fished it. Tried everything I had. We finally caught our 6th fish at 12:50pm and the tourney ended at 1pm lol. Looong Looong day and it was HOT!!! Ended up taking 4th in the 2-day tourney, all in all it was a decent trip.

[ikeslayer]

jake in my eperience if they are really hammering the soft plastic they will usually hit a hard bait of some kind. i find this a little less expensive than plastics all day. i would try a spinnerbait and when that fails a original floating rapala or a count down they skip pretty decent and they will hold up all day until a northern takes it.

sounds like a fun day of fishing and nicely donein your tourneys.

ike

[TNFL]

Was out on clearwater yesterday, HOLY WIND, fishing was brutal. Managed 5 bass (keeper size) in the reeds and about 6 or 7 below 12". Also caught 3 sunnies between 7.5 and 8 inches on senkos. One, I set the hook real hard and it came flying out of the water, into the boat, and it wasn't even hooked, just holding onto the tail from the hook back. All fish were released.

[Jakesbuds]

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jake in my eperience if they are really hammering the soft plastic they will usually hit a hard bait of some kind. i find this a little less expensive than plastics all day. i would try a spinnerbait and when that fails a original floating rapala or a count down they skip pretty decent and they will hold up all day until a northern takes it.

sounds like a fun day of fishing and nicely donein your tourneys.

ike

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LOL! trust me, I wont be throwing that many plastics next time. I'm sure if you threw a gummy worm on a hook they would've slammed it as well. And thanks for the compliment!

[FishingRebel]

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Well I finally found my lost school of fish that have been hiding from me, found them on an inside deep weedline turn that comes out of a very deep point and then comes up onto a 10' to 8' flat covered with clumps of coontail and man they are in there thick. The good thing about the spot there in is that point is fished by walleye guys and has never been known for holding bass.

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Right after I got done writing that My buddy called me and told me he watched 3 hmong fishing on that deep point for walleye and they caught 15 bass not a one under 4 pounds and six of them between 5 and 5 1/2 pounds and kept them all so he confronted them at the boat launch and looked at them and weighed them and also tried to explain the importance of selective harvest and should they should put some of them back he said they told him to f#@* off so he called the game warden and he got within 3 min because he was already heading to the lake and the warden even tried to explain the importance of selective harvest and they would not listen. But they made the mistake of telling the warden about all the bass they had in the freezer that now they had enough for a big family fish fry so the warden was leaving with them to go to there house's and check the freezers. If they would take the time to understand our rules and laws things like this would not happen to them or maybe they don't care. I know this should have been in a different post but it just follows what posted about five minutes ago. This is just fustrating.

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To be honest, I would have said the same thing to your buddy.. I mean, there were 3 guys, and limit for each of the guys is 6. So what is there total limit? 18 bass!!! They ONLY caught 15! Well below there total limit...

[ole matty]

went out this mornin with my buddy hopin to get him on some bass but its didnt work out for him.. didnt hookset good i wld say.. i caught a few bass 1 to 3 lbs..

hey deitz i saw ur truck at the landing how did you do?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Great morning.. Except for the wind.. Through some cranks (DT10) got some good fish.. Stupid Rig and Drop Shot caught the most, bigges was 4 3/4 lbs.

[Ray Esboldt]

Went out this morning and got into some fish on some rocks in 18 to 22 feet of water. Senko style baits on a carolina rig and a texas rig. All of them were pretty nice fish with a couple over 4 pounds.

One thing that kind of blows my mind any time I fish deep rocks (lots of rocks, not just one here and there) is I can almost never catch a fish on a jig-n-pig. I can catch them on carolina rigs, jigworm, roller jigs, texas rig, and cranks, but I never catch them on flippin' jig. Someone needs to explain that one to me.

[NitroFisher]

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Well I finally found my lost school of fish that have been hiding from me, found them on an inside deep weedline turn that comes out of a very deep point and then comes up onto a 10' to 8' flat covered with clumps of coontail and man they are in there thick. The good thing about the spot there in is that point is fished by walleye guys and has never been known for holding bass.

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Right after I got done writing that My buddy called me and told me he watched 3 hmong fishing on that deep point for walleye and they caught 15 bass not a one under 4 pounds and six of them between 5 and 5 1/2 pounds and kept them all so he confronted them at the boat launch and looked at them and weighed them and also tried to explain the importance of selective harvest and should they should put some of them back he said they told him to f#@* off so he called the game warden and he got within 3 min because he was already heading to the lake and the warden even tried to explain the importance of selective harvest and they would not listen. But they made the mistake of telling the warden about all the bass they had in the freezer that now they had enough for a big family fish fry so the warden was leaving with them to go to there house's and check the freezers. If they would take the time to understand our rules and laws things like this would not happen to them or maybe they don't care. I know this should have been in a different post but it just follows what posted about five minutes ago. This is just fustrating.

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I've actually been reading posts in here for years now.. But i just had to reply to this post.

As stated before by someone else, no rules were broken here. Their daily and possession limit is 18 largemouth bass. Unless they were fishing a lake with special largemouth bass regulations, they have done nothing wrong, and if they did, the warden would have gave them citations on the spot.

Perhaps you and your buddy should understand the laws better and learn some respect, you guys dont rule this world. So, is it really them that did not understand our MN fishing regs, or is it YOU and your BUDDY?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I dont think they are to worried that bass were being kept more so that most the fish they were keeping were very nice bass.

My report for today... Well, sadly, I dont have much to report. First lake I hit produced very little and what was caught came from cranking a midlake hump with almost no action shallow. Second lake had visibility less than a foot. All the bass we hooked came from shallow laydowns. The only thing they seemed to want (or could find) was a black rattling jig with a big plastic chunk.

[river rat316]

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Well I finally found my lost school of fish that have been hiding from me, found them on an inside deep weedline turn that comes out of a very deep point and then comes up onto a 10' to 8' flat covered with clumps of coontail and man they are in there thick. The good thing about the spot there in is that point is fished by walleye guys and has never been known for holding bass.

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Right after I got done writing that My buddy called me and told me he watched 3 hmong fishing on that deep point for walleye and they caught 15 bass not a one under 4 pounds and six of them between 5 and 5 1/2 pounds and kept them all so he confronted them at the boat launch and looked at them and weighed them and also tried to explain the importance of selective harvest and should they should put some of them back he said they told him to f#@* off so he called the game warden and he got within 3 min because he was already heading to the lake and the warden even tried to explain the importance of selective harvest and they would not listen. But they made the mistake of telling the warden about all the bass they had in the freezer that now they had enough for a big family fish fry so the warden was leaving with them to go to there house's and check the freezers. If they would take the time to understand our rules and laws things like this would not happen to them or maybe they don't care. I know this should have been in a different post but it just follows what posted about five minutes ago. This is just fustrating.

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I've actually been reading posts in here for years now.. But i just had to reply to this post.

As stated before by someone else, no rules were broken here. Their daily and possession limit is 18 largemouth bass. Unless they were fishing a lake with special largemouth bass regulations, they have done nothing wrong, and if they did, the warden would have gave them citations on the spot.

Perhaps you and your buddy should understand the laws better and learn some respect, you guys dont rule this world. So, is it really them that did not understand our MN fishing regs, or is it YOU and your BUDDY?

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Ummm actually if they had bass in there freezer they are breaking the possesion limit law, all fish in your possession wether on you or in your freezer count towards that possession limit..... maybe you should no the regs

[ocf1]

Well, I did a rendition of A Day on the Lake. I was on ham lake in wis. All fishing done out of paddle boat with no extras. I started out fishing the lily pads with no luck. So I hit up some dock with a wacky sencke and crushed them. Alot of dinks with some bigguns. I put together a 15 pound limit in 6 hours. Pretty good. Dock had deep water near by, shady side or under produced best. Isolated docks gave up 2 4 pounders.

[bassNspear]

Well, it was a day to remember. As Dietz would say... "My Baby Boy Has Grown Up" as most of you know, i am a huge dock and flipping fan. Most of the time i will find fish were i can do alot of dock fishing, or flipping structor to get my fish.

Dietz has been working me to get out the camera, and start to learn how to fish deep water. I was out today at the first lake, and of course i started shallow. Getting a few fish on some reeds that my brother and i were fishing. Moved out a bit, and started to throw swim jigs, which we got a ton of fish on. Working it out in front of the weeds, which we throw over the top, and worked it through.

So after that, i went to the deep water. Started with a jigworm, which i cuaght two fish. Then went the carolina rig, with a black neon tube, and had nothing be 2 lb fish. I was a learing experience. Im not a fan of deep water, but learning how to do it, and what to look for, helps to know that at ne time, i should be able to get some fish out deep. that is if they are not up n the shallow's

[Matt Johnson]

Spent all day on the water yesterday out on Tonka, part of it was guiding, the other part was the evening pad bite Great day to be out and the fishing was pretty good.

Worked a lot of deep weedlines for a good part of the day. Fish seemed to be relating to any underwater points and turns. Wasn't uncommon to pick up a few fish off each piece of structure. Never hooked a single pike all day which is always nice... no lost jigs We also hooked a few fish on top of the structure in 4-6 feet of water. Those fish were smaller though.

Did manage my biggest fish of the year off the very first cast of the day. Came in at 21 3/4 inches. Didn't even have the trolling motor in the water yet Decided to scout out a few spots before picking up my clients and hooked into a toad. Go figure. Later on in the day after guiding I fished with a buddy and his first cast turned up a healthy 19.5 incher. It was a day of first casts I guess

Anyone catch the weights of the Denny Super 30? Anyone out there fishing in it?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I love a good crankbait bite!

This AM I hit a metro lake and the fish were more than willing to chase down my bait. I mostly threw DT10s and 16s color didnt seem to matter. I was fishing steep sloped banks. Best areas had rock in the 8-10' zone before dropping off. Lots of bass and lots of pesky pike too. Even landed a 30" range muskie. I tried fishing the same areas with a 10" T-rigged worm but had little luck. The dock bite was almost nonexistant.

Big bass of the day was just a hair away from 20"

[Mr. Pike1]

If interested I was at the cabin on Vermillion and posted my weekly report on the Vermillion forum under reports.

Readers Digest version is that it was great weather, great fishing, and all fish caught on senko's. I would guess a little over 100 smallies for the trip. 50% percent of fish were 15 inchers, 30% 16 inchers, 10% 17 inchers, and 10% 18 and 19 inchers. Could not break 20 inches but man was it fun. I also got a few large mouth in some of the weedier bays. After the second day I felt like I needed a personal trainer to ice down by wrist and forearm.

Anyway, I am back in town and hope to hit a few metro ponds over the weekend. I am hearing there is a deeper bite so I may have to crank and jig the deeper water. Of course being a dock junkie I will hit a few of the shady sides of the dock with Senko, tube, or Mr. Spinner.

[Mr. Pike1]

A few pics from the trip. The first pic is a 19" and a 17" "Senko" smallies.

[bassNspear]

nice trip. Are you eating them things?

[Mr. Pike1]

No, gosh no. All fish are swimming freely. Each day I did a morning run and evening run of 2-3 hours each trip. Most trips produced 20-25 fish each time. The full report by day is on the Vermillion forum. The livewell pics were just for fun on a few trips I would bring fish back to the dock to show my daughter. I also wanted to represtent the different coloration of the smallies. I also guess it could be considered "stocking" the bay by the cabin as I released them at the dock.

[bassNspear]

I didnt think that you would want to eat them. I understand that you wanted to take some pictures, we all do that.

Nice fish man. I bet it was a great time out on the water.

[Doonbuggy]

Man, what a day! A buddy and I absolutely clobbered the bass this morning on a metro lake.

A jigworm was the ticket on the deep weedline where it transitioned from milfoil to sand. (We only realized why they were there until after the bite stopped and we finally were willing to put down the rods in lieu of the u/w camera). The action was that fast. We had multiple doubles!

In an area the size of three basketball courts we landed 27 in an hour and a half. Biggest was 19" with loads of 15-17" fish. Lost about a dozen more. And did they have bellies on them!

I have never seen a school of bass schooled up so much. An absolute blast. My buddy and I could only shake our heads in disbelief. The Fishing Gods were looking down on us.

The big reason for the success however was my learning how to fish deep weedlines with plastics. Still a work in progress, but in June I worked on the Senko (I know I'm late to the party on this lure) and today the jigworm was the ticket.

Thanks for all the great info and threads on this subject. It really paid off today!

Never before have I fished with such a high confidence level. I literally was expecting a fish on every drop. And by drop I mean we were literally on top of them in 13-15' of water. Fished them like walleyes.

DB