A Summertime Pattern

August 21st 2018

 

Tino was back with me today, hoping to learn about summertime smallies. He hadn’t fished for them in several weeks and was now only catching the odd, small one when he did. I knew he was in for a great day and an even better learning experience!

I began in an area for the first time this season, based on the time of year. It was definitely a summer spot and required a slow presentation, in order to get bit. We were both throwing soft plastics and allowing the current to present the baits to the fish. These bass were set up on drop offs and It didn’t take long before Tino saw what I meant. I felt a tick and immediately set into a nice smallie. Confirmation was made as it took to the air in a spectacular leap and I also knew there would be plenty more to follow.

Tino was having a difficult time hooking up but he was definitely getting the bites. I tried to explain that he needed to remove the slack line before setting, but it wasn’t easy. Eventually he did manage to hook into a fish and unfortunately it was on the small side. Things could only get better!

We had remained in this area for a while and many fish were hooked in the time we fished. Too bad the landing percentage was less than half! I had brought several good ones to net, but Tino was still struggling to land anything of size. Eventually I slid up on the shallower water and presented the baits to the deep water instead. This got us a few more bites but none were landed. These fish don’t get big from being stupid! Time to make a move!

I ran to another spot and decided to fish it differently than usual due to the strong SE winds. I normally allow the baits to drift down current naturally but today I was going to use the electric motor to anchor us and cast to specific holding areas.

As soon as I set up, Tino made one cast and was tight to a really good bass! He didn’t know it, but this was the start of his best smallie day ever! After a great battle, I was finally able to get the net under his fish and several pics were taken before the release. I think his very next cast also provided him with another fish and he was finally understanding what he needed to do. Although smaller than the first one, it was still a good fish and worthy of another pic.

We had covered a bunch of water in the area and Tino had hooked many fish in the process. He also landed more than he lost and that was a great thing! He was finally understanding the tight line thing and was now setting the hook without any slack. This translated into more fish fought and landed for him! I was also able to angle the boat properly with the electric motor and utilize the wind to my advantage. This gave Tino the angle to make casts to the water that held the fish. He was definitely hooking plenty of them too!

I think the bite stayed good for about 4 hours or so, allowing me to take advantage of the actively feeding fish. Tino was on fire and landing loads of quality smallies. He wasn’t use to seeing this kind of action and fish of such size. It was about his best day ever for smallmouth bass!

As the afternoon wound down, so did the bite. We were now struggling to get hits and it wasn’t because the fish weren’t there! In one of the areas I saw a bunch of big bass just swimming and none of them showed any interest at all. I hit two more places before we were done and had just as many short strikes. They definitely had no interest in eating anymore and we were done!

Today was a great learning experience for Tino as he got to see the best and the worst in the same day. He witnessed an active feeding period where he could do no wrong and a dead time where it was impossible to even get bit. He also has a better understanding of what to look for the next time he is on the water, hopefully adding a few more fish to his time out. This was by far the best bass fishing he had ever experienced and I know it won’t be the last time he says that! There’s even better days to come!!