By Aaron Kephart
Summer will be on us before we know it, and I would like to spend some time talking about what to expect in terms of options for species and patterns for summer. Although I seem to end up guiding for everything that swims at some point in the summer (stripers, trophy brown trout, largemouth, spots, hybrids, and I even have people request bluegill and catfish trips, on occasion), my favorite summer species to guide for are smallmouth bass and crappie.
Forecasting fishing trends in advance can be almost as difficult as predicting the weather. However, summer is pretty much a no-brainer because of the relative stability in weather patterns- meaning it is constantly hot! While winter and spring were exceptional for Mountain Lakes Guide Service clients and I hate to see these months end (we caught 36 in a short trip two days ago, with the 5 biggest smallmouth weighing just under 24 pounds) summer actually offers more predictable fishing. Just because the weather is heating up doesn’t mean the fishing is cooling down. In fact, the increase in water temperatures, and decrease in spawning activity, actually opens up new opportunities for big smallmouth and crappie on the lakes in, and around, Murphy, North Carolina.
Summer may not provide the 40 and 50+ smallmouth days of winter and early spring but it also doesn’t come with the massive cold fronts that can completely kill the bite. You can realistically still have quite a few 20 smallmouth mornings this time of year, and if you hit it just right, you might even do a bit better than that. The key is to be on the water early, preferably as soon as there is enough light to see how to back down the ramp.
I also like the transition of patterns and locations that the fish go through this time of year. In particular, we often get on a great topwater smallmouth bite in the summer. There is nothing more fun than big smallmouth fighting over a topwater bait. Other seasonal patterns begin to develop as well.
As an added bonus, we often catch our biggest smallmouths of the entire year in this time frame (last year we caught four smallmouth over 6 pounds and one over 7 pounds, between June and September).
As a heads up to my clients, I am participating in a data collection effort for the biologists that monitor and study Lake Apalachia. Essentially, what this entails is documenting each fish we catch and recording the species, weight, and length. This information will be used as part of an effort for the biologists to collect data for an in-house study regarding public questions about the size and weight of fish in the lake. While this process takes up a few minutes of time in a day of fishing, it has proven to be of interest to my clients and I just want potential new clients to know in advance what to expect with this data collection process.
As an additional note, I like for my clients to know, up front, that I make every effort to release the big bass we catch, especially in the spring spawning season. They are a precious and renewable resource, but that renewability is dependent upon the trophy specimens being able to repopulate the gene pool. I offer trips for other species if clients are only interested in keeping fish to eat, but my policy is to release the big bass we catch, except in the case of a true monster (and even then a replica mount is often a more affordable, longer lasting, and more attractive option).
Speaking of trips I offer for people interested in catching fish to eat, there is no better eating, freshwater fish, than crappie, and one of the specialties of my business is night fishing, crappie trips in the summer. I normally start offering these trips in May, and often run them until it cools off too much at night, in the fall, for comfort. This is a wonderful way for a family, or just a few buddies, to get together and have a blast putting a bunch of fish in the cooler for a fish fry. They are just about as much fun to eat, as they are to catch. As an added bonus, there is no need to get up at five in the morning and then melt in the heat. We typically meet at the ramp around seven, in the evening, and fish until around midnight. If the idea of catching a bunch of big crappie, spending a fun night on the lake, and experiencing something different in the world of fishing interests you, I would love to hear from you.
If you are interested in booking a trip, or would like more information, please give me a call at 865-466-1345, email me at mtnlakesguide@outlook.com, or visit me on Facebook@mountainlakesguideservice. As of right now I still have 3 dates left in May, and I have started booking June and July trips. I hope to hear from you!