By Capt. James McManus
This is the time of year when you know you are going to be outdoors doing something…you just have to decide which thing is the most pressing. Gone are the days when it was so sticky you just wanted to stay in the AC and drink cold beverages, still, it’s just before when all you want to do is sit by the fire and drink hot beverages. So now we have established that it’s “just right” outside, maybe requiring a jacket in the morning which hopefully, comes off by midday and isn’t reapplied ‘til the sun starts it’s subhorizonal journey.
The rivers have been stocked with all manner of trout for delayed harvest, almost all hunting seasons are now open, a few leaves are remaining to accentuate camping trips, but my favorite thing is the renewed bank bite at Fontana. Would love to have access to some of those archival tags that are affixed to great white sharks. A few dozen placed on some of the bigger spots and walleye would let me know where these things hide from June to October. But now you can cruise a bank and, if fish are anywhere near, they will show up on your sonar. The even better outcome is that if they show up they will also bite what you feed them. Fish are starting to group up into schools near bait so find one and you have usually found a good many. Baits have grown a little so there isn’t as much problem matching the hatch with incredibly small offerings.
So, I know what I’ll be doing, taking the next steps to locate the biggest concentrations of fish so I don’t just wander aimlessly staring at my sonar. I like to start more towards the middle of the lake now. Although bass don’t move as much as stripers, they do still tend to move up or down the lake depending on the season. They make the move towards cooler, deeper water near the dam when summer heat is bearing down, and back towards mid-lake at this time of year, before the spring push towards the river mouths. I tend to find them on points at creek mouths, and smaller points farther back into the creeks themselves. Places like the mouth of Fourney, Chambers, or Greasy Branch Creeks are some of my go-to spots. If there is some wind, check out the points with some color, whether they are big or small. Depth can be an open book with fish from the surface, down to 80 or so feet. Just because it’s cooler doesn’t mean fish won’t seek out deeper water. Cold fronts, in particular, can drive them deep but they seem to not bury themselves on the bottom sulking, like in summer heat. Getting them to bite is more a case of picking the bait that can be used at the depth you are marking them.
Seems I always have tons of rods rigged, never more than I need, just lots of them. The reason for this is that I don’t want to pass on any opportunity to reach fish I mark or spot. A fish blowing up on the surface is great fun matched to a spook or popper. Jerkbaits like the X-raps are great searching baits, they cast far distances and always catch fish. Jigs with flukes or K-techs can be used anywhere but excel thrown to and walked down a bank. If fish are really deep, an ice jig is the quickest way to get down to them and then there are the different colors and weights of all of the above. So take a little thermos for early, some waters for midday, matching jackets, and lots of rods and baits and enjoy the finest time of the year. Let me know if you want to catch a few and enjoy what beauty God has laid on us in these mountains, later, Capt. James
Capt. James McManus is the Owner of 153 Charters. Give him a call for a great day of boat fishing! Visit his Facebook page, www.facebook.com/153Charters.