By Preston Harden
Water level is at full pool and the water temperature is in the upper 70s.
June is the perfect month to catch fish consistently. If you understand the fish transitions, it is easy to pattern most game fish. The hybrids and stripers start to group up and move down the lake, out of the creeks and the upper lake areas. Lots of years, I catch hybrids and stripers as they migrate down lake on top of the thermocline. The thermocline develops in the upper lake and creeks first. It will look like a fuzzy line on most sonars, at about 35 to 40 feet deep. Below the thermocline is very low oxygen and above the thermocline, the water is warm. Lots of years, I can follow the schools as they slowly migrate toward the lower Lake. They will ride on top of the thermocline about 30 to 40 feet deep. They are looking for cool, oxygenated water. By July, most big fish are in the lower half of the Lake. There they can go to depths of over 100 feet and feed, and be happy all summer.
The bass also migrate to deeper water. Most largemouth and spotted bass leave the shallow bank and move offshore to brush piles. This can be 10 to 15 feet deep, or deeper. By July, the bass can be 20 to 40 feet deep, usually around structure.
Most of my fishing by then is with Herring. I will have top water plugs at the ready, rigged with lucky Kraft Sammys in ghost minnow. I will have this top water plug ready all summer. I will also have rods rigged with 1 ounce jig heads and 5 inch swim bait to power reel with.