By Capt. James McManus
June on Fontana is when I start thinking trolling , trolling, trolling. There is nothing more fun than throwing small jigs or jerkbaits to the bank, any bank, and catching fish after fish, regardless of the area, type of rock, or soil makeup. You can pretty much rely on this through the spring, but when June hits, you better start looking over your shoulder to the open water if you want to consistently catch fish. Our fish follow the shad out to open water after they spawn and basically hang out under bait schools, pushing them to the surface whenever they feel the urge to gorge a little. You can find fish off of points – walleye, in particular, will still relate to points and trolling across them, in 25-45 feet of water, will put you in the right place ‘til later in the summer when the water temperature really heats up. If you mark fish, particularly on a clay bottom, but can’t get them to bite, then try bumping the bottom with your downrigger ball. You have to pick your points, but many times this will stir things up and really put them on the feed.
Our bass will relate to points but can just as easily hang out in 200 feet of water with nothing but flat channel below. These fish can be spotted breaking in small schools and are usually eager to hit any small minnow type bait, spoon or jig. Trolling towards breaks allows an angler or two up front to throw at breaking fish, pinpointing their casts as quickly as possible after the break. If you can hit within 5 feet and 5 seconds, you are almost guaranteed a strike. Follow whatever your electronics dictate as to depth, fish may be all over the surface and simultaneously at 50-60 feet. I try and run 5 or 6 rods at a time at the very least with a couple of flat lines, couple of weighted or lead core lines, and the downriggers set to whatever is showing as the deepest fish. Mixed bags are the rule with spots, whites, smallies, walleye, and trout – all in the mix. Watch out for other boaters, as some of them seem to put their hand over their eyes and drive blindly about, not paying anyone any attention. I have fantasized about throwing a 4 ounce weight into their boat to wake them up, but you can’t fix stupid or inattentiveness, so best to just try and stay out of their way, which is obviously the most effective alternative. Enjoy the weather, find a spot down lake from the crowd and fill your cooler with some varied and tasty filets.
Later, Capt. James