Cold Front, Hot Fish: Midwest September Slam 2024

 

The conditions

It's only a week after my last post...but the conditions have changed!

-My last post was less than a week ago, end of August 2024

-The air temps went from 95 degrees to a very nice September cold front of 70 degrees

-The water temps have gone from hot bath water to lukewarm and colder temperatures

-I've noticed that the little minnows from the spawn are not on the banks any longer

So What's Next?

Well, from the review of my fishing logs...we see if moving baits will work. Sure enough, on this pond where there is a lot of pressure, I pulled out the Mepps Agila Dressed #2 Gold Color inline spinner on my ultra lite and I was catching fish almost immediately. I was burning the spinner bait back to the bank way quicker than I normally retrieve my baits and the bass were smacking it!

I caught ten total fish, 9 bass and 1 green sunfish. The other lure that was getting it done was the Strike King Mini Jig Bitsy Bug with a Zoom Speed Craw trailer in the black and red glitter color. I was bring the bait back quickly but also varying the pops and retrieval. A couple of different retrieves worked on this day.

Conclusion:

Sometimes you can draw upon what you've done in the past when you can line up the same conditions at the same time of year.  Last year I wrote about these conditions and these baits and how I had success. I really just matched the same baits and retrievals to the time of year and it worked out!  I hope all of you are having a great fishing season.

Hellish Heat, Heartless Bass, and the Mojo Rig

 

I got done with work, and popped over to the neighborhood pond. It was about 4:45pm, the sun was high and the temperature was 96 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky and a tiny breeze was taking the current to the east banks of the pond.

I'll tell you right now the first 30 minutes wasn't going good. I was recently at this pond over the weekend and had a little success on a plastic worm. But the pattern had changed. The worm wasn't doing it. I tried some moving bait stuff...no dice.

A spawn definitely occurred again and there continue to be many minnows on the banks. I could still see some bass striking the banks for the minnows, but I also understood that the bass were finicky. I had a couple "play" with the bait instead of violently attacking it which I so love. The bass on this day were heartless, LOL.

In times like these...I might pull out the Mojo Rig. I am glad I did. One of my "Go To's" in situations where bass are really, really finicky. The Mojo Rig is nothing more than a sinker up the line, kind of like a Carolina Rig. You use bobber stoppers to keep the sinker in place so it is adjustable to where you would like the sinker to be.

Sure enough...as soon as I slowed down and dragged my fluke on the bottom with a few twitches here and there, the bass started to gulp my Houdini Zoom Super Fluke. I caught 5 in in a matter of 20 minutes. I love when a plan comes together! Once I caught 5, I had enough. I got into the truck and cranked up the AC! Stay Committed, Stay Driven.  Until next time.

End of August Fishing Log 2024

 

Today was a fun little session before I needed to pick up my dude from football practice. They had their Blue and Gold game last night and this morning was just film sessions. So I dropped him off and headed over to Da Neighborhood Pond. 

I haven't been to this pond in about a month. Conditions had definitely changed! In this pond there is definitely a species of fish that are doing a later summer spawn. There are an abundance of minnows on the banks right now. There are two things I see the bass doing:

1. Chasing the minnows in the middle of the pond. I see the swirls. When I am able to cast my lure into the swirls, I get the bass bite.

2. Bass are come up to the bank and crushing the minnows. I witnessed the violent water splashes at the bank.

So what about the lures on this day?

What got it done was a good ol' Zoom Junebug Trick Worm. I caught all my fish on this. I did try to use a little swim bait, but really no takers on the moving baits. Caught 5 in an hour. Then off to pick my guy! Stay committed, Stay Driven.

End of July 2024, Sunday morning session at the Pond

 

We didn't make it to championship Sunday baseball this time...so we woke up, backed up the boat, and headed out to a familiar pond that is just down the road from us.

The morning air was thick with moisture, a heavy blanket of humidity clinging to the skin. Some rain persisted last night and into the early morning hours saturating the earth and infusing the atmosphere with a damp, earthy scent. As dawn approached, the sky remained overcast, with a thick layer of clouds blocking out the sun. 

Many times when we go to this particular pond in these types of conditions there is an undeniable magic. The fish, it seemed, were sensing the impending heat and the post-storm bounty. They were on the move, and they were ferocious eaters on this day. It was a morning tailor-made for fishing, a perfect storm of conditions that produced some really nice bass. We caught 2-3 dinks, but all of the other bass were bigger bass on average of 2-3 pounds and very healthy.

I have noticed this year that the pond had a considerably less amount of grass and foliage in the water compared to other years. I was able to drive our little Bass Raider all over this pond without getting the trolling motor jammed up with grass.  Normally, during this time of year there are thick grass mats that have formed and they have been so thick in the past that you cannot even punch through them with a 2 oz sinker.

The Strategy That Won:
Zoom Super Flukes in the baby bass color, and even white color were getting it done on this day. The bass were chasing minnows to the surface, but they were also deeper on this day. Lil'Shaka, who is not little anymore and I were experimenting with different weight (gauge) hooks. The bass seemed to hit on the drop, and they wanted a faster drop, hence the heavier, thicker gauge hooks that we were having success with. ShakaJR caught all his bass with the Flukes on this day.

I was also having a lot of success using the Googan Krackin' Craws in the 4 inch Okeechobee Craw color in the Texas Rig scenario as well. I was using a very light sinker (around 1/16 or 1/8 of oz). The idea is to keep everything weedless in a grass pond or lake, and let it create the falling effect. I caught several nice bass with this rig on this day.

Summer Tactics:
I did catch a nice one with a Zoom Trick worm in the Green Pumpkin-Chartreuse color running in Texas-Rig mode. I think worms would have worked just fine on this day as well. I was dragging, and shaking these worms off the bottom and the bass were slurping them. But I decided to more to a craw in the Texas-Rig mode instead. I am glad I did because the bass were really going after the craw. I MISSED a really big bass that caused the drag on my bait caster to rip through! We never got a look at it. Buried itself into the bottom grass and I only pulled gobs of grass back.

Final Notes, Don't Do This:
Been a long while since this happened to me, but from time to time...the dreaded rats nest backlash of the bait caster happened. It was a double whammy where you break off your bait at the tip of the pole on the cast and your reel backlashes itself even more, rendering your rod and reel done for the day.

Holiday Hustle: Father & Son Forge Iron (and Memories)

 

Put the Turkey Legs down! This holiday season has been about iron and gains! Lil' Shaka and I, have turned the gingerbread house into a house of sweat. We're swapping sleigh bells for dumbbells and eggnog for protein shakes. We've stayed on the workouts and have stayed consistent during the holidays. It isn't easy to do once his baseball seasons or football seasons get moving. So, it is a special time to workout together, to make gains together, and to just focus on the pump.

I know we are more consistent because we get to all of our workouts. There are certain lifts and body parts that we always hit, and then there are those that fall off because of time. Shoulders!!! You should obviously not neglect them, but in our case they are not hit as much as the other major body parts like biceps, triceps, chest, back, and legs.

I haven't forgotten the gingerbread house either. His girlfriend came over and they attempted to make a gingerbread house together. But, for whatever reason they didn't realize you need to heat up the frosting that comes in the package...LOL. Like I said 14 year olds 😆

We've had some great times this holiday season. I hope we continue on the grind for years to come.