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  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    Iowa
    Posts
    732

    Man is it tuff!! 8/13 report

    So work was closed for 2 days for scheduled maintenance and I got to fish Thursday & today. Super hard to get a bite. Only 6/7 small bass between the two days of fishing. I think the 82° water temperature has a lot to do with it and it’s just the dog days of summer right now…. Soon it will cool off and the bite will get better. Anybody else got a report or Advice on how to catch them this time of year?

  2. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Council Bluffs Iowa
    Posts
    850
    #2
    The local lake was tough 2 weeks ago when I was out..only caught 3 flipping docks..dog days!

  3. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Waverly, Iowa
    Posts
    2,655
    #3
    Don't ask me, because fishing has sucked for me lately as well. Went over and fished Pool 9 on the Mississippi River yesterday for about 6 hours. Caught two little smallmouth and that was it. Talked to a guy at the campground who was in a 115 boat tournament out of Pool 10 on Saturday and even though he did quite well (13th place), he said the fishing has been really tough. Other than running into some schooling fish in the early morning, he said it's been hard to get many bites. I wish I knew the reasons for the poor fishing, but I hope it picks up soon. I've been skunked or only caught 1-2 fish more times than I'd care to admit this summer.

  4. Member
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    Iowa
    Posts
    732
    #4
    Lol glad to know I’m not alone (not really wish you guys were catching them) …So I have talked to some people that are very good anglers about bass specifically. They said fish wood tree piles, they like the feeling and protection of the trees. Seems a lot of the trees around here are cedar / x-trees and man is it hard to get a bait through them

    Here is a question for you all if you see a thermocline in the water at say 8ft will you bother fishing any deeper?? 2nd question how much luck do you guys have grafing and actually finding nice 15”+ bass? I watch YouTube and all these fishing channels and these guys find these schools of bass sometimes they get bites sometimes they don’t….But I have got good electronics and think I know how to run them good I guess but I sure I don’t have any luck doing that!!! Lol I know I live in Iowa not Texas/Tennessee/Kentucky.

  5. Banned
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Boone, IA
    Posts
    766
    #5
    If there is a thermocline, don't fish below it. You'll be wasting you're time. I fished a tournament last year and had a thermocline 4ft deep. We found our fish chasing schools of bait and caught all of them on squarebills in 10ft of water out in the open with no cover near by.

    As for graphing fish, I can't help you there. I don't have the most up to date technology on my boat so I primarily just use them to find structure and cover and then catch some fish to see what I'm working with. I will say, if you fish any open tournaments in SW IA that you'll soon begin to realize that most tournaments are won on the same handful of spots year after year. Yes you can win fishing other areas of the lake but I can guarantee you that there will be someone fishing one of the well known offshore spots who's going to be in the money.

  6. Member Bassman Ia.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Co.Bluffs
    Posts
    33,238
    #6
    Yesterday

    We have had better days.

    Green Valley, a few fish close to 3 lbs maybe over, we didn’t weigh any. Nothing consistent, some off brush piles, jigs and worms. Another in 8’ of water on a spinnerbait. Another on a Minus1. Algae bloom real bad ( 8” of water clarity). Water temp 7 am 77° —- 4pm, 82°

  7. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Waverly, Iowa
    Posts
    2,655
    #7
    As liljakec said, don't bother fishing below the thermocline. To me, a thermocline actually helps because it eliminates a bunch of water. It's been a few years since I've fished it, but Brushy Creek lake has a lot of deep water and so when a thermocline sets up there at maybe 15 feet, it eliminates a ton of water.