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  1. #1
    Member DanR's Avatar
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    Angry Where are the Small Mouth in Northern Lakes right now?

    Hi guys,

    Thought I would try to get some advice from you guys that fish northern lakes as I'm in Canada about an hour away from the New York state border. Water temps are in the lower 70s for the last few weeks - 71 last weekend and I think the spawn started late for the smallmouth. I've been hitting the lake and river system where I camp a bit earlier than usual (usually mid July in to end of August) and the usual places where bass were guaranteed are completely void of fish. Logs, overhanging trees and brush, under docks, parked boats and basically any cover around shore are empty where typically you would find fish easily. Normally I would catch 30 fish in a day I was lucky to catch one on my last outing on the last spot I tried and it was a dink.

    On the lake I fish, I wonder if the Perch are decimating the habitat for Bass. There are millions of perch in the lake, HUGE bait balls all over the place... you can drop shot almost anywhere on the lake, reel it back in and have 50 of them chasing it and none are over 6 inches long. On the graphs you can see the giant bait masses but no larger fish attacking them. I'm wondering between the perch and the few musky if they are killing off the bass or I am simply not finding where they are scattering to post-spawn. Should also mention this lake is heavily pressured by the local campground and cottage owner and the lake is tiny.

    Same deal on the small river I fish... they're not in ANY of the places I was catching them in last year and I haven't even spotted any roaming around that were bigger than a half pound. I also tried spots with heavy boulders and rip rap in the river and nothing. And I tried everything... cranks, jigs, chatterbaits, dropshot etc. Heck I even tried topwater even though the water is still a bit cold. Basically when we're throwing dropshots and senkos and nothing is biting, the fish are elsewhere.

    Any suggestions on where else to look in early summer that I'm clearly missing?

    On a brighter note, I fished a mystery lake on Sunday I've never been on or knew nothing about and marked a couple of fish 40 feet deep on a flat random bottom, which I thought strange and figured it was a couple of big Walleye. Set the spot-lock and started to vertical jig and was pleasantly surprised when 5 minutes later I hooked a "walleye" and pulled up a 21.5" lake trout! My first lake trout ever as it were!

    Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice :)
    Dan

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    #2
    Post spawn blues!!!!!!!

  3. Member DanR's Avatar
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    #3
    Youre not kiddin!!

  4. Member DrewFlu33's Avatar
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    #4
    Maybe not the best advice for post-spawn, but did you check to make sure they're not spawning? I've found that there are always a LOT of fish that spawn after everyone says "they're done," and this full moon that just passed may have those stragglers (which may be a much bigger portion of the population than you think!) up on the beds, particularly if the water is still in the low 70s.
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  5. Member DanR's Avatar
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    #5
    Quote Originally Posted by DrewFlu33 View Post
    Maybe not the best advice for post-spawn, but did you check to make sure they're not spawning? I've found that there are always a LOT of fish that spawn after everyone says "they're done," and this full moon that just passed may have those stragglers (which may be a much bigger portion of the population than you think!) up on the beds, particularly if the water is still in the low 70s.
    Interesting, it could very well be. The water is quite clear in this lake though and I didn't see any bedding bass whatsoever and the lake is small enough that you can work the entire thing end to end in just over half a day. Really frustrating.

  6. Member Walkabout7781's Avatar
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    #6
    While I'm not in your area, I'm definitely "north". I've seen SM spawning in 10+ feet, and I've seen LM cruising pre-spawn on July 1. So, I wouldn't put much faith in the SEC guys that say it's all over and done.

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    WesternMass
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    #7
    I'm finding a lot of small schools of smallies 20 or so suspending 10-15ft over 40+fow near 25-30ft flats with loads of bait on them. I'm finding the bigger fish at 5lbs+ to be loners or with one other quality fish. Pending on the moon phase I can look like a pro or like this past week a rookie. I just keep plucking away hoping I come across some active suspending bass or school. I think the key is to being a really good graph reader as well. Good example is this fish here if not for over the years of practicing on reading my graphs my older buddy with not of dropped on this 5lb smallie as it chased a dropshot from 10ft down to 30ft to scoop it up though it was one of the few suspenders caught that day,
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    Last edited by Phippy; 07-11-2017 at 05:45 PM.

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    #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Phippy View Post
    I'm finding a lot of small schools of smallies 20 or so suspending 10-15ft over 40+fow near 25-30ft flats with loads of bait on them. I'm finding the bigger fish at 5lbs+ to be loners or with one other quality fish. Pending on the moon phase I can look like a pro or like this past week a rookie. I just keep plucking away hoping I come across some active suspending bass or school. I think the key is to being a really good graph reader as well. Good example is this fish here if not for over the years of practicing on reading my graphs my older buddy with not of dropped on this 5lb smallie as it chased a dropshot from 10ft down to 30ft to scoop it up though it was one of the few suspenders caught that day,
    Quabbin?

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    #9
    definitely post spawn blues. did you see any small fries yet?

    the local bass were gorging themselves on these fries. Try downsizing to a 1-2" bait.

  10. #10
    Caught 25 pre and spawn on Erie 2 days ago in 4-6 fow with 72 degrees on a sand flat with weed edges. Smallies are still spawning my friend. I'd suggest the ned rig. It felt illegal how successful it was