Night Bassin for Largemouth! Tips

Booyah Buzz Bait

  I've spent the past three weeks struggling during the day with the water temps being at the peak of the year, i decided to try some night fishing. The same fish that were not active during the day down in deeper water at night come up shallow into the weed lines and shorelines and feed. These fish can be very aggressive! Buzz bait has been the hottest bait on most nights. We have been fishing with no head lamp no lights other than the bow and stern lights on the boat. Only using the head lamp to tie knots and unhook fish. The darker the better! 

  I have fished 4 times now in three different bodies of water with the same results at all of them.. When the black buzz bait isn't working the next best lure is a black spinner bait with a single colorado blade. Slow rolled over the tops of the weeds. The will hit violently and its awesome! If that doesn't work my number 3 lure is a black chatter bait with a black blade and a black or dark trailer. I use super flukes or bruiser baits even a paddle tail swim bait would work well as long as its dark. You can pick up these there lures at almost any sporting store or tackle shop.  

Strike King Midnight Special

ZMan Chatter Bait. No Trailer shown.

 These past few weeks i have caught some of my best largemouth of the summer and its been a lot of fun. Ive caught 5 bass over 4 lbs and tonight i caught three including my new PB at night. A 4 lbs 13 oz TANK.  This fish hit right at my feet and pulled some serious line on my bait caster. Get out there some time this month and see how fun fishing at night can be... is it creepy YES, is it kinda scary YUP, is it a thrill to catch some big fish in darkness ABSOLUTELY.  

Its that time of year.. smallmouth fever! Tips

 Every summer for the past 3 years i have enjoyed fishing for river smallmouth. To me there is no stronger fish that swims in fresh water. Catching a 12 inch smallie in a river your positive its a 2 pounder.. Then when you catch a 3 lb your positive its a 5. They never give up even when there right at your feet and there jumps are a thrill in itself. We drive all the way to NY and MA to catch these fish because its simply worth the drive every single time. When targeting these fish you need to learn how to read a river, read currents, current breaks and what makes these fish tick. 

   Early in the morning you can get them to hit full size buzz baits and even large spinner baits. But as the day goes on nothing beats a zoom super fluke rigged weightless nose hooked. You fish it like a jerk bait with violent twitches and small pauses. The current makes the bait slowly drift down current and you just watch these fish come up and smash the bait. If you find the fish aren't as aggressive that day you can put this same fluke on a 1/4 oz jig head and bop the bait along the bottom and that can work very well on slow days. White grub on the same jig head has its time as well.

 When fishing fast moving water always cast behind the big rocks where there is a slack water pocket. These are high percentage spots and if you find a big slow water pool after a fast current there is nothing better. If your ok with having to deal with treble hooks then throwing the top water spooks work fantastic and you get some great strikes. I don't do it just because its a pain to unhook them and i waste too much time not catching more fish.  So try these technics in your local spots. These will work in any body of water with smallmouth! Have fun!

Candleweird lake 7/22 / 7/24 / 7/28

I took a year off from the big lake and now ive been 3 times in a week and every trip is getting progressively worse. Trip one on the 22nd caught 18 bass in a short trip which was a great day with half the bass being green the other half brown. Then last wednesday me and Josh fished from 3pm to 9pm and it was a struggle but we did manage 3 largies and 3 smallies. Josh got his smallie on a super fluke on a 1/2 oz jig head in about 25-30 feet of water and missed a few fish on jumps. I got my 2 smallies on drop shot in 10-20 feet. Had more pan fish hitting us on the drop shot than anything. Very annoying. As we went back to the launch we caught our 3 largemouth. Last fish being the fish of the day on a black chatterbait. Wasnt a terrible day but it felt like a struggle the whole time.






Then yesterday morning alarm set for 2:30am i was on the lake for 3:30 and man i could not get a bite before 5 am. The black buzz bait that i killed them on last year this time didnt get a single blow up, black chatter nothing, black spinner with colorado blade nothing.. Then 5:00am hit and i threw a over sized white bladed spinner bait and bam fast action in 2-4 feet of water. 2 largies and 2 smallies. As fast as it started it was over. Managed to lose a smallie as i was going for the lip that was probably just over 4 lbs. Oh well. Once the sun was up i tried drop shot in my spots that normally produce and got just perch. I tried 4 new spots that i marked the night before on my gps that look amazing but held zero active fish. It was odd. From 5:15 to 10:30 when i left i didnt have another bass. Threw tubes, senko, jig, chatter, flukes, spooks... nothing! Lets just say i will be taking a break from that lake for a little while. Also doesnt help when pleasure boats are going with 30 feet of your boat all morning. Talked to 2 other boats and they caught only a few rock bass. Water temps are down to 78 on the surface after being 85 last week. Could be the fast drop thats making them inactive but i would have guessed it would have been the opposite. Live and learn.

Cossayuna Lake... trailer problems

 After waiting 8 months to finally get back to this lake we went this past Saturday for Josh's birthday trip.  3.5 hour drive to Argyle New York we were there but not without a serious problem. After launching the boat we noticed that one of the tires on my trailer was riding on the rim. Both bearings gone completely. Not sure how long we drove like that and to be honest i dont wanna know... So we went out on the lake knowing later in the day was going to be a project.. We started off fishing right by the launch and each missed a few fish pretty quickly. Working our way to the north end i get a 23 inch pike to get us started.. Fishing all around the lake with little happening we went to the hot spot from last fall and bam... fishing got hot. As soon as the fish finder read 7 feet we would get hit. We got 7 pike and 10 bass. Mostly on spinner baits. also had some great hits on some massive lures josh was throwing. A 9 inch money minnow on a 1 oz chatter bait head... got smashed twice and left some teeth marks in it that were huge. Was it a musky.. who knows. We caught 2 of our pike and 2 of our bass trolling. By 3 pm we were off the water. No pike over 28 inches.. no bass over 2.75 pounds and No musky. Also had no possible way to make it home with that trailer. We tried calling some places for parts and or service.. and had zero luck. We decided to try to drive to the next town slowly with hazard lights on only driving 20 mph until we found a body shop where the people let us leave the boat and drive to a nearby town for parts. These guys let us use any tools we needed but we didnt know what we were getting into. After 5 hours the job was complete but not done properly and we headed home stopping occasionally to let the bearings cool down even pouring water on them to help cool it down. After another 5.5 hours we were home.. dont know how we made it. Bringing the trailer to Pete at fishing factory today the bearings didnt even make the trip one town over so id say we were extremely lucky to make it home the other night.

Wading for Bluefish PB

Been spending some time this week wading for stripers and blues down in bridgeport and i have to say its pretty intense and awesome being in the water with these fish. Day 1 caught 2 schoolies and 2 small blues. Day 2 i got the fat skunk and zero hits and now Day 3 which was tonight...

Got to the water at 7pm and was in the car by 9pm. I went solo so i didn't wanna stay past dark. Fishing in waders alone is not something i like to do but tonight was an exception. I spent the first hour casting away from slug go's to swim baits to jerk baits with no action. Then right before dark my day changed with 2 cast. I hooked up with a 10-11 lb blue slowly backing out of the water during the fight trying not to step on the horse shoe crabs that were everywhere mating. Was my first time handling these fish on my own which was exciting in itself. Crazy jaw strength and holding them by the gill plate was creepy the first time. After a few photos and release i walked back out and next cast.. BAMMMM to quote roxy... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz i thought this fish was gonna spool me for a second. I knew i either had a monster blue or a giant striper. Turns out it was a blue. After at least a 10 minute fight with my arms burning i brought this 14 lb 4 oz blue to the shore. No other fisherman in sight but im sure someone heard me celebrating haha. That was my last hit but those 2 fish made for one nice drive home and im still smiling about that fight. A lot of fun on a 7 foot medium heavy rod. 

Community Lake? w/ Justin Jacobson

I text my old friend Justin this morning asking if he wanted to do some fishing. Hadn't seen him in 5 years, Answer was yes.. We took his canoe out to community lake in wallingford which if any of you have been there is tiny and gets hit my the local bucket brigades pretty hard. On the water at 7 am and fished for just 2 hours. Water was brown brown. I got a small largie on a chatter bait then Justin got a few hits on a popper and landed a 2 lber. We found the one weed bed in the small "lake" and i get slammed on my black buzz bait. Fish hit 3 feet from the boat literally splashing me with water. After a few good runs i lipped a shocking 4 lb 10 oz largie from a place i didn't expect to catch anything at all. About ten minutes later i get another blow up on the buzz bait and land a 3 lb 3 oz bass. After that the action just died. Too hot out and no where for the fish to hide. Thanks Justin for coming out fishin! Good to catch up and catch fish!