'TGIF' is the working man’s mantra, but the bass fisherman’s bane.
The waters of Lake Lanier this weekend resembled those inside Mom’s washing machine, churning at full throttle.
If you’re unfortunate enough to get your high-dollar imported Asian swimbait stuck in some rocks along the shoreline, my advice: “cut the line and hope it’s there on Monday”.
Hanging a $60 lure can break a man’s heart, but inching your boat close enough to those rocks to attempt a rescue operation could cost you the hull of your boat if an ill-timed mega-wave catches you doing so.
But it’s Monday morning, and for the next 100-hours or so, all is right with the fishing-world. Go retrieve that bait and let’s catch a few.
According to the Corp, the lake level has only dropped about an inch since Thursday. Most of that probably related to evaporation. With no appreciable rain over the weekend to fill the lake, that can only mean the releases at Buford Dam have been minimal.
That means a couple of things for fish and fishermen: the water is slightly clearer and the thermocline is more precisely defined. Moving water through the reservoir stirs things up, mixing the temperature layers and pulling colored water into the main channel.
The “bad” about increased visibility: it’s almost impossible to fish directly over a school of bass. They know you are there. They may not know ‘what’ you are, but your presence is a change in their environment and they get uncomfortable, so they move.
Regular fishermen see that happen over and over again during the late summer and into the fall. They get big-eyed when a cluster of arches (a school of fish, for non-sonar users) is unexpectedly right under the boat. They rush to drop a plastic bait into the school but, just as suddenly as the school appeared, it vanishes.
“Where did they go?” I hear from fishing partners - and myself - on occasion. Answer: those fish don’t like you sitting on top of them...they don't trust you!
So my tip for this blog is this: when you’re fishing a point or a deep hump, etcetera, and you spot a school of fish, act like nothing happened. Keep the trolling motor at a constant speed and go 50-feet past the spot where you think they are.
Then face the back of your boat and calmly throw your shaky-head or jig or drop shot 10-yards, or more, beyond the fish and let the bait fall into the school.
“Wise as a serpent, innocent as doves”; that’s great advice given by the One who made fishermen into fishers of men, and good advice for us to use during the dog-days of summer.
