Daylight Fishing a Way to Beat The Heat

 Tuesday’s heat wave reached 98 by mid-afternoon, and under those conditions, it's hard to do anything outside. To make matters worse, Tuesday's heat index was 105 to 107 degrees. I learned long ago that if you're going to fish in July, August, and even September, you need to be on the water at daylight. Very few people fish in the heat of the day, and if they do, they need to find shade to avoid overheating.

As I pulled into the Smith Lake Dam parking lot at 5:30 AM Tuesday, I noticed a couple of boats that had launched, and when I left the lake at 9 AM, I noticed four trucks, including mine. There is a big difference between spring fishing and now. The lake's pulldown and the heat will cause the fish to get lockjaw. So very few fishermen show up to fish this time of the year, and the ones that do fish at daylight. Very few fishermen fish the lake the way I do; in fact, I have never seen anyone other than me fly fishing or using micro-lights to fish live bait on Smith Lake. I've had a lot of success over the years landing fish with a fly rod and using micro-lights on Smith Lake—but during the heated months of August and July, even the fly rod can get skunked. Surface action is limited during this time of year because fish won't come to the surface to hit a popper when the surface water temperature is 90 degrees. The fish go deep and become somewhat inactive. So what do you do to catch fish in these conditions? Change tactics, bait, and tackle to go extremely light, and you will catch fish!

Enter the redworm, not the cricket, but an old-fashioned redworm, threaded through its middle a couple of times using a number 6 Eagle Claw hook and a 1/16 oz worm sinker with a bobber stopper. The sinker and bobber stopper are placed about 12” above the hook. When you cast, the sinker hits the water first, with the hook and worm pointing upward as the sinker sinks.  Don’t thread the worm onto the hook because when you do that, you kill the wiggling action of the worm. A huge bluegill and even a bass or catfish can't resist the movement of that worm.

Cathey landed these three bluegill before I got a hit. She has adjusted well to light-action fishing with light tackle. I may have mentioned this before, but she doesn't touch the fish or bait, so I have become your bait/fish guy. We usually even out the catch rate before our trips end. All of these fish were hitting the worms 15 to 20 feet deep off rock walls. 

Redworms attract catfish and bass too. This was the largest Largemouth bass that I have landed since 2024 and the largest catfish that Cathey has ever landed. The fight with both of these fish was astounding. In other words, it took skill and time to land both fish. I released both to fight another day.

All the fish Cathey and I landed this Tuesday morning were taken deep. All the bluegill were fat, with no sign of spawning. I am guessing these fish never spawn, but hang out in deep water near the rock walls, eating insect larvae. The cricket and redworm are excellent live baits to land these fish when they are deep and not willing to move much for a meal. I would choose the redworm over the cricket because the fish can see it is alive, whereas the cricket has no action at all but emits more scent than the redworm. Both have their advantages; my only fault with the worm is that it can be extremely messy at times. 

These three micro-light combos are the ones I use all the time when I am fishing live bait. Light tackle gives me the ultimate fight; it mimics a fly rod so well that I feel like I have a fly rod in hand while landing some of the big bluegill, bass, and catfish. My grandchildren like to fish these combos because landing an average fish is a challenge.

If you want to keep the skunk away on hot summer fishing trips, then give light tackle and give live bait a try!

Fishing the Late Season Spawn For Huge Bluegills

 Cathey and I spent Thursday morning on Smith Lake searching for some late-season bluegill still in the spawning mode. This may be the last spawn of the season. The lake is on the pull-down, getting ready for next Spring's rains, so we will be fishing falling water, which means the fish will be moving out of the nooks into deeper water. I hope I am wrong.

We started the morning in Rayon Creek, which, of course, is my favorite place to fish Smith Lake. This quality bull gill inhaled a size 6 Boggle Bug Popper near one of many floating docks on the lake. I am amazed at how these big bluegill have enough suction power to get this size popper wedged in their mouths so quickly. I thought I had hooked a spotted bass, because of the fight of this fish. My 5 wt. was tested during the fight. Sorry to say, this would be the only bluegill I would take on the fly rod this morning. The rest of the morning was consumed with Cathey and me landing bluegill in four spawning areas where there was one or two fish still on their beds. Towards the end of the spawning season, one is lucky to find more than a couple still guarding their beds. All the beds were still in water 5 to 6 ft. deep. As the lake is drawn down even more over the next couple of months, these beds will be exposed on the dry bottom. Once the spawn is over, they move to cover, which is the rock walls, where there is the insect larvae to keep them well fed until next year's spawning cycle starts all over again.

The cricket is the perfect insect to mimic the insect larvae found in the crevices of the rock walls on Smith Lake. The boat traffic is churning the water, keeping the larvae moving for the bluegill to feast on.

This size bluegill will produce two nice fillets. When you add french fries, coleslaw, and hush puppies, along with some tartar sauce and ketchup, you have a great meal. To me, the bluegill tops the crappie when you compare both of these fish for a meal.

The way I like to fish for this size bluegill is with a fly rod and small surface poppers in April through June. Then, from July through October, I use my micro light 7 1/2-ft rod, rigged with a slip sinker and 4-lb test vanish mono line. This time of year, they go 15 to 20 feet deep, and using a cricket with a nibblet in red or white color attached to the tip of the hook gets the hits. Letting the cricket sink to the desired depth, showing on the depth finder, and working it with a slow retrieve gets their attention. There is no mistaking when they hit. In fact, my Micro light is duplicating my 7 1/2-ft fly rod. A ton of fun for sure when you connect with one of these beauties down deep!

I can’t end this post without showing you this average male spotted bass I landed a few minutes after landing the big bluegill. Nothing really special about this fish but the FIGHT! I was using my 4 wt. fly rod trying to get another big gill to take my size 8 Bullet Boggle Bug popper when this bass exploded on the popper. The fight this fish put up on the 4 wt. was amazing, making me think I'd hooked a 2-lb spotted bass. He got me hung a couple of times before I finally released the fish. I was thinking I wish I had my 5wt. It was lying at my feet, but the 4wt. got the job done. This fight was amazing coupled with the numerous runs it made trying to free itself! This one fish today reminded me why I love this sport so much, especially pursuing them with the fly rod. 

 Guys I am sharing this video so you guys can see the fight this small male spotted bass gave my 4wt, 9ft Redington fly rod. What made me think he was a much bigger bass was the explosive hit. I was using a 7 1/2 ft. leader with a 6X tippet. Just goes to show you never underestimate the spotted bass. Sorry for the video being angled at times; my wife was learning how to film.