Whether it is a lack of threadfin shad, zebra muscles, lake elevation, climate, or all of the above, one thing is for sure, the fishing has never been this good this late in the summer. Don’t get me wrong, summer fishing can be great and we normally catch lots of big fish but this year is definitely and exception because we’re still catching fish like it is spring except they are all over 20”.
Nearly every trip the past few weeks has been the same, we are catching tons of fish and having to catch 2-3 times our limit just to get enough fish under 20”. As mentioned before, July is one of my best months for big fish and my customers were not let down this year. We brought in fish at least 6-8 pounds on nearly every trip with fish in the 10-12 pound range every 2-3 trips.
All of my fish have been caught using live bait on anchor in 60-70 ft of water. The fish are moving around and will be in a slightly different spot from one day to the next but when you do find them get ready. Some days you never find the big school but even when you don’t, it is a good steady pick for the whole trip. I have not seen any active topwater fish to be caught but I am catching fish off of a TNT slab while on anchor using bait from time to time. Some trips you can catch enough unders to fill the limit and some trips w e have to go in short because everything is over the 20” mark, but needless to say, there have not been any complaints.
