Freak Buzz Strikes Again Round Lake 7-21-2017

[djkimmel]

I'm loving the buzzbait action - especially that 1st hour or two in the early morning at Round Lake of late!! I returned soon on Friday, July 21 to give it another go. Started my fishing right around 5:30AM as too early doesn't seem to be the trick for Round.


It could go either way I guess, but I took it as a good omen to be greeted by an interesting red crescent moon and mighty Jupiter just before sunrise as I approached my early morning buzzbait hot spot! The sun was crazily trying to burn its way through the trees on the horizon (not a fire as one fireman asked me when I posted the picture on Facebook!! )


Like I'm running on a script instead of fishing another unique day of unique conditions on little Round Lake, around quarter, ten minutes to 6AM my Titanium Freak Buzz buzzbait gets obliterated by another big bass within a few feet of the previous fishing day start!!! The early morning spot is still HOT!!!


And now... the rest of the story... I was fishing hard this day and didn't keep up posting on my social feeds until later in the day! It was hotter than McDonald's McGriddle out there so I didn't feel like stopping to post (the bright haze all day made it really hard for me to see my phone screen anyway) - trying to keep active, create some kind of breeze!10 minutes after I got my biggest bass of the day on the buzzbait another quality largemouth bass smacked it but good!! Off and rolling...

BTW, these early, early morning fish pictures are light-enhanced by my phone feature - it was actually still darker than it appears. I guess I could take another picture without the background lighting one of these mornings though sometimes it's hard to see hardly anything when I first get bit...


I did make an unfortunate error in judgement though...  I managed to miss 2 small bass but did I miss this prehistoric monster... Noooo!?! I actually foolishly hesitated when I saw the wake come up behind my buzzbait hoping it was a Big bass... this time!! No such luck... Even though that kind of big wake behind a bait almost always spells bowfin!! 8-9 pound slimy, toothy, boneheaded dogfish... doh...

Note: Have I mentioned this before Dogfish are not good for wired lures...!?! The darn big bowfin rolled and spinned like crazy twisting my buzzbait into a little circle... Next time I'm jerking the lure away!!!

Though that didn't save me the very next strike when a 'turbo-doggie' flat out blasted another buzzbait I tied on!! Only 2-3 pounds this time but the same twirling, rolling and twisting tied another buzzbait into a circle! #$%*@!

I'm just not feeling the 'grab a dogfish for a picture' thing this season so no picture. I just managed, after multiple tries, to get the hook with my pliers and pop it free.


Luckily, the next buzzbait fish was this small keeper bass. Helped my pride and my resolve! Caught it on the 3/8 oz Titanium Freak Buzz after I carefully untwisted the small circle the last dogfish had tied in it!

I was also testing someone else's theory on 'good luck shirts' by wearing one of my fancy Ranger Boats cool wear shirts. I forgot I bought a couple of these a number of years ago to take to the Amazon with me. Cover more of my Irish red-headed stepchild skin so I don't burn to a crisp. They have light, breezy material so they seem cooler. They repel water from the outside and seem to whisk away the sweat well too - I like to sweat a lot when it's this hot out! I take lots of water with me too and drink a lot more than many people do in a day of fishing, which is okay... because I sweat so much of it away.


Just a few minutes later I was still casting the buzzbait but the little panfish were very nervous, and it appeared something was jumping them! Put down the buzzer and tossed the ole black and blue Power Worm into the middle of the riffles. This little largemouth ran off with it. This kind of thing would happen a lot this day!


What would a day on Round Lake be without a 'little' pike interlude?!? Of course, this Northern Pike wasn't really what you would call little!! Grrrr... I told Barry the boat guy during my daily wrap-up fishing report to him that I didn't catch any big pike today... So now I'm apparently blocking bad memories out... the end of the big point is flat-out owned by Big pike lately this summer... darnit!! I had a pike steal most of my Power worm, then I got bit off on what felt like another log! Actually fought it for a few seconds with delusions if Big bass grandeur! Then it snapped. Line was shredded. So I tied on a Tyger tieable steel leader and fished it that way the rest of the day... Good thing with gators like this running lose all over the lake! (And dogfish too, of course! Don't forget they have some sharp teeth too!)

Wan't a monster pike this time but I'll bet this healthy snake has stolen lots of tackle over the years!! Maybe even some of my Power Worms! Bet it was shocked when it couldn't bite through my steel leader!?! hahahahahaha... I get the last laugh for once!! Just for once...


Well, I got a little back on track shortly before noon by sticking with the Power Worm despite the pike risk when I caught this small, barely keeper bass working the sparse weeds along the drop. Can't remember what color I was using at the time, and I apparently forgot about having the sun over my shoulder (for that nice 'silhouette' portrait!).


It was so dead calm out there before the 2017 boating idiots came out that I was able to find deeper, individual algae-choked clumps of milfoil out from hot spot #2 and catch a few small keepers vertical jigging my Power Worms next to them. Weren't many strands left, and unlike past years they don't seem to be attracting groups of bass. Maybe they will as the summer progresses now that a large percentage of the weeds are dead? Though I don't see a lot of them. That pattern saved me a number of hot summer days in years past.


The fishing had really slowed down with the heat, and the bright, hazy sun. At times there was zero breeze (HOT!) but all day until the dufuses started ripping the lake apart, tons of minnows and panfish were feeding at the surface. Once in a while they'd flare, or I'd actually see them get busted... Duh! Topwater... So what if it's super hot, bright and calm in the middle of the day... I broke out the Sammy and took the dog for a walk!! 3rd cast a small bass smacked it on the flat. A few casts later a decent keeper crushed it!

Got me all worked up again and back in the saddle! Let's get 'em!! For a short time I had a blast on the Sammy!! Didn't catch any big ones but the attitude was awesome. Then 2:21PM happened... On a little round 85 acre lake it doesn't take too many jet skis/boaters whooping it up to shut the whole surface bite down!! Door slammed... Topwater bite vanished...


I started thinking about leaving... But dangitall, these are my alone-time therapy days!! I started just trying things I don't normally do. I was channeling Dave Reault - tossing a large bait just ahead of the boat into the slightly deeper trough. I lifted up and it pulled back down! Ended up with a nice afternoon keeper though the 11 inch worm makes it look smaller. Fought really hard. I'm impressed by how hard the nicer bass at Round are fighting this year. It's like they've all eaten their Wheaties!

I've made a promise to myself that I would throw bigger baits more often this year. Been spending a little time on most fishing days lately throwing some bigger baits, especially an assortment of 10 - 12 inch worms! Haven't caught a bunch on them yet but a handful of real nice bass! Going to keep at it!


I didn't get anymore bass brave enough to jump on the big worm but I went through the trough pitching an electric blue 7 inch Power Worm catching a handful of small keepers! Normally avoid this trough because it's a pike magnet but they were nice to me for a while this afternoon. In fact, I only hooked a few pike all afternoon...?? I had a few more on but they were kind enough not to hook up...

A strange thing happened a little later. The more annoying jet skis and jet boats went in for dinner (or maybe a brain-transplant, I don't know) but the couple still out mostly stayed in the back half of the lake, and the mad pontooner settled down (stopped doing circles around the lake - if you enjoy watching people go in circles over and over Round is your lake!!).


The topwater activity picked right back up though not as intense because there was now a steady breeze. So that's my happy face as I picked the Sammy back up and had another handful of memorable strikes!! This one, the lure hit the water and this small bass with a big heart jumped all over it instantly!! What's not to love!?! The only downside was trying to keep the dogfish away. They LOVE the Sammy...!!

If you do any dog-walking on Round Lake don't pause your lure too long or big doggies will try hard to steel it away from you! And that was about it for this exciting, actually pretty productive, bass fishing day on little Round Lake north of Lansing.