Mile Roads are in transition - Time for the summer plan

[Revtro]

Was out with my son for a few hours yesterday (Thurs, June 21).  Granted I was spending more time helping him than serious fishing myself, but there was still a lot to observe.  We fished from 14' in to about 10' and couldn't get bit.  I know there are fish still being caught on the Mile Roads, and there will continue to be fish caught on the plateau for another month.  But they are smaller and much less aggressive from what I'm seeing.  This is that crazy, predictable transition period that occurs every year where it's easy to get frustrated trying to fish the same areas that produced during the spawn.  Here's what I saw yesterday: TONS of empty beds...mostly used up and starting to cover over with vegetation.  I got follows on crankbaits and chatterbaits and got one hooked up and lost on a dropshot.  The follows I saw were small fish and not aggressive.  No matter what I did, they just followed behind the bait and never made a move. 

So what do I do next?  I'm gonna go off of some old knowledge and assumptions that over the next few weeks I will attempt to prove are still valid.  In past years the key was to go looking for deep weedbeds out on body of the main lake.  For me, due to limited electronics, finding the weedlines and structure that hold bass has been a difficult task.  This will be my first summer using sidefinder technology and I'm hopeful it'll have a big impact. 

Secondly, I'm going to fish Canada.  In years past I fished some areas in Canada that I read about in Wayne Carpenter's No Secrets On Lake St. Clair series.  And did they ever pay off!  They honestly did.  Now I've heard a couple guys say they haven't had a lot of luck fishing "Wayne's stuff" but I'm here to tell you that I have had very good success with Wayne's information.  Here's why.  After fishing with Wayne, I realized that the "HOW" is as important as the "WHERE" when it comes to fishing success.  I think a lot of people just want to know "where" to go, but pay far less attention to the "how".  I'm not nearly as good at the "how" as I would like to be, but I have fished areas near other boats and managed to catch them when others weren't.  And vice versa has often been true of course.  For example when fishing deep seawalls in the river last year, I saw a boat pull into the area and cast at the walls in typical fashion.  Knowing the "how" to fish this specific area made the difference as I positioned my boat along the wall and casted upstream, allowing my jig to reach bottom before getting into the primary strike zone.  And we whacked em.  I wouldn't have known this if I had only been interested in the location information.  It was digging deeper into the methods Wayne discusses in his books that made all the difference.  So when I go to Canada this summer, my goal is to fish some of the large structure that's been productive in the past and see what happens.  If it's slow, I plan to search for isolated weeds and structure in the main lake on the Canadian side just like I would on the US side.  It's only a hunch, but I suspect it'll be a bit easier on the Canadian side due to less fishing pressure.  That's all I'll say about Canada for now because you should go buy the books.  There is valuable GPS info in there that will really help, I promise.  And NO, I don't work for Wayne.  I get nothing out of saying this.  I'm just giving testimony to how his info has helped me. 

Thirdly, for the next couple of weeks I'll be targeting areas with fish flies.  Fishing around the flies has always been good to me.  And I don't mean just topwater.  One of the things I often do is to toss a lighter green tube under the flies.  I suspect the Xtreme Sweet Green tube which reminds me of the old Cruncher Erie Green will be the perfect color for this. For some reason, I've often found fish down on the bottom underneath the hatches of fish flies.  I have no idea why this happens, I only know it's worked for me.  I also like to throw topwaters and weightless tubes at the actual fish fly slicks.  Early topwater action can be awesome doing that.  Plus it's easy because all you have to do is drive from fly slick to fly slick.  Along the way, I suspect that if I keep an eye on my electronics, I'll also find some weeds.  Oh and I'm gonna try to learn this whole spybait thing.  Thanks to watching Mojo fish it, I've become a believe and want to try that under the fly slicks.  It worked well for him last year.  But then again he's twice the fisherman I am, but I'm gonna give it a try and work on it till I learn it.

Lastly this summer I want to get back to fishing some US side main lake ridges that I have read about, that in times past have produced for me big time.  I haven't fished those areas in years, so I'm excited to see what's up in those areas. 

So based on what I'm seeing that's my personal plan.  I'm just sharing this because hardly anyone was willing to give specifics and help to me when I was coming up with the exception of a couple of good guys I speak about in another post. (Check out the Christian Angler section)  This plan might be a total failure...who knows.  I know I have a lot to learn but I'm determined to follow through with this plan and either eliminate water or post some new pics.  Hopefully the latter.  What's your summer plan?

[WishingIwasfishing]

Great report and I also agree with your assessment of what the fish are doing. I also have struggled this time of the year, I can still catch plenty of 2-3#. Once they get into their summer spots(2-3 weeks?) its a different game. I will be prowling all over the Canadian side starting Monday!!

[dartag]

Great write up Tom.   How is the water clarity.  Although after today it will be different.

[Revtro]

It's a bit cloudy up near shore.  Around Metro Beach it's worse of course.  Get out into 12' and it's crystal clear.  I was in 14' of water and seeing beds clearly still. 

[Hollada]

Caught 17 lbs in AB last night from 6-9.  Caught 20.66 there on Saturday in the CFB tourney. Swimbaits, Ned.  Couldn't get bit on drop-shot. 

Caught multiple nice fish off of beds in 14-15 fow due east of memorial park last Thursday but did notice smaller fish as well.  I think the transition is beginning, but will get worse before it gets better.  I still believe we are a week or two behind.

I'm bettin it takes over 20lbs to cash a check in tomorrow's monster quest.  We couldn't find enough 4 pounders yesterday to decide to fish it.

[Revtro]

Sometime, someone who really has Anchor Bay dialed in needs to take me out and renew my faith in that part of the lake.  I SUCK up there.  I'll pay for the gas.