Guided Bass Trip on 8/10

[GuidedBassTrips]

On Tuesday 8/10 I had Dave Michaels from PA and his 14 year old son Steven for a day of guided bass fishing on Black Lake. The morning started cloudy with a light wind so we began on the main lake with topwaters. The main lake is still green from the algae bloom and may still be effecting the topwater bite. Steven caught a nice smallmouth but I decided to switch them to crayfish and senkos. The crayfish bite also started a little slow but did produce a solid 3lb largemouth for dad along with a few average smallmouth. Later in the morning Steven showed his skill with a senko and began catching nice fish. Both largemouth and smallmouth, all coming off of a rocky/weedy point and also an outside grassline. Dad also boated another solid 3 lb largemouth but this time on the senko.

After lunch we picked up mom Janice at the dock and they wanted to learn more about fishing strictly with crayfish. This family had already been on the lake in late June and had experienced Black Lake's now famous post spawn senko bite. So I set them up on one of my favorite crayfish shoals for smallmouth. Steven decided to throw out his senko first and immediately hooked up with a scrappy 3 lb smallmouth. Then we proceeded to catch nothing on the crayfish! After moving around to a couple of other shoals, I finally got the crayfish bit for them. Mom landed a beautiful 3lb smallmouth on light tackle and Dave and Steven caught several 2 lb smallmouth as well.

Overall I'd say the bass fishing on Black Lake is still better in the morning and evening hours. The crayfish bite is also spotty in the middle of the day. Both species are still relating to the schooling bluegills and are still reacting quicker to the senko then a bottom presentation.

Good luck to all fishing the lake. Please practice catch and release.