Guided Bass Trips 9/11 and 9/12

[GuidedBassTrips]

Mike Cunningham and his friend Joe hired me once again on Sunday for a half day trip on Black Lake. They are from NJ and are staying at Log Cabins. Last year they had rough weather but a good trip with me catching mostly smallmouth on crayfish. This year we had the opposite weather. The day began cool and bright and warmed nicely as the day went on. This time the fishing was much tougher than last year with bright skies and no wind. I had them using shiners this time and even the shiner bite was slow. Sometimes the bass would boil on the bait but not commit to it. I see this happen on slow days and usually the only thing to solve it is wait for the few that do commit to it. Putting crayfish on the bottom wasn't any more effective either. They caught some throughout the morning but all were small. In the early afternoon some clouds started to build and the best action of the day happened in a current area with crayfish. But the bass were still smaller than normal. All bass were caught on circle hooks and released.

The next day started out cloudy with some wind already starting with an approaching front. This time I had Rick, Dick, and Fred on board. They are also from NJ and this was their first time at Black Lake. I picked them up at Pleasant View cottages and started the morning fishing shiners once again. The action seemed a little better this time with Rick catching some quick biting largemouth. But then the action subsided. So I began moving them to different shoals and found some fast biting largemouth on the shiners before the action would subside and I would have to move them again. But today the fish were bigger and on the last shoal before lunch, Dick caught a fat 5lber and 2 more bass around 4lbs. Then Fred caught a pair of solid 3-4 lb largemouth along with more smaller bass. After lunch I switched them to the crayfish hoping for some hard fighting smallmouth and they did not catch a one. They did catch one smallmouth in the morning on a shiner but the smallmouth this year have been inconsistent on my trips. They will usually bite the shiners as good as the crayfish, if not better sometimes, but this year seem to not be as available. Most of the afternoon turned slow until the last spot. I set the boat up on a rock and weed shelf, and after they caught nothing on the remaining shiners, threw out a crayfish for Dick and he immediately began catching fish. I switched them all to the crayfish and they all began catching bass after bass. Most were largemouth but Fred was the one who finally got to experience the fight of a 3 pound smallmouth on the light tackle.

Overall the bass fishing seems to be good at specific times and tough at other times. Probably normal for the 2nd week of September as it may still be a little early yet for the more consistent action. Water temp is starting to dip below 70 and looks like it will cool more this coming week. This may get the smallmouth going.

Good luck to everyone fishing the lake.