07/04/2010 and 07/05/10

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Little Seneca Lake in Boyds, MD

Hit the water after 5:00 P.M. on Sunday and fished until sunset. Caught and released two largemouth bass that could have been twins at about 17 inches long each. I had the kayak in 25 feet of water and was casting towards a major lake point. I figure the lure was landing in water about 12 feet deep and I would hop it along the bottom all the way back to the kayak. Was using a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver with a 1/4 ounce slip sinker. It is a nice compact soft plastic type lure about 4.5 inches long and it gets to the bottom very quickly. It also has a meaty enough profile to interest the larger bass. When you see it hop along the bottom it looks like a dead ringer for a crayfish that just got spooked

The surface water temperature was 85 to 87 degrees so I figured the water temperature 15 to 20 feet down is probably a very bass comfortable 80 to 82 degrees. We fisherman probably suffer more with this summer heat than the bass do. Sunlight penetration into the water on the other hand is a real issue. The bass do not appear to be actively hunting / feeding during the middle of the day. So we get these short windows of opportunity very early and very late in the day when the bass are on the move.

I hit the water at dawn on Monday. I tried something different for the first hour and a half which did not pan out and promptly got blanked that day. Kind of blew my "window" but a nice day to be on the water none the less.