During the past decade, I've prioritized learning and focusing my time on open water fishing tactics for smallmouth bass. Prior to then, this was something I hadn’t done much of. What spurred me to this was the realization of how lakes and smallmouth fisheries are cyclical and slowly evolving. Lakes that might have been structure-oriented and dominated by a crayfish forage biomass from several years ago could eventually become open-water pelagic-related. Lakes that might have formerly been crayfish-infested and favored for feeding, could now have become pelagic-oriented in which cisco is the preferred menu item. These types of food chain changes and feeding preferences are all relative to cisco availability. Strategies I’ve learned and acquired while musky fishing the deep clear lakes, were applied successfully to catching open water roamer giant bass. Few anglers ever fish this way, and it’s not a tactic for the impatient. If you want many bites and action, forget about it. Skip this and go to the next article. During most July and August months, I turn to cisco waters, and focus on this intricate pattern that is shaped by forage location and availab