Northwoods Bass Fishing Report, June and July, 2020

If we all thought May 2020 was difficult fishing, June 2020 might have been even worse. Each day’s fishing results were entirely a product of that day’s weather and conditions. One out of every 7 days was a good day. The other 6 poor due to bad weather and greatly fluctuating water temps. Other than be on spots that have fish, I no longer have the solutions of what it could take to make a few bite. Lets say a prayer, and hope we don’t upset the fishing gods in July.

May and June were slow and cold, but things are finally heating up quickly. During the first and second weeks of July, our waters heated up dangerously quickly to the point that many guides and anglers had to cancel their trips for fear of killing fish and delayed mortality. This occurrence is deadly to muskies, pike, and deep dwelling cool water species. This too can happen to big smallmouth. If I had to fish, I would have canceled the last week of fishing, but luckily hot temps in the 80-85 degree range was the silver lining to me being off the water due to my annual July holiday hiatus.

This week, the lakes are still a little too warm for what I consider to be normal conditions and fishing. 76 in the early am’s and topping out at 80-82 in the afternoons depending on where you go. Additionally, weeds have bloomed into jungles and deep weedlines, there’s been an overabundance of forage on every lake, and big fish of all species are feeding early and late in the day. Thermoclines have set up too. These are all true signs that summer season is finally here! Summer peak is here, and the most predictable trophy bass fishing of the year will happen if we get like a full solid week of steady stable weather. Say a prayer with me for this to happen in July, please.

June was a doozy for trips. 1 of every 7 days on the water was considered good. Each day we had to grind and work hard for our 20-30 bites. From June 28th thru July 2nd was when the fishing reached its worst and we struggled mightily. High temps sent the fish packing deep, we had to be on the water by 530 am and done by 2, and a lot of position fishing was being required. On the screens, we’d contact 40-50 fish per day and be lucky to catch perhaps a dozen of them. Brutal.

From June 15th through July 2nd, I was booked every day with trips. With heat wave and very substandard fishing for June (my standards stretch high into the heavens) I just want to thank everyone for their patience in the boat and understanding of what was happening in the underwater ecosystems beneath the surface. We had been faced with challenges every day and just making the best of what we got. Looking back on the last few weeks on the water, I’m just feeling fortunate we caught what we did, some of you achieved your personal bests or firsts with me, and if we weren’t seasoned or experienced in dealing with fishing being fishing, my job would probably suck.

With that being said, I thank you all for your willingness to learn, and entrusting me to deliver in quality first-rate fishing experiences. Each day was memorable and enjoyable, and learning experiences in the methodologies and strategies we had to pull off in order to catch a few. Even if big bass aren’t boated, we’re catching memories, entertaining ourselves with nice fish and fun company, and learning & applying ourselves to be better anglers for the next day we hit the water.

Spawn wrapped up quickly in June. By mid month, beds were empty, and fish were quickly retreating into deeper water.

We were blessed with fantastic weather every day. Sigh. We had horrible weather almost every day. One day could be doom and gloom clouds. The next day could be sun but no humidity and east winds. The following then could be sustained 20 mph winds. This was the entire month’s weather system.

On June 20th, water temps were 64-66. By July 1st, we were hitting 80-82 degrees. This is a HUMONGOUS 18 degree avg. water temp difference. You guys often hear about me speaking or writing about the goldfish bowl theory. The exact same thing happens to our fish in the lakes as they are acclimating themselves to this enormous temperature difference. As this was happening, our fishing and fish activity was suffering.

A good day of fishing this time of year can be 50-80 fish easy during a normal weather season and depending on lake choice. This year 20-30 fish days fish for a boat of 2-3 anglers was considered excellent. On some days, we had to accept a dozen fish. Fishing is what it is and we can’t control the weather or their behaviors.

During this recent block of trips, we fished for smallmouth 99% of the time, and the only largemouth bass trips were done on days with foul weather, or when we decided to target mixed bag and to catch anything that would bite.

In June, the month’s theme was dry and cold east winds, other days with strong 15-25mph winds, thick mosquitoes, and short feeding windows.

The recent bite for big fish was unpredictable most days. Steady action greeted us daily, but presence of truly heavyweight monster bass was rare. My guess was spawn recovery and rest, and the barrage of weekend tournaments didn’t help. On any guide trip, my boat doesn’t get picky over fish sizes and bites unless we get really bored of catching 16-19 inchers. I want biters and rod benders for guests and I during the first half of every trip; often the big bass will show up and take care of themselves at some point or during second half which by then we move on to trophy water.

Lately with the warming water temps, and low-light conditions, early and late, a number of big bass have been sliding up shallow to feed on unsuspecting prey – making targeting them easier. But midday & afternoon as water temps peak for the day however, our fish catching becomes more challenging, and has been mostly done in 10-15ft depths. Rock, boulder, wood, and deeper secondary, offshore structure has been key. It’s taken a lot of patience for my anglers to get down to these fish by fishing slow with jigging and finesse rigging.

Tons of baitfish and schools of bass have been sitting along first break lines and near offshore structure (wood, deep rock, boulders, cribs).  Presence of baitfish that includes ciscoes and yellow perch, and mayfly larvae, along primary and secondary breaks and even mid lake basins has made locating smallmouths easier, but more difficult to catch because you simply cannot compete with all of the food availability. This prey overabundance has been a challenge on every body of water. Nearly all of the boat’s recent bites at most lakes during early and late in the day have been in depths of 5-10ft. If they aren’t up top, then off the edges, and suspended someplace nearby during midday hours. On some lakes, we’ve been catching fish from as deep as 20 to 30 ft.

The biggest challenges of late besides weather has been catching fish in midst of all the food availability. In addition to mayfly hatches, and the abundance of schooling bait such as ciscoes and yellow perch, it has made catching bass much more difficult. But locating them with this proliferation of forage has been easy however. If spots and structure are devoid of bass, you’ll find them where the food is at.

We are now entering summer peak. Both bass species are also frequenting their summer locations and setting up along deeper structure and habitat where they will primarily live on offshore structure for the remainder of the year. They are also keying in on their summertime food preferences too; SMB – crayfish, cisco perch; LMB – bluegill, perch, frogs.

If you enjoy fishing the diversity of lake types and bass fisheries the northwoods has to offer, July and August are great months to come and experience it all as during a typical full day trip, we work multiple lakes per day.

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Bass Bling

Bass Bling July 2020 💎

Right now for smallmouth, everything is gravitating to crayfish bites.

Match the hatch with jigs and plastics.

Match the hatch again with crankbaits.

With rapidly warming lake temps, crayfish have invaded the shallows, and lots of forage preference is on them. The best has been a DT 4, DT6, and any craw pattern squarebill.

June 18th – Late post from Thursday. I hosted US Army’s Michael Speva and his dad Jamie for a trip through TLS Veterans Outdoors.

We worked hard for some big fish, but had several unfortunate blown hookups and bounces get in our way. On their trip, we worked 3 various lakes, each to some success. Catching 25+ smallmouth with fish to 20.5”. Hair jigs were the game, while most of everything else resulted in blown hooksets.

Thanks for your services Michael, and to all US armed forces service members.

June 20th and 21st – Just when we think a window is found, more crap in the atmosphere invades and destroys everything. Every day, a new front seems to greet us and the fish are starting to feel it. This weekend, clouds and wind were better than sunshine for smallmouth 🤣🤦🏻‍♂️

Saturday thru Tuesday, I’m hosting Mark and Bryan from Arkansas for 4 days. We’re simply taking everything that the weather and lakes are giving us, and not being picky for big bites.

Saturday we worked 4 different lakes – one of them for smallmouth and the other three for largemouth. Smb in post spawn, and we hit 10 fish with a few 18’s in the am. You know the bite sucks when you can’t feel the pickups with a ned rig and tube. Deep rock and breaks from 20-30ft held most fish. Meanwhile on the largemouth water, we found post spawn conditions on each. Beds empty, and several fish cruising and feeding in the shallows. Anywhere there is wood and vegetation, there’d be fish. Kalin’s Fishing Wackos, jig and creatures, swim jigs, and frogs catching all.

June 22nd – Awesome multispecies mixed bag day with Mark and Bryan on day #3. Just taking everything the weather and conditions and each specific lake is giving us.

Fished three total lakes prioritizing largemouth bass, each one a wilderness off the grid deal.

Our morning lake produced close to 35 bass. Lots of fun shallow water action on finesse gear.

June 23rd and 24th – Current report – LMB’s hot, SMB’s not. A new coldfront or weather system once every 24 hours isn’t helping the current situation.

Since Tuesday we’ve grinded out some bites. Tuesday was day-4 with the Arkansas Razorbacks, and they returned home happy, with Mark catching his personal best 21”. Long spawned out female. We also had a dozen other bites as the big coldfront blew through. DT 4 and 6 crankbaits scored most fish from shallow rock and windblown flats.

On Wednesday I hosted two groups. AM trip with the Wagoners and a PM trip with the McGrath curse. Morning fishing was excellent with fish concentrated in groups, hammering tubes and neds from mid lake rock humps. 18 total caught. The big rain at noon chased us off, and then the winds switched to the north……. In the PM I had another trip and it was a struggle, as we caught just two largemouth and 4 smallmouth. The front had done its damage.

June 25th – What a day for the boat yesterday. I brought Eric and Jeff to my playground for a full day trip. Lost count of all the 18 inchers we caught. 40+ fish for the boat and this is the way every day June should be. Steady catching all day long. Eric has the hot hand all day long, scoring fish with tube jig and hair jig. Both simple fish catchers turned out to be all we needed the entire day.

Most fish running 16-19”. Couldn’t find the big ones 😞

Water temps climbing back to normalcy for once, and so too is fish activity. 69-72. Lots of fish cruising and feeding throughout the shallows yesterday, with many of our bites happening in 5ft or less. Flats, shoals, and rock piles.

St. Croix Rods mojo bass hair jig 7ft6 MLXF got an awesome flex and lift workout with the hair bites. This rod is one of their best sellers and most in-demand this 2020 season and I can see why.

👉 https://stcroixrods.com/products/mojo-bass-spinning

June 29th thru July 2nd – Not much to write about and talk about for this week. Major heat wave (Tues Weds and all week) and horribly miscalculated weather reports (Monday) have slowed our fishing. Lots of windy days have led to mayflies hatching overnight. Water temps have risen 14 degrees since early last week. Brutal.What I’m finding is summer patterns. Fish have bypassed the post spawn phase, me thinking it never even happened. Hair jig bites never happened in June either. Many fish have vacated the shallows and are now favoring deeper structure with cooler water. On some lakes, magic depths 10-15ft. On some others, 20-30ft. Some schooling on deep rock bars, and lots of fish coming in pods. Catch one, might find a couple others swimming with it.

To catch these deeper fish, my supersize ned rigs, tubes (Coffees and Get Bits), Chompers hula grubs, wacky worms, football jigs, and drop shot rigs are each connecting well. This week has mostly been an electronics game. Mark a lot of bass down below, catch a few, and majority will ignore and can’t be force fed. Otherwise, the tackle box is still wide open for the most part.

On most lakes, the shallows are empty. But I have found some larger fish moving in at sunrise and sunset solely to feed if the food is available on the money spots. Evidenced by an enormous 22 incher I caught Monday night (will post separate). On some lakes, crayfish are now preferred. On others, yellow perch and Cisco are being puked out. Then these last few days, fish are puking out nothing but mayflies. We are unable to compete with all of this forage over-abundance.

I’ve had trips each day this week. Monday was a rainout. Tuesday I hosted Tyler and Bruce – we had heat wave day-1 and fish were screwy. Maybe a dozen boated between 3 bath watered lakes. Daytime high hit 92. Today I hosted Eric and Nick. We fared worse, but got a nice 19 incher in the am before melting. Each day this week, we’ve been seeing and contacting fish all over the lakes. Down below on electronics, and then during mid retrieve with our search lures. Fish are lazily chasing, but the closer our baits get to the boat, they retreat and disengage. For every 50 bass marked and sighted right now, 10 are only being caught. This heat wave has them all messed up. I just don’t know anymore.

Before I left town and heat wave, I hosted Brad Benson and friend Jerry for a morning session. We boated a dozen good ones before we melted by noon.

Haven’t fished largemouth since last week, but they are now retreating to deep grass and offshore locations. You can still find fish hiding in near shore brush and slop. They will fare best once this heat stabilizes and fish adjust themselves to it.

Currently water temps are ranging from 78 low end to 83 high end. These are no joke temps for July 1st. Fish early and late in the day. Night fishing will be getting good now. Our trips today and tomorrow have started by 5am. There will be no relief in sight for the next week. With this being said, fish care and avoiding overplaying/mishandling is now critical. Big smallies are NOT warm water tolerant,’ typically favoring 65-72 temps. Get them deep where they seek refuge and higher oxygen, they could be in trouble at the surface. This is the time of year I find a few floaters. Get those fish back to the water pronto.