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A fresh perspective in June
With summerlike weather forecast this weekend and conditions improving, local anglers are beginning to adjust their game plans away from springtime tactics.
Like many folks, I divide my fishing year into three seasons: spring, summer and fall. Each calls for seasonal strategies that are dictated by air and water temperatures and the daylight hours that are available for each fishing trip.
Spring is the cool-water season, with each day in general offering an improvement over the previous days’ conditions. Summer is the warm-water season, with the day-to-day changes being relatively stable. Fall, of course, is the cool-down from the summer heat, with each day again in general bringing improving conditions.
I’m glad the spring season is about finished. Spring 2017 has been less than kind to my fishing fortunes. I can’t pinpoint the reason, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that the weather was so topsy-turvy. Warm-ups were followed by cool-downs throughout March, April and May, as weather fronts blew over Northeast Ohio with regularity.
Now that it’s June and we’re looking at more 80-degree days than 60-degree days, I’m banking on my fish settling into more predictable locations and stable behavior. That’s a good thing for me because, frankly, finding them this spring has been a challenge.
My bass outings this weekend through mid-September in general will follow a pattern. They will start with topwater tactics, segue after an hour or so to working cover and structure with active lures like spinnerbaits and cranks, and then by the time the sun is getting bright, shift to cover-penetrating jigs and Texas-rigged plastics.
Summer really opens up the playbook. On cloudy and breezy days, the action baits may be employed during the entire trip. When it’s hot and still, the stealth lures may be dabbled from dawn to trip’s end.
In the upcoming weeks, we also have opportunities to experiment with new tactics because the fish will be active. That means they will be eating regularly and thus likely to respond well enough to warrant trying new lures with high expectations fish will grab them.
June is my favorite month for smallmouth bass. They are catchable throughout most of the year, but by June they are off their beds and feeding aggressively from the Ohio River to Lake Erie.
Smallies are textbook when it comes to the topwater-active lure approach. Whether on Lake Erie, the Ohio River or a point at Lake Milton, it’s always a good idea to rig up with a topwater popper, propeller bait or walk-the-dog plug for the morning’s first light.
Stable weather, which becomes more likely as June advances, makes for better smallmouth fishing. Plus, the bronze battlers also are more active and easier to locate on sunny days than when the clouds are thick and dark.
I’m looking forward to a couple of Lake Erie trips toward the end of June and first of July when I expect to drag some Erie green tubes in front of 3- to 5-pound smallies. Nothing quite matches the jolt of adrenalin unleashed by the angler who jabs a jig hook into the jaw of a fat Lake Erie bronzeback.
A close second for bass thrills is the cartwheeling leap of an Ohio River smallmouth that just exploded on a topwater bait. I have had more than a few heart-stopping smallmouth aerial displays on the New Cumberland Pool of the big river and always look forward to June fishing trips there.
So it is that we anglers have fingers crossed as we finally put the on-again, off-again spring of 2017 behind us.
Whether you are fishing for walleyes, largemouths, smallies or crappies, June presents a fresh perspective – one well worth enjoying under a fine sunny sky.