7-9

[Norm Minas]

the river is low, what river isn't in these parts ? I prefer to think of it as very wadeable and an opportunity to see how structural and cover elements are laid out. this kind of knowledge will be priceless when the flows resume to normal. make the most out of an opportunity to learn, shoot some of you guys with digital cameras could set up albums I believe they are called with before and after photos.

water temps in upper 80's, stain to water,, weed pieces flowing.

so it's lower than usual, the fish made the adjustment, you can too. faster water, riffle areas, neck downs, channel areas, deeper flats. find shaded areas, fish earlier or later in low light, all of the above. it's mostly common sense combined with a basic knowledge of how current works and how fish handle the changes in flow regimes. with the water being warmer, metabolic rates are up, start with aggressive techniques/lures and work back not the other way around. topwaters, yes even mid day they work, rattlebaits, crankbaits are my starting point and I rarely go to a jig/plastic unless cover conditions dictate that that isthe best option. ever think about fishing weed beds out in the river especially the long stringy clumps that create canopies for the fish to hide under and use the edges for ambush points ?

today because of doing family stuff all day, I hit the evening bite after an early dinner. it was overcast and even sprinkled on me. I started with a Bandit 200 and never changed. I also caught every smallmouth in inches to 2 ft of water. I fished heads and tails of riffles, points off islands and mid stream humps. yes the Bandit 200 is designed to run much deeper but that worked to my advantage. the retrieve that worked the best was casting it up shallow and really banging it hard for a couple turns of the reel handle, then letting it drift alittle, when you started retrieving again it got blasted,.the next best was getting snagged[that's where the being designed to run deeper part comes in] and the lure getting blasted when it came free. heavier line and medium spinning gear helps free them. running the crank parrallel to bars and humps on the shallow part also produced if you used a stop and go retrieve. another thing to note, most of the bass either spit up crawdads or had them sticking out the gullet, definitely a heavy crawdad bite ging on. the keys were fishing agressively and covering water efficiently in areas where there was forage at a time they would be up taking advantage of the forage when it got more active. pretty simple stuff.