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20170809----~~<")))))><(---*Summer Period*--Mid 70's

20170809-78%76°~with water temps in the mid 70’s… down 6 degs from the highs last week… I set off from the DNR launch to some very prolific waypoints on a lake that has been very productive for us this year. Earl and I have accumulated six total Master Angler fish from these busy waters just this year and (3) of them are B.Gill.

My strategy was to find the B.Gills next to the Thermocline Break in about 17-0’ FOW. I started Long-Casting/Tungsten Ice Jig/Pink Waxie the edge. Within minutes I set the hook into a solid fish. After an impressive battle I tried to use my panfish net to fit the large fish into… with one quick flip the fish flew out of the net and the battle started over once again. This time I grabbed the tired fish behind the gill plates and quickly CPR’ed after a quick measurement of just over 28”.

While Drop-Shotting/Pink-Waxie the same spot I hooked into another large fish… fighting like a large N.Pike a lengthy battle ensued until the fish bit thru the 6# braid.

Minutes later I hooked another N.Pike that bit the Long-Casting/Tungsten Ice Jig/Pink Waxie. After some spool burning runs and dives the N.Pike surrendered to my grips, quickly measured and CPR’ed at 31”. After a period of no Lepomis bites I needed a different strategy before the Major Solunar period expires. Obviously the N.Pike were using the Thermocline Break like a highway. I headed shallow.

The lake is heavily populated with houses and cottages lining every square foot of space along the shoreline. I proceeded to cast shallow in between and along the docks with the Long-Casting/Tungsten Ice Jig/Pink Waxie. The strategy was proved successful with many lunker Lepomis over the 90% Master Angler Rating. One particular P.Seed nearly nudged the 9” mark.

The action was delayed with some heavy showers and died off suddenly with the expiration of the Solunar period.

20170810----~~<")))))><(---*Summer Period*--76°

20170810~in a bid to get my wife Jeri in the record books (Michigan Master Angler Database) we decide to fish a lake Earl and I have racked up a record number of Master Angler Certificate fish in a short period of time… (3) B.Gills and (3) P.Seeds in 7 mos time.

Jeri is a die hard LMB fisherwoman… even though I was tagging some 90% + certificate sized fish on the Long-Casted/Pink Waxie she continued throwing the .250 oz swim jigs. She ended up with one LMB.

Slow bite over all on a 53% Solunar rated day.

20170810~ came close with another bid on a trophy P.Seed just missing the 9” mark.

20170810~ Trophy hunting on a good lake during a Major Solunar Period

20170812----~~<")))))><(---*Summer Period*--75°

20170812~timed a trip to the bridge at the beginning of a Major Solunar period and scored!! Getting to be regular business like setting a watch old school. Tagged a few B.Crappies of decent proportion and a tugger of a LMB all long-casting/tiny jigs. Great response and activity from the .016 Jig/Chartreuse Waxie… my new summer color.

20170812~ a nice LMB tagged Long-Casting/.016 oz Jig/Chartreuse-Waxie

20170812~a nice run of B.Crappies up to 13.4” tagged Long-casting/.016 oz Jig/Waxie & Lil-Minnow

20170812~timed a Major Solunar period at the bridge tagged a few B.Crappies and a LMB

20170814----~~<")))))><(---*Summer Period*--75°

20170814~I started the day testing the bite off the bridge during a morning lull period and was rewarded with just a few small panfish.

I’ve been off the kayak now most of the summer period due to arm, neck and shoulder pain. Last week I decided to take it for a little trip… loaded it up and the axle broke on the trolley.

Took some time the other day to put a PVC one together and finally took it out to the lake. I was on the lake in just 10 minutes and paddling to one of my favorite stretches of water.

I began the trip at 14:48pm on the downslide of a Minor solunar period on a 65% good day according to the table. Without the sonar I paddled my way to my favorite waypoints fished nearly for 1.5 hours without a single hit on my favorite rigs.

I needed to stick it out to the Major Period starting at 17:30… At 16:27 I got hit by a nice B.Gill tagged Long-Casting/.032 oz Jig/Mid-Minnow. I quickly fan casted the area for more B.Gill with the.016 oz Jig/Waxie combination but ended up with some short B.Crappie. I switched back up to the Mid-Minnow set-up and started tagging some better Crappies with a nice SMB and LMB in between.

The whole time I was fishing thru some pop-up showers on and off with some thunder coming up in the distance I called it and paddled back to the launch

...

...20170814~Nice B.Gill tagged on the Mid-Minnow

...20170814~Pugnacious LMB tagged on the Mid-Minnow

...20170814~ Nice SMB with an attitude... took awhile to bring this one in... tagged on the Mid-Minnow

...20170814~fishing from the kayak… 4 species trip… Mid-Minnow was the popular bait… shortened by rain

20170815----~~<")))))><(---*Summer Period*--20%-mid 70's°

20170815~I took a short trip on the kayak to meet up with the Major period starting at 18:20-21:20… perfect scenario if you think about it. A Major period overlapping a bite triggering sunset at 20:20… perfect right… you would think… still given it was a 20% day overall on the Lunar calendar… and it felt like it.

Took 20 mins to get the first bite … a midsized B.Gill with the Long-Casting/.016 oz Jig/Chartreuse Waxie. I found a log and laydown strewn bank (new for this season) and the b.gill just ate that little waxie up. All eater slot in size.

Moving on down to a popular laydown extending into 9 ft of water… I tagged a little r.bass and miscellaneous panfish Vertical-Jigging/016 oz Jig/Lil-Minnow near the bottom… Twitch, twitch and twitch…

Before leaving the spot I fancasted the Long-Cast/.032 oz/Mid-Minnow and hooked up with a lunker B.Crappie at just under 14”… made my evening!

The bite stopped suddenly at near sunset… for some reason it is typical with this lake… even the low light feeding b.crappie end their bite.

I’ve been wanting to do a nite time trip during a Major-Day/Major-Month period… there is a possibility coming up with the New Moon august/21 at 00:00-02:40 am… should be a good bite for trophy b.crappie.

...20170815~just missed the mark on a nice B.Crappie…

20170815~slow bite on a slow Solunar day at 20%...

...

.

20170817----~~<")))))><(---*Summer Period*--17% Solunar/76°

20170817~waited most of the day for a let up in the rain… late in the afternoon there was a window of opportunity of spotty t’storms and showers for a 2 hr period… I jumped on it and I don’t know why… it was a 17% solunar day… bottom of the scale for the month.

I decided to fish the lake with the last 2 certificate fish tagged. Took me about 45 mins to get on the water… got caught up in a conversation at the dock with some locals. Locals can be goldmines of info at times and I’m always willing to listen as well as share.

Once out on the water I immediately located fish at my waypoints. I could not detect a thermocline any longer on this BOW. I was at the peak on the minor period on the 17% solunar day and the fish seemed neutral. It took quite a bit of effort to coax a bite and I ended up tagging a few eater slot gills while weathering the intermittent showers.

I decided to pack it up after snapping 12” of tip off the new rod and thunder looming in the background.

20170817~Slow day on the lake... with t'storms found the fish but not willing to bite in numbers 

.20170817~Best B.Gill of the day at just 8“ class Tagged Vertical Jig/Tungsten/Chartreuse Waxie

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