Lake Stone

For Largemouth Bass, most success should come during the early morning or evening hours. Fishers should look for any topwater disturbances, or splashes at the surface, which may indicate bass aggressively feeding on schools of Threadfin Shad. Target these areas of activity with noisy topwater or Rat-L-Trap style crankbaits. While throwing the bait out and rapidly retrieving it may produce an occasional bite, anglers should have better success with an erratic action. Anglers have reported great success fishing around the two brush-pile fish attractors. These structures are marked with large, white buoys. As water temperature rises throughout the day, fishers may want to switch to soft plastics and try a slow retrieval to entice the lethargic bass. Many Largemouth Bass will be moving to deeper water as the summer progresses, so fish along deeper water with spoons, jigs, or worms.

Similar to Largemouth Bass, the most productive bream fishing seems to be early morning and evening. Larger Bluegill and Redear Sunfish may continue to bed, so look for lighter colored areas on the bottom which indicate spawning activity. Anglers should fish in these areas with live baits such as red worms, wigglers, and crickets with a light tackle in three to six feet of water. Another productive method for catching hungry bream are artificial baits such as beetle spins, rooster tails, or curly-tailed grubs. When not targeting spawning aggregates, fishers should target deeper holes or the old creek channels, as these fish often remain deep to escape the summer heat.

Although Black Crappie spawned months ago, anglers can fish for them throughout the summer. Anglers determined to catch Crappies should aim deep as the fish have moved out of the shallow water and are in deeper areas with plenty of vertical structure. Anglers should concentrate on places with submerged structures, brush, or timber piles. Anglers might need to be persistent, but in the right spot crappie jigs or live minnows will induce a few bites. Remember that deeper does not always mean better fishing. Frequently, the deepest waters contain little or no oxygen.

As always, Channel Catfish will be hard-pressed to resist a juicy beef or chicken liver, and earthworms. Fish these baits on the bottom in deep water off the fishing pier or near the dam, or with a float, suspending the bait over any available timber pile, should produce results. Anglers having trouble keeping messy livers on the hook should try wrapping it in surgical gauze or pantyhose.