The dog days....

Just wondering if anyone else is getting beat up by the "dog days" out on the lake?? Fished Friday/Sat/Sun on 2 lakes....caught 3 fish including getting skunked on one of the lakes.....just curious if it was the hot, high pressure (bluebird skies), or if I need to start working on a new hobby? Hope yalls weekend was better than mine!

you ain't the Lone Ranger..

I can go one day and have really good numbers, and decent size. Go back to the same lake the next day with very similar conditions, and struggle to get bit. It's just that time of the year where it gets tough. I don't mind it. I look at it as a real challenge.

You hit a really hot and humid weekend. Probably worst of the year. I do feel your pain….

You might try it at night.

Not even the mosquitoes were biting two nights ago.

It’s a grind no doubt. Usually the earlier morning hours between sun up and 10 am are your best times. If you are just fun fishing I would limit my time to those hours and then go home.
Tournament fishing just hit those good spots early and if it’s sunny pull out the jig and find docks. You won’t catch that many but at least it gives you what I think is a better opportunity to land one or two more bass.
If it’s still shady or overcast, I would try to find any type current and finesse them into biting.

Fished and won a tourney on Fork Saturday and full moon deal was in full effect, two chunky unders between 6 and 6:15 when it was still dark and then painfully slow until noon when it picked up again, so that could have been a factor this weekend depending on when you were fishing.

This may sound a little silly but I kind of prefer the "dog days of summer" because I know its supposed to be tough. When I don't catch them in the blazing hot summer it makes sense. It's a lot tougher mentally to have really difficult spring days then sit there and scratch your head!

I'm with you. It makes the drive home really rewarding if you can put some in the boat, and you know it was really tough. It's nice to have those days where you can just wear'em out, but it doesn't feel as rewarding. I enjoy putting the work in. If I can't get bit at all; a lot of times I'll just start putting in graph time. Look and scan a bunch. That pays off.

It's just one of the tougher times of the year to get bit consistent. If you don't have a milk-run of really productive brush piles, vegetation or spots where schoolers are consistent it gets really difficult.

Do something different...Caught them all day on Saturday on walk the dog style topwaters around huge schools of shad. Not saying we are anything special but we caught a bunch Saturday doing something that conventional thinking would say not to. We tried deep and slow and all of the normal summer stuff before returning to what was working.

Fished Saturday from just before daylight till noon. Seems they pretty well wanted a buzzbait dirt deep all day. They would hardly react to anything else. Crystal clear water, no vegetation and crushing buzzbaits in 6" of water the whole time I was out there.

Mark I swear you could catch em in a puddle on I20. Even when many struggle, you always seem to catch em. Wow

I struggle a LOT. Saturday was just luck. I expected it to be tough due to conditions. When I say they only wanted a buzzbait I am being serious. I struggled getting bit on anything else.

It’s been brutal everywhere I’ve been except a buddies deer lease lake. That one doesn’t count though, lol. Takes some serious mental fortitude to grind out a full day for me right now.

I've learned that I seem to be opposite from most bass fishermen. I can almost always catch them when it's hot. However, I HATE fall and winter fishing. Fall and winter fishing is almost always a grind for me. Saturday was a typical summer full moon day for us. Morning bite was off, but we had probably 30+ fish from 11am to 1pm. The good news for tournament fishermen that struggle during the summer is that there are hardly any tournaments so it doesn't effect you in that way. Guess I need to swap a trip with some of you guys that seem to love fishing in the fall.

WOW!! that's a crazy good day right now

Caught 7 at Bridgeport.. wasn’t a great day, but wasn’t terrible. I really need to learn some stuff up the river

Its worth learning. When its on up there you can find some quality size fish. We need a good cooing spell and it will fire off all across the lake soon as we get it.

I’ll be back up there Sunday, may run around and see what I can find

I did not fish our local Tuesday night big fish tournament as I had other things to do, but my buddy said the winning weight was 1.9 lbs. This was on Logan Martin. That's barely a keeper. It's tough everywhere........ October is around the corner....

I idled way up the river the other day scouting it out. Looked to be about 9-10 ft deep all the way with tons of cover. Lots of lilly pads. I have been fishing BP about 2 years now and never ventured past the big swing to the right at the mouth of the river. Im definitely going to start getting in there and giving it a shot.

We started up some working man tournaments on J.B. Thomas from 6-9 on Thursday evenings. First 3 tourneys >16, 23, and 29 lbs won it.

The last 2 Thursdays no one weighed in a fish.

We also had our club tourney the Saturday between those 2 Thursdays and we had 6 fish weighed in with 21 anglers.

Fish everywhere, just seems they arent relating to structure or cover just mostly suspended in deeper water. Live scope.guys have tried dropping spoons and everything else right on them with no luck.

I did have a few good trips hammering 4-6 lb fish on topwaters in the middle of the day on a shallow flat with no rock, no brush, no ledges, etc. Just happened to see 2 fish break the surface chasing shade at 12:00 on a hot blue bird day. Pulled up and absolutely had a blast for about 40 minutes.

Went back the next Thursday and they were still there. Tried throwing big swimbaits, jerkbaits and everything else i had tied on and they would only hit 1 specific topwater. Then i figured if i could catch 4-6 lbers on topwater, why try anything else.....

Then suddenly that bite died. Normally the offshore bite is fairly.decent in August, ive caught 1 offshore fish this year on that lake. Its a strange time for sure.

That is Big Creek and can be good at times. Please be careful running it at more than idle as there are rockpiles and shallow areas you can damage your boat if you don't know the run. When lake is full you can run to railroad bridge area.

August/Septmber, generally speaking one of the toughest periods to stay consistently on them no doubt.

Hello TTree, Would you by chance happen to be from Florida? Like you, those bass fishing guys in Florida catch a lot of big bass, especially in the Dog Days every summer too. They say live bait fish is the only bait that bass will bite consistently during the Dog Days. That bass will not bite artificial baits well at all then.

Your bass catching in the Texas Dog Days is very impressive to say the least; seriously, no joke, no jest or pun. You are doing routinely what all the rest of us only wish and hope we could do and cannot even begin do. Get bit and catch a bass in the Dog Days.

We can’t even catch a bite, much less hook and land a bass or 2 in the Dog Days. Same problems in the Dog Days every summer.
You definitely got your stuff in order when it comes to Dog Day bass fishing this summer. You are clearly the ONLY BASS FISHERMAN posting here on this particular thread that knows something special the rest of us don’t know now have a clue. How to make bass bite and catch a lot of bass in the Dog Days.

You are the only bass fisherman here that knows how, where, what to throw and when to throw that bait, gets bites and actually catches lots of bass in the Dog Days. You are the 1 and only fisherman here that can catch >30 bass in 2 hours at noon in these Dog Days.
Please share a bit of your knowledge with all of us Dog Day non-catching bass fishermen. We can’t catch 1 bass or even get a bite in 2-3 days fishing.

All of us certainly need your help if you would so kindly share your Dog Day knowledge with us.

4 serious Question please Tx:
(1) Why/how can you thrive catching bass in these Dog Days and the all the rest of us can’t even get a bite much less catch >30 bass in 2 hours?
(2) What do your think is about the Dog Days that causes the bite slow and basically stop for all the rest of us fishermen?
(3) Are you using live bait fish to catch all those bass in the Dog Days?
(4) What kind of live bait fish are you using?

I know that many bass fishermen in Florida routinely fish with live Golden Shiners and that catch many large bass in the Dog Days. They do not use artificial baits during and near the Dog Days. In Florida, the bite on artificial baits are slim to zip -0- in the Dog Days and large Golden Shiners are the bass bait of choice in the Dog Days for bass fishermen that want to catch fish.

Thank Tx

Thanks Mark, I thought that was the W Fork of The Trinity. Now I see that the Trinity comes in on the other end. I have yet to go under the bridge at RAB and fish that side. I need to venture into that area as well.

Not sure about dog days of summer, but I absolutely love fishing July and August on my home lake.
I catch good fish, usually my most consistent big bags.
A few years back I could only catch dinks, but I found a pattern that really works for me. Milk run is a good description. Another thing people overlook is the mental beating you take. Stay positive, fish the cover tight, and don't worry about other people fishing your spots. Fish replenish good spots in the summer. Timing and presentation matters.

I fished Lake Lewisville yesterday from 2-6PM. Ended up catching 14 bass- all on a squarebill. Largest was 3.5lbs but most were under 1lb. Honestly, best numbers day I ever had on LL. I was shocked but it was a great feeling. I found a pattern and was able to repeat it on numerous points. Angle was critical. It would have been easy to go to the next point but I paid attention to each cast and repeated that same cast after I got bit. On one point I caught fish on 4 consecutive casts.

Wow
I had to read that twice

Gotta have a breeze to fish at night keeps skeeters away

Given the choice, what time of night would generally be most productive? Would starting a couple of hours before daylight then keep fishing in the morning, or fish late afternoon then 2 or 3 hours after dark be better?

Given the choice, what time of night would generally be most productive? Would starting a couple of hours before daylight then keep fishing in the morning, or fish late afternoon then 2 or 3 hours after dark be better?

What time will those fish bite today or tonight? This question is ancient and they are going to eat sooner or later.

Keep in mind that every summer lake water gets hotter and dissolved oxygen gets lower and lower (that’s predictable, it’s a water chemistry deal). Fish metabolism increases substantially and the fish’s oxygen demand increases (fish are cold blooded, that same water chemistry directly affects fish behaviors, i.e. feeding and digestion)… the bite.

Choosing the right day and the especially the right time of that day (the best couple hours in a 24 hour period when fish are feeding) is some of the magic to catching those fish. The bro-science is fun, hoping and guessing when fish bite is challenging and often results in one more strike-out, but we know all about that, been there and done that.

You might considering trying a new and different more scientific approach; predicting the day and time of the bite.

1st and foremost – in the heat of summer, if you will look and if you can find the highest concentration of dissolved oxygen in the lake water you will find the bait fish and game fish congregated there. Especially at night and even more-so just before the dawn twilight.

Peak Fish and Game feeding times for Livingston, TX. (weatherforyou.com)

Solar and Lunar tables for Livingston, TX. (weatherforyou.com)

This is easy, just type in your zip code where you are fishing and click it.

There’s a scientific method to this madness of predicting the best and 2nd best time of the bite in a 24 hour period. Real science trumps Bro-science here.

Fish do not bite well when a front blows through elevating the barometric pressure higher than normal. Normal sea level barometric pressure is 760 mm/hg. Have you ever noticed that wind and waves stimulate fish to bite, why’s that?

Wind Creates Waves https://tiltfishing.com/how-does-wi...es-wind-impact-fishing-is-it-good-or-bad

“The most obvious way that wind impacts fishing is, of course, waves.

Wind creates friction as it blows along the surface of the water. As a result, the stronger the wind, the greater the friction, and the larger the waves. The turbulence from the waves or ripples will significantly increase the amount of [dissolved] oxygen in the water too.”

[What all this science means is that every summer when lake water is hot, wind and waves do increase the available dissolved oxygen in the lake water. This increase in dissolved oxygen is the magic water quality improvement necessary that directly improves the efficiency of fish metabolism, makes them more active, increases the rate of digestion, often stimulating a feeding event and **** improves the summertime bite dramatically.]

Sharing real science knowledge and 1st hand experience is great. This sharing is backbone of most fishing forums in my opinion. Real fishing science, weather science and water quality science trumps a big sackfull of bro-science, wishing, hoping and guessing any day,

Hey TTree - Hope you had a good Labor Day Holiday weekend?

I ran across more information for you. Sharing more real science for you to ponder since you seem somewhat interested in fish behavior, when and where to go fishing today, i.e. ”What time will those fish bite today or tonight.”
Actually fish, people, dogs, cats, rats, snakes and many species of aquatic microbes are in fact aerobes - Aerobic organism - Wikipedia
When environmental waters where we fish ever summer gets hot and hotter, those gamefish get very picky about where they congregate in lakes and rivers for good reason… better water quality.

The water quality is poorest early in the hot summer mornings before dawn breaks during that twilight period because there has been no photosynthesis for 9-10 hours and water quality is poorest in that 24 hour period. This is normal and happens world-wide every hot summer mornings in freshwater lakes, rivers and ponds. Environmental conditions and or physical conditions are not conducive for aquatic aerobes feeding or digestion. Poor or no feeding then is not because their metabolism is not high or the fish are not hungry. They won’t “bite” because the environmental water quality is bad, just too poor for fish to eat well at that time of day.

Check out the science, learn something new, try something new based of environmental science. The science is so-much better than all that bro-science we all read on the net in fishing forums written by the fishing gurus, water wizards and outdoors’ writers:

There are many more, but these 3 will get you on the right track scientific basis about fish behavior in the different seasons.

How Dissolved Oxygen Affects Fish Behavior - HOW DISSOLVED OXYGEN AFFECTS FISH BEHAVIOUR – Active Angling New Zealand (activeanglingnz.com)

[b]Dissolved Oxygen - What is Dissolved Oxygen?[/b] - Dissolved Oxygen - Environmental Measurement Systems (fondriest.com)

How water Temperature and Oxygen Affect Fishing - How Water Temperature and Oxygen Affect Fishing - Mepps Tactics

This is 9 year old, but here’s a little taste about how science and the wonderful world of manipulating environmental water quality can and does affect the fish’s “bite” in the summer.

Oxygen Diffuser System to Create Fish Habitat and Enhance Hydropower Water Quality in J Strom Thurmond Reservoir Microsoft Word - HydroVision12 JST manuscript Final (mobleyengineering.com)

There are a few people that actually think outside of the box, but most people in our world do not, will not cross fixed known boundaries. These boundaries we recognize and live by provide us a since of stability and orientation to life. Without boundaries is the void, confusion, complete disorientation. For most folks free thinking without boundaries is just too scary to deal with.

You would probably not believe in your wildest imagination how the Corps of Engineers as well as some fishermen can and do manipulate fish behavior in the summer. They can effectively stimulate the dog day summer “bite” intentionally. They manipulate the summer “bite” buy improving water quality in a specific area of the lake or river just because they can do that. They can alter the seasonal boundaries and fish behavior established by Mother Nature.

It’s interesting to see how summer tournament fishermen are manipulating lake water quality, attracting bait fish and game fish to a specific area. This major modification of Nature also stimulates fish to “bite” and feed even in the dog days of summer as well as the final days of winter just before the ice cover on lakes begins to thaw. The tournament fishermen doing this are not just fishing for fun. They are seriously fishing for big $$$. They are fishing for a good living.

New fishing tactics and techniques should be consider when/if you’re seriously fishing for prize $$$ and or meat hunting.

Currently there are no fishing tournament rules in the US addressing manipulating (improving) summer environmental water quality specifically designed to attract gamefish and stimulate the “bite” for profit in summer fishing tournaments.

Thinking out of the box again out loud, imagine something like this: There may be new fishing tournament rules prohibiting this technique 10-20-30 years from now (2051), probable not. It will decades before rules prohibitions happen. And in the meantime millions of $$$ can be made by tech-savvy tournament anglers that effectively manipulate fish behavior with intention and forethought practicing this new cutting edge tournament fishing tactic.

No one, especially “Green People” and “PETA People” could never condemn or even criticize a fisherman that is drastically improving summer environmental water quality for the fish? This dilemma may be a real catch 22 for fishing tournament officials someday.