Smallie Nut

[Jim DaRosa]

Keep fishing 4 fun....
There is definitely a learning curve when fishing ML for the first few times.....and yes the walleye guys/gals catch their share on leaches and slip bobbers. I however am a artificial bait guy. I find the best time to fish for my stlye of fishing is bright sunlight blue sky days. This concentratates the bigger fish on the structure and ths sunlight allows you to sight fish the structure. Polarized sunglasses probally allows me and my clients to catch 80% plus of our fish by sight fishing, but they have to be the best polarization available....I firmly believe in Ocean Waves sunglasses, I've had other brand from very expensive to cheap one and some are good, BUT not even close to OceanWaves.

There are some smallies in the weeds and spinnerbaits, buz baits etc will catch em. One of the things to be sussessfull on ML is able to read lake conditions and whats going on with the food source. When the food source is plentyfull ie lake bug hatch, young or the year fry from the spawn etc, the bite definetly slows down and your approach to bait selection etc changes than when the forage gets scarce and the fish become more active a will chase your baits. Right now the fish are schooled on the rock reefs and like cattle will "graze" the reefs in search of food....you might find them on one spot of the reef today and tomorrow they may be hundreds of yards down the reef, and may be active and be catchable....so you have to be patient. They wont leave the reefs as long as there is cover, and a plentiful food source.

Remember...you wont catch em if you dont chase em!

[fishrman]

Thanks for the nice reply Jim!
I probably should try some Ocean Waves. I, too, believe in a good glass. I use Costas 99.9% of the time. With a little ripple on the water or some staining that has occurred because of the winds, it still makes it difficult to see down into. Are you fishing the calmest areas of the lake you can find?
Sure would like to get back up there sometime soon and tap your knowledge. Are you completely booked for this fall? Any suggestions on killer times to come up? I would think the smallie fishing should be improving day by day.