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Summer Fishing Readiness

© Stanley M. Campbell

Summer is in full bloom and bass fever has taken control of my body, life and wallet. Every day that I have to stare out of a window at a beautiful summer day that I am not on the water somewhere, I feel that a part of me has been lost forever. My mind wanders in situations like this to early mornings of crisp clean air gently blowing across the top of the cool blue waters. The gentle splashing of a blue gill chasing his morning meal, the sun shining off of the wings of a gull, a turtle falling off a log with a loud splash, and the far-off sound of a bassboat gunning its motor as it cuts across the top of the lake: all of these things and more call me as if they were a Pipe Piper.

Summer fishing is like a coin toss – heads, it can be great with you pulling in fish after fish, and if it happens to land on tails -- well, lets just say it could have you selling all of your equipment at bargain basement prices. There are a few precautions you can take prior to a trip to lessen the chances of your coin falling on tails. Plan your trip, but don’t hook up the boat and go all rag tag. Don’t get me wrong. I did not say not to go fishing if you don’t plan it out. All I am saying is to increase your odds of a good day on the water -- plan it out. Here is a quick checklist I use that you may find helpful.

1) Check your local weather channel. This will give you some kind of idea if there is a front coming in that may effect fishing conditions. Get the forecast for at least 2 days prior to your trip and for the day you plan on being on the water.

2) Check out all equipment. I have a checklist for this also. Rods, Reels, Boat, Boat Motors, Tackle and everything else you plan on taking with you needs to be checked and re-checked. This will help you if you need to replace or repair something before you really need it.

3) Get a really good Lake Map and set up some kind of game plan with it. This will save you time while you are on the water. You can mark most of them and this will allow you to know where your next good fishing spot is. This is a real time saver, so do it before hand or you can sit in your boat with the motor idling away trying to figure out what’s next.

Greenfield Rive Lake Early Morning

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