Monthly Archives: August 2019

Find the Thermocline

Find the Thermocline for Productive Late Summer Bass Fishing
from The Fishing Wire

Find thermocline for summer bass


The hottest two-month stretch of the year is here and largemouth bass anglers must make adjustments if they want to continue catching fish during the challenging dog days of late July through August.

Locating the depth of the thermocline is the first priority for bass anglers fishing Kentucky’s major reservoirs in late summer, as well as elsewhere throughout the South. Longer days and the higher sun angle of late spring warms the upper layers of a reservoir. By summer, the lake stratifies by temperature. The thermocline is the zone where the warmer upper layers mix with the oxygen-depleted, colder water layers below.

There is no dissolved oxygen below the thermocline for fish to breathe, so it is a waste of time fishing below it. The Louisville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides a helpful page at https://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Water-Information/Water-Quality-Data/ that provides the location of the thermocline. Click on the lake you are interested in and select “Most Recent Lake Profile.” The right-hand column shows the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. The thermocline is the depth where the dissolved oxygen falls below five.

Water fertility and clarity play a role in the location of the thermocline. This week, the thermocline on mid-depth hill-land reservoirs with relatively clear water, such as Green River, Barren River, Rough River and Nolin River, is about 15 feet.

“Some clear lakes like Cave Run have a deep thermocline at about 20 feet,” said Mike Hardin, assistant director of Fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “The water at that depth is about 73 degrees right now, more comfortable water for bass. At a lake like Taylorsville, a shallow, fertile lake, you don’t have that cool water option as the thermocline is only 10 feet deep.”

Smart bass anglers fishing the mid-depth reservoirs should probe structures from 10 to 15 feet deep, such as points that extend out into the lake, submerged humps or channel ledges. Those fishing a shallow lake like Taylorsville should look for ambush cover just above the thermocline, such as a sunken tree-top, stump field or in flooded timber.

“Do not forget the basics of bass fishing,” Hardin said. “Bass hang out where there is food. Shad like to follow channels. Points near the channel or any cover along the channel ledge are money spots at this time of year.”

Jigs slowly crawled across the point or along the channel ledge draw strikes. Points with stumps or chunk rock hold the most fish. Jigs in the peanut butter and jelly color, black and blue or green pumpkin make good choices.

Boat positioning is important to keep a jig crawling on the bottom and across those points, channel ledges and humps. Some anglers use marker buoys to visualize the sunken structures.

Deadsticking a 7- to 10-inch straight-tailed worm rigged on a ¼-ounce Shakey head and cast on the point, channel ledge or hump is a technique to try if all else fails. After the lure reaches bottom, reel in the slack and let the worm sit there and wiggle. Occasionally squeeze the rod handle to impart a slight action to the worm. If no takers, reel it in about five feet and try again. Bass that ignored everything in your tackle box will often hit this presentation in late summer. Green pumpkin, junebug or plum glitter are productive worm colors.

Largemouth bass sometime suspend over the point, ledge or hump and ignore lures worked on bottom in late summer. A swimbait works well for suspended bass.

Pearl-colored swimbaits with shades of gray, blue and light purple work well. Fish the swimbait just above the point, ledge or hump with a swimming retrieve, stopping occasionally to let the lure fall. Bass often strike a swimbait on the fall at this time of year. Use the lightest weight you can.

It is hot and finally dry. Make the correct adjustments and continue to catch largemouth bass through the hottest stretch of the year.

Author Lee McClellan is a nationally award-winning associate editor for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. He is a life-long hunter and angler, with a passion for smallmouth bass fishing.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife news releases are available online at fw.ky.gov

Lake Guntersville July Tournament Details

Camping for five nights at Guntersville – $196.00. Gas for truck – 100.00 – Gas for boat – 50.00 – Food – 50.00 – Club tournament fee – 35.00 – Ice – 25.00.

Winning $25.00 for third place and $35.00 for big fish – priceless!!

Sitting by the lake after fishing, grilling dinner and relaxing is also priceless. I always camp on multiday fishing trips for several reasons. It is more relaxing than a motel and I can leave stuff in and on my boat without worrying about it getting stolen. I much prefer my cooking to eating out. And it is easier to go to bed at sundown and sleep better.

Although it was very hot at Guntersville, a fan in a screen dining tent helped a lot. Fortunately, my camper has an air conditioner, so I sleep comfortably. Both fan and AC felt great after a hot day on the lake.

In our July tournament at Guntersville last weekend, seven members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished for 15 hours to land 33 keeper bass, only four of them spots, weighing about 80 pounds. There was one five-bass limit and everyone caught at least one keeper.

Raymond English won with seven bass weighing 16.75 pounds and Jay Gerson had eight, including a limit the first day, weighing 16.08 pounds for second. My four weighing 11.65 pounds was third and my 4.55 pound largemouth was big fish. Fourth was Glenn
Anderson with four weighing 11.14 pounds.

I went to the lake on Wednesday and got my camper set up. Thursday morning I went out looking for something that might work for me. I checked the backs of several creeks, isolated places where I thought I could fish in peace, but got only two bites and lost both fish. That afternoon I rode and fished ledges and grass lines, the usual summer pattern there.

Friday I spent the morning looking at the same kinds of places on the main lake. I have never fished a tournament on that area of the lake. The area I usually fish and am more familiar with is about 20 miles by water down the lake and I was not willing to make that run.

I did have the advantage of many GPS waypoints from old articles on the lake. But many of them were from other seasons, not the hot summertime. But I did have many good spots marked on ledges.

That afternoon I had not had a bite so I decided to try something with which I am more familiar. I had seen a line of docks around a deep cove that looked good. When I went to them I caught two nice spotted bass. At least I had something to fall back on if the ledges didn’t work.

I noticed a mercury vapor light over the water at one dock was on during the middle of the day, so I figured it stayed on all night and attracted fish. I filed that away as something to remember at first light.

Saturday morning I decided to start on a grassline when we took off at 6:00 AM. I quickly caught one short bass, about 14.5 inches long. Largemouth and smallmouth at Guntersville have to be 15 inches long to keep, but any size spotted bass can be kept, so we could weigh in 12-inch spots based on club rules.

At 7:20 I hooked and landed a 15.5-inch keeper largemouth and knew I would not zero so I relaxed – maybe too much. I fished a second grassline where I had marked baitfish the day before and largemouth were schooling on top, but all I caught were too short.

When I headed to my third marked spot, there was another bass boat there and they were fishing it hard. Since it was almost noon and the sun was high, I headed to the docks where I had caught the two spots, but there were three boats already fishing them.

The rest of the day I tried several things but never caught another keeper. At weigh-in I was in seventh out of seven people!

Sunday morning I ran straight to the dock with the light – and it was not on. But the fish were there. I quickly caught a 15.5-inch keeper, and six other bass just shorter than 15 inches, all on a spinnerbait. I lost what looked like a 2.5-pound keeper that just pulled off my buzzbait. That was not good.

At 9:00, after fishing the docks without another bite, I want to the ledges. I headed to the one I had not been able to fish the day before, and no one was there. It was the perfect set-up – a long creek channel wound across a huge flat to dump into the old river channel in the middle of the lake.

I got my boat in position and caught a short fish. Then on my second bite I set the hook on a good fish. I guessed it weighted about four pounds when I put it in the livewell.

A few casts later I hooked and landed a largemouth a little bigger than the first. It was the big fish in the tournament. Then, I got a bite, set the hook and my rod bowed up just like on the first two four pounders and fought like them for a few seconds, then pulled off my hook.

I stayed in that area the rest of the day but got no more keepers.

At weigh in my three weighed 10.01 pounds, the heaviest of any for the two days, and moved me to third place.

Guntersville is famous for its bass fishing, ranked as the second-best bass lake in the US this year by
BASS. But with the 15-inch limit, it can be tough to fish, with thousands of acres of grass and lily pad fields, and many miles of ledges and grasslines on the main lake, and heavy fishing pressure on all of them.

Its only 4.5 hours away – give it a try.

Dave Precht to Retire

Dave Precht to Retire at B.A.S.S.
By Frank Sargeant, Editor
from The Fishing Wire

Dave Precht


Dave Precht, who has pretty much been the face of B.A.S.S. publications for the last 41 years, will retire at the end of July.

Dave Joined B.A.S.S. in 1979 as editor of Southern Outdoors Magazine after a stint as the outdoors writer at the Houston Post. In 1984, he replaced Bob Cobb as editor of Bassmaster, a role he’d maintain for nearly two decades.

During his 19 years as Bassmaster editor, the magazine grew to nearly 600,000 member/subscribers and was selected as one of the 10 “hottest properties” among magazines in America by Ad Age. Precht used the magazine to promote boating safety, conservation, sportfishing ethics and bass fishing as a family activity.

As B.A.S.S. evolved, Dave’s knowledge of the sport, company and industry helped move the organization forward with focus and perspective. He retires as Vice President of Publications and Communications as the most longstanding member of the B.A.S.S. organization.

B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin had kind words for Precht in announcing his retirement.

“We obviously know the incredible impact Dave has had on B.A.S.S., but his positive influence on the bass fishing industry has been celebrated, as well. He was inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in 2011. And in 2018, Dave was inducted into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, as well as the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame. Dave came to B.A.S.S. because of his passion for bass fishing, and now he will have plenty of time to spend on the water. The rest of his time will likely be spent chasing grandchildren,” Akin said.

On a personal note, it’s been my pleasure to have maintained both a professional and personal relationship with Dave for pretty much all of the years he has been with B.A.S.S., starting when I was a fledgling writer for Southern Outdoorsand continuing for several decades at Bassmaster before I began to focus more on saltwater than on bass fishing.

Dave is an avid angler both for bass and for saltwater species, and when he goes on vacation, fishing is often on the agenda—he and a crew head to the marsh country of the Louisiana Delta each year for a go at the reds, trout and cobia. During my time in Florida, he joined me occasionally for snook trips on Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, trout and reds at Apalachicola and once on an epic sojourn that started in Key West chasing snapper and wound up at Lake Okeechobee cranking in largemouths. Dave is a great angler as well as a great friend—he’s given to starting at daybreak and staying out until the last glimmer of daylight, often the mark of those who become very good on the water.

Precht and his wife Linda live in Birmingham, and will remain there during retirement. They raised a successful, loving family. I started to say that was the icing on the cake, but in fact that is the cake, isn’t it? Birmingham puts them in the middle between grandkids to the north and the south.