Barrett report August 23rd

[Early release]

Hi everyone.

For those who are wondering, the road to Barrett is just fine, no wash outs and it appears someone may have dragged it also, so that's nice.

Got there a little later 0530 and took my time getting into the water at 0600. First thing is the water is 4 degrees cooler than it was last week. The temp ranged from 75.1F to 78.7F for the day. I think that slowed down the bite a bit. Checked around Hauser and had some boils by the Island top in Hauser, but no matter what I threw, they weren't interested in it. It was single fish and they'd surface, but they weren't chasing bait, or if they were, it was bait I couldn't see. Worked shoreline all around Hauser and the tally was 2 popper bass, and 9 jerkbait bass. Met up with Chuck in the back of Hauser and we found some boils. Chuck was fishing a device with two flukes on it and scored a double on one cast. See picture below. That was pretty neat. The boils were a bit more subdued in the back of Hauser, good numbers of fish, but quick and if you weren't right there, you were fishless. I added a few more to total out the day with 15 bass, Chuck had the same. I also got 5 large bluegill on the jerkbait. Chatting with others, the bluegill were all very cooperative for everyone. Didn't get the impression that anyone found large numbers of bass though. Maybe this weekend the heat will bring them back up. Wind was calm most of the morning, came up a bit around noon, but not more than 10kts and mostly around 5kts.

One cast, two fish. Nice.

Big fish for the day, 2 pounds 10 ounces

Strange coloring on this bass' repair, like it was done at a cheap body shop.

[619bassin]

Thanks for the report Dave. That was the highlight of the day catching them on the donkey rig.

[otaymichael]

Chuck said it was slow and it sure was. Ended with five or six on top but very nice models. Jules said a bunch of guys reported skunks.

Yes, Lori’s husband dragged the roads after the rain. They have a small window to do it while it’s damp she said.

[JWall]

Thanks for the reports guys and great news on the road! It was bad. As for the slow bite, El Cap on Tuesday was similar. The fish were around, just not biting much of anything we threw. It may well have been the new water and post high winds. The clarity wasn’t bad so maybe temps dropped.

[otaymichael]

PS, had hoped for higher water levels, which I did not see. When asking Jules he said the powers that be thought they'd better release water just in case. Bummer.

Still dang pretty there. Saw a school of turkeys running down the road on the way in, and a coyote was hanging not far away!

[DarkShadow]

I almost pulled the trigger on fishing the last Wednesday of the season.

But then realized it would be a roll of the dice, according to data from the past. It can either be 78 or 98.

I notice you reported water temps being cooler and how the bite seemed slower.

I always was told that northern largemouth are less susceptible to mood changes due to the weather.

[Early release]

Michael,
I also noticed the water level, based on looking at the water lines on the plants. I think maybe they let a foot of water out, or it's possible I didn't notice the water level before.

DarkShadow, I think that's probably true on the northern strain of largemouth, but I think that their prey is affected in ways we might not completely see. I didn't see a lot of bug surface activity this Wednesday and I really didn't see a lot of bait activity. Sometimes you can get ready for the boils just by looking at the dimples of the bait, right before they start busting. Also the grebes weren't super busy, they were kind of spaced out and not in one area. I'll keep the forum posted on the water temp in these reports. It's cooler than this time last year, but I don't know what other mysteries the weather has in store in September.