Beat the Dog Days
Brian Peterson and his daughter Kelsey enjoy wading the Delaware River at Belvidere in 84-degree heat. Or at least close to it, as my handwritten log—where I go to for hard facts—says the high was 84 and the date July 18th. It looks like a real good high-temp August scene, and believe me, those will exist this month.
Some August Fishing
Hot weather fishing can be some of the most enjoyable, as the air, carrying more than heat, has a tonal resonance about it only summer hosts. We might call them the dog days, but I never do, because rather than succumb to slumber—many dogs sleep 15 hours a day—I try to stay active.
For the record, I did fish Split Rock Reservoir with Brenden Kuprel in the last week, but I’ll save word on that for an article I’ll publish in New Jersey Federated Sportsmen’s News, which, by the way, hosted the present article last summer. New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs is an important one.
Look on the bright side. August favors fishing. Because the water’s warm and not in the 40’s as the thermometer registered in March. In some reservoirs, cold into mid-April. But water temps over 80 degrees do mean fish expend less energy to feed, and they often resign themselves to the cool water of the depths, though relative shallows early and late in the day can produce outstanding topwater action for short periods of time.
I’ve seen Lake Hopatcong ten times more crowded than in this image.
I find the toughest lakes when it comes to beating the skunk get pressured in a quite different way than fish getting caught. Boat traffic is worse. And the hotter, more “dog day” summer gets, the more boats seem to race around. That traffic can deprive you of an evening bite but not necessarily of action at the crack of dawn.
In my home state of New Jersey, lakes Hopatcong, Greenwood, Cranberry, and Budd, Round Valley Reservoir, especially those four lakes suffer heavy traffic from boats without horsepower restriction. I’ve seen Lake Hopatcong become a Jamboree. Dozens, if not hundreds, of boats anchoring in a limited area. Weekdays can seem like weekends, but the weekends themselves never give you a break. You’ll be rockin’ in the wake after sunset, but it might not be impossible to hook up. I’ve caught some when the lake was busy, but go there and experience it for yourself. You’ll know what I mean when I say, regardless, boats do put the fish down. Round Valley Reservoir isn’t nearly as bad, because horsepower is limited to 10. Mostly, you see paddleboarders. And the water is deep and oxygenated.
That water is super-clear, too. The bass are not accessible from shore as they are in May when spawning urges move them. They go deep, and from a boat, bass fishing can be quite good in August. Fish the deep edges of weedlines and rocks about 12 to 35 feet down. You can catch bass in the middle of the day, but the early and late bites are almost invariably better. Even topwaters produce. I’ve also heard an account of a big bass at night. One way of beating the daytime heat and traffic.
As I mentioned, catching fish at Hopatcong isn’t impossible. My son, Matt, and I used to fish there every summer at least once, often a couple of times. We caught walleye and smallmouth bass, having left Dow’s Boat Rentals in the dark well before sunup. I believe we always went on a weekday, but in any event, we fished as many as nine hours into the afternoon, sustaining interest by catching more fish. Some of them were smallmouth bass that suspend in about 12 to 15 feet of water over 20- to 45-foot drop offs.
During August, oxygen doesn’t exist deeper than about 18 feet in Lake Hopatcong. While smallmouth bass would prefer deeper water, they can’t access it. Rather than stationing among rocks in water shallower than 15 feet, while some of them do, many take to the open lake over drops and chase herring. Matt and I live-lined herring by adding no weight to the line, letting the bait and the bass find each other—a reliable way to catch them good sized. Just make sure to anchor from the bow if you try it, because the boat will do plenty of rolling in the wakes of other boats. Anchoring from the stern can result in a swamped boat. Double anchoring is a technique some swear by, but we never felt it was necessary. In the heavily trafficked afternoons, we fished under intense sun, temperatures in the 90s, but that felt pleasant out on the water where they’re natural and wholesomely present rather than fought against.
I only know her first name, Lisa. She’s in one of my canoes; I was in the other. The temperature might not have been in the 90’s, but the amount of light on a placid lake surface would seem to put the bass off, though, I remember well, we had pretty steady action.
So much for big lakes and reservoirs. You can also beat the dog days by fishing lakes restricted to the use of no more power than electric motors, and especially during the week, you’ll find a relative few others sharing the acreage with you. It’s important to make the effort to get on the water well before sunrise if you go early. Most anglers may follow an hour or two after you, and I know the temptation is great to not bother waking up until after light comes through your bedroom windows. It’s more comfortable that way, but to get the best of the morning bite, you can be there for it.
That bite usually doesn’t materialize as anything more than a few good fish worth the effort, but sometimes action is outstanding. Decades ago, Matt and I discovered while fishing Lake Musconetcong that especially the evening bite—sometimes it happened early—would climax in 10 to 20 minutes of action. It never happened at the same interval of time before or after sunset. We would each catch going on a dozen nice-sized largemouths and pickerel on topwaters.
I fell under the impression that the fish had just enough umph in the heated water to chase after forage for a short period. And then feed again, perhaps, in the morning, although I wasn’t sure of what might happen during the night. In any event, near sunset, we could count on the fish. What about elsewhere? Was it peculiar to Lake Musconetcong?
After Musconetcong got chemically treated to eliminate invasive water chestnuts, Matt and I began fishing Tilcon Lake. There, too, we almost always experienced a 10- to 20-minute bite, but it never was as productive. My friend Mike Maxwell and I once fished Mountain Lake for what I felt then to be a grueling seven hours of 90-degree, mid-June heat for a seven-inch and a 12-inch bass, only for me to catch one nearly four pounds, another of about two-and-a-half, and one a little under two pounds in the last 10 minutes! All on a Rebel Pop-R. Mike had quit! Matt and I had a similar experience last September on Furnace Lake. We had fished nearly six hours, Matt catching one 13-inch bass. Brenden Kuprel shadowed us in his Kayak and had caught one bass of about two pounds. After sunset, Matt decided to cast a weedless frog on top of a weedmat, getting blasted. He missed that hit, but soon caught one 18 inches long. I had followed through by snapping a weedless mouse on, and in some 10 minutes total, I also caught one about 19 inches, another one 16. At our favorite private lake, I fished with Brian Cronk. We caught eight or nine largemouths from 17 to over 19 inches in some 20 minutes during the evening. They hit jerkbaits and slurped fluttering Yum Dingers rigged Wacky off the surface. After that, we fished another hour-and-a-half deep into dusk catching one 18-inch bass on a topwater. So, you can see there’s something to that notion of a short period of feeding activity.
River smallmouths are a great pursuit on a hot day. You might catch a very few largemouths, too.
Another August option is rivers. Leave the trout alone; they’re prone to lactic acid poisoning from the fight if you were to release them. But smallmouth bass stay active all day. They might not chase down a jerkbait, but Wacky rigs, Ned rigs, other jig and plastics, small plastic worms—all of these options produce all day. Look for shadows. And early in the morning, maybe in the evening, the bass will hit topwaters. You’ll find them in slow water, shooting out from under rocks, from under floating weeds, associated with wood in the water, in deep holes, and in fast water.
Fish everywhere need to feed metabolisms keyed up by summer temps, but for the most part, they don’t chase down forage. If they can nibble on nematodes, that might serve them better than grabbing bluegills. Less energy gets expended.