Nature expects a drop in water temperature, such as accompanied Brian Cronk's second time on Tilcon. He went last week with a friend from Ridgewood, the two of them losing count of the number of fish they caught. Lots of them. On Thursday, Brian and I caught only 12, but it was a deeply enjoyed almost (not quite) four hours of fishing. For comparison sake, Brenden and I fished a quarter hour more than six hours on May 7th. Brian and I faced a steady wind, the sky was overcast, and the water had cooled off to 62, which in any event didn't amount to the balled-up herring Brenden had observed and Brian had seen, too.
A Little Put Off
When Brenden and I fished, the water temp was 69 and 70. I know 62-degree water means bass and pickerel are plenty active, but it's under the optimal range for bass. When the water temperature drops out of that range, I expect the fish to be a little put off.
Which describes what we encountered pretty well. For a couple of hours, neither of us hooked a bass, and though I had caught a big pickerel of about 22 inches and Brian had caught some, Brian kept losing pickerel right at the boat. He told me he had learned legendary New Jersey angler Gen Wong's cadence. (They fished together in the same boat recently.) I couldn't argue with the number of fish Brian hooked.
Jerkbaits Like Earlier
Brian pretty much had his mind made up: jerkbaits. Brenden had remarked to me when we fished on the 7th that jerkbaits are more of an early season lure. With the water temperature signifying the warmwater season set back a little, I wondered about the comparison Brenden had made. Brian did try a Chatterbait for a little while and caught a pickerel on that. I wanted to fish a Senko. We tried anchoring where a weedy flat drops off, and I worked the edges and where the flat slopes carefully. Nothing. Brian got another pickerel on a jerkbait. We tried a little cove-like spot where I've done well in the past. Brian lost two pickerel at the boat. We trolled at high speed to the back of the lake, where it appeared we could get out of the wind. I had snapped on a diving plug, which did result in a 14-inch largemouth. Having situated in the calm, I cast a Senko parallel to the bank, progressively working my way along the edge by gaining an additional three yards or so each cast, focusing with all the interest I was capable of, when a bass grabbed it. Good fight. Maybe better than 15 inches. I tried the worm even further back in the calm, got a pick-up, tightened up as the bass headed into deep water at perpendicular angle to me, and set the hook to only come up empty, cursing loudly at the fish. I don't know why, but when bass move off at that angle, it's hard to get the hook set.
Returning to the area where we had seen the herring balls, paid of in a couple more fish for Brian on the Rapala Husky Jerk he had stuck to. On the way, I had trolled the same diving plug, which I think gets down about 10 feet, hoping to ride the edge of the weedline where the flat drops off. I remembered a bass I caught trolling that edge from five years ago or so. Instead, I found us cruising through 38 feet of water, but when I was about to turn the canoe into shallower, I got hit in the punchy way of a salmon. Hooks never set, we cruised on, but that was a vivid moment.
Temperature Drop Complicates Bass Post-Spawn Bite
All Told, Brian caught three largemouths, compared to my two. He caught them on a Rapala Husky Jerk. He also caught three pickerel, a nine-inch bluegill, and a 12 1/2-inch crappie. My total was two largemouths, two pickerel.
I don't think the wind or the overcast skies put the fish off as did the drop in water temperature. It could also be that the bass had already spawned when the water was warmer, and the exceptional action we had then was related to that spawn. Natures inevitable setback that we faced meant less active fish.
