I wish I could say the bite is totally on fire, but that just isn’t accurate. Since mid-July, the bite has slowed to a crawl—and it’s not just me. I have a friend who fishes four days a week, and he’s only putting a handful of fish in the boat. Every once in a while, he’ll catch one weighing between 3½ and 5½ pounds.

From the beginning of June through mid-July, we were catching more than 20 fish a day, including plenty of big ones in the 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-pound range. My biggest was 5 pounds, 11 ounces. What are reports that I cut over a hundred fish that's over the period of a month./

The bite seemed to really turn off near the end of July. I went out night fishing with one of my good buddies, and I couldn’t believe it. He never got a bite the whole night. I put six in the boat, lost two at the boat, and had two short strikes that I should have hooked—for a total of ten bites, six in the boat.

I’m not going to fish “Lake Slownoma” three or four days a week again until later in the year. For now, I’m heading up to Clear Lake, where the bite is rumored to be on fire!

Good luck and tight lines!

—Nitrosmike