Tough Dog Day Patterns; And Then Some!

Now that we are in the hottest weeks of summer, what should anglers do to find and catch the best trout a bay system has to offer? I get a surprising number of serious trout anglers that want to fish with me this time of year due to the difficulty in finding and catching quality trout. I had a pattern in mind that I was going to explain here, but as I was putting the final touches on it I must have hit the wrong button and – POOF – two full pages disappeared and it really pissed me off!

So, the upshot of all this is that I just experienced two really tough days of fishing recently that included nearly every element of the pattern article that disappeared, so why not just talk you through these two days of tough fishing here in Rockport while they’re still fresh in my mind and see if you can gain anything of value from it? I do better anyway when I speak of recent events versus trying to verbalize a pattern that I often see repeating itself during a collection of dog days experiences from years past.

Conditions this week were all over the place. Everything from 8-inches of rain to add to May’s 13-inches, tropical storm development in the southern Gulf, extremely low atmospheric pressure that led to extremely high tides. Then, as if these weren’t enough, a high-pressure dome slid in, accompanied by west wind and mid-90s air temperatures.

Now, if that sounds challenging enough, hang on…there’s more. On top of everything listed above, we also experienced a huge tide dump that drained the backcountry and presented us with 87° water temperatures in the shallows of the main bays. And that’s not all. To make matters just a tad worse, we also experienced a big increase in boat traffic as the summer season began to hit full stride. Oh, and before I forget, we also had the mixing of fresh and salt affecting the fishing in some areas.

I will go on record and say that NEVER will I use any of these conditions to pre-qualify the possibility of failure to my clients. If you are fishing with a guide or buddy that does this, just turn around and get off the boat. They are preparing you for their failure!

Now, to keep the record straight, in my opinion, I did in fact fail my clients on two days, catching very few slot fish of any species. Small trout and reds were not a problem, but those don’t ever count in my day’s totals. Here is what we found.

Both days we found little to no bait fish activity. No dolphin cruising the shorelines or the drop-off zone. Zero in the slicking department, limited at best pelican or gull activity, and strong winds to nearly 25 mph. Water conditions were good to decent with water temperatures 84° at daybreak and 87° by the end of the day. I fished a minimum of eight hours both days, making numerous wades along both windward and leeward shorelines, coves and pockets.

Bottom structure was visible, and we fished both submerged grass, submerged shoreline points, and along grass edges. We targeted areas where good trout and good numbers of trout had been located and caught recently. I used a variety of soft plastics, both straight and paddletail styles, on a range of jighead weights. I tried my Double D, both banging and slow-strolling presentations, and even some mid-strolling techniques that have been paying off for Chris Bush and Justin Furman.

This was not done out of desperation but more out of “let's try everything and see if anything works” sort of deal. I pay attention to those I believe know things that I do not. I hit the pause button while writing this and reached out to Chris to confirm what I was thinking and was pleased to get his approval of my thoughts. My dad always told me that when my mouth is open, my ears don’t work, not allowing me to hear what others are saying. “If you will listen to others, at the end of the day you will still know what you already knew, and you will also know what they know.” It is amazing how much smarter our parents get over the years.

So, with all these things being deployed each day, the only constant was the fact that the trout were holed up on the outermost areas of bottom structure in deeper water that was adjacent to a primary feeding area. This is a time-proven summer pattern that I have spoken to more times than I can remember. All the quality bites came on the bottom and up tight to the bottom structure.

We had numerous fish pick the lure up off the bottom while distracted by something else and did not connect. This is the fish trying to tell us that they want it on or close to the bottom, and that they will eat the lure if we present it to them in the exact manner they want it presented. I have always been of the opinion that the best anglers can catch fish when most cannot…so pay attention to what the fish are telling you.

Tough days should give us confidence instead of deflated egos and lack of confidence in our angling abilities. I honestly feel a tad defeated at this writing, but I will get over it. That’s a promise.

Here is something else I noticed. Two days running I had clients that were using quality spinning gear. On both days, they outfished me. Same lures, same leader material, with the exception that one was using fluorocarbon leader material, which sinks faster than monofilament, and might have contributed to his lure getting down to the fish quicker and remaining there. Also, I was using an 8.1:1 gear ratio reel versus his 5.3:1 gear ratio, which might explain his lure staying lower and closer to the bottom. These are seemingly small things but when put all together, can make a decisive difference in the results department.

Those of us who will fish the next few hot months are going to experience some tough days. Try and remember some of the things I mentioned in this article and see if something helps you catch a few more trout

P.S. Back to my two tough days; my pattern was accurate, but my application was just a tad off the mark. I am having a BA Henri K2 spinning rod constructed as we speak and have already been to Tackle Town and purchased the best Shimano spinning reel they had. Serious money they get for this stuff these days, but there is nothing I won’t try to keep up with Joneses or the Bush/Furman contingent. Will report back to you on my findings.

May Your Fishing Always Be Catching! -Guide, Jay Watkins