Catfish are here to play! All of this hot weather has warmed the water to catfish feeding levels. We experienced some incredibly hot weather this week including one day that was 109 degrees. The water temperature rose to 77 degrees. Catfish can be caught in the warm shallows around the lake. The best baits are Anchovies,Sardines, Chicken liver, shrimps (raw or cooked) any baits with a high fat and oil content will work well. I always keep few bottles of Pro-cure with me in my tackle bag even if I am not Catfishing that day. Some of my favorite ‘’flavors’’ are Anchovy, Bloody Tuna, Garlic and Anise, and the predator gel. Pro-Cure can be applied topically to your bait or it can be injected, but both ways work great. These illusive fish like to hide in the shadows and in or under covers such as trees, rocks, overhangs and drop-offs. My favorite type of terrain to Whisker fish is on the big rocky points, where they are hidden trees under the surface and large drop offs to much deeper water. You may not catch as many fish on the points, but the fish you do catch are typically of higher quality.

Striped Bass are still on the bite. Due to the warm weather they have started there assault on the surface. They have been boiling on shad in the evenings after all the boats are off the water so your best chance of seeing them and catching them is going to the West beach and throwing Anchovies as far out as you can get them! Now lets go over what a boil is exactly, boils occur when the striped Bass have herded or ‘’balled’’ all of the bait fish in the surrounding area in to one massive school (like ocean fish on Discovery Channel). Then when all the shad are balled up on the surface and the Stripers take position then breach. It usually starts with one splash , then two splashes then the whole surface erupts with feeding fish that resembles ‘’ boiling water’’ hence the name Striper Boil.

My good friend Dr. Al came back up to the lake and had a phenomenon day catching Smallmouth Bass, here is his report. ‘’Hi Danny-

Al Hurwitz of Saratoga and Abbey Lev of Sunnyvale hooked up with about 16 smallmouths Bass on 7/23/15 while trolling. Most fish were caught on the western side of the lake in the Narrows. The bite increased as the winds picked in the late AM and early PM. Feathered Panther Martins and Joe’s Flies with spinner blades and feathers were picked up with fish at 10 – 15 feet below the surface in a 20 – 30 feet water column. The lake is very clear with surface temperatures around 76.5 – 78.5 degrees. Shad, Anchovie, and Herring scents applied to the lures seemed to help. There is little doubt that the Smallies are becoming more aggressive in attacking the lures and are larger in size than in prior weeks. Even the smaller fish fight tenaciously, well beyond there weight. The summer should continue to bring excellent Smallmouth action. In the early morning and evening, I would try top water lures and lures dragged just below the surface – that should provide some great action as well!