I was fortunate to chase some bass on The Canal nine times during the month of July. Most of my outings consisted of two to three hours on the water with the aim of landing five “keepers” (bass at 12” or better). I was able to meet that goal on four of the trips while the other trips resulted in one to four “keepers.” Of course, all are released to fight again after a quick picture and log entry. Too much to pass along in a single post so read on for Part I with Part II to follow this weekend.
Stats
July 2 8:53am Top Bass Runner-Up at 1-13 (15.5″) on a spinnerbait
Date: July 2
Time: 6:35am-10:20am
Totals: 16 bass (4.27 bass/hour)
Weather: Sunny/breezy 60-82F
Lures: Special K Spinnerbait (bold bluegill) – 14 bass, Strike King Rattling Squarebill Crankbait (sexy shad) – 2 bass
Top Bass: 2-11 Spinnerbait
Top 5 Weight: 9-6 (2-11,1-13,1-11,1-10,1-9)
Comments: I divide the section that I fished into eastern and western sections. Typically, the eastern section produces better fish but, on this morning, four of my Top 5 bass were landed on the western stretch. No doubt, it was worth the extra rowing.
July 3 – 6:13pm Top Bass Runner-Up at 1-10 (15″) on a spinnerbait
Date: July 3
Time: 6:05pm-8:50pm
Totals: 13 bass (4.73 bass/hour)
Weather: Sunny/calm 86-75F
Lures: Special K Spinnerbait (bold bluegill) – 10 bass, Special K Buzzbait – 3 bass
Top Bass: 1-14 Buzzbait
Top 5 Weight (only 4 at 12” or better): 5-11 (1-14,1-10,1-3,1-0)
Comments: Weeds make this spot a challenge but continued casting to open stretches and limited, accessible wood came through with my regular one-two spinnerbait-buzzbait punch.
July 4 – 4:03pm Top Bass at 2-3 (16.5″) on a spinnerbait
Date: July 4 (2 spots)
Time: 3:00pm-4:45pm
Totals: 1 bass (0.57 bass/hour)
Weather: Sunny/calm 78-81F
Lures: Special K Spinnerbait (bold bluegill) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-3 Spinnerbait
Top 5 Weight: (only 1 at 12” or better): 2-3 (2-3)
Comments: Tried a new spot after some heavy rain early in the day and nearly got shutout. A fair number of good-looking targets and a quality catch have me pondering a return trip later this year.
July 10 – 8:54am Top Bass at 1-1 (13.5″) on a buzzbait
Date: July 10 (2 spots)
Time: 6:00am-8:15am, 8:30am-9:45am
Totals: 5 bass (1.43 bass/hour)
Weather: Sunny/calm 66-75F
Lures: Special K Spinnerbait (bold bluegill) – 3 bass, Special K Buzzbait – 2 bass, Booyah Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-1 Buzzbait
Top 5 Weight (only 3 at 12″ or better): 2-15 (1-1,1-0,0-14)
Comments: High hopes but low results on my first choice prompted me to do some exploring on a second stretch. I had previously fished the western part of the second area and covered the eastern half on this morning. Lots of good-looking structure but neither have impressed in terms of quantity or quality.
July 13 – 7:36am Top Bass at 1-6 (14.5″) on a buzzbait
Date: July 13
Time: 6:15pm-8:45pm
Totals: 12 bass (4.8 bass/hour)
Weather: Sunny/calm 80-76F
Lures: Special K Spinnerbait (bold bluegill) – 5 bass, Booyah Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 4 bass, 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (natural shad) – 3 bass
Top Bass: 1-6 Buzzbait
Top 5 Weight: 5-15 (1-6,1-6,1-3,1-2,0-14)
Comments: As my first spot was occupied, I had to shift gears to Plan B in visiting a weed congested stretch. Try as I might, I still can’t get anything dialed in on topwater frogs but the Senko wacky rig as a follow-up to my spinnerbait-buzzbait combination produced some rewarding catches (more on those in a later post).
Plenty more to come from the July Prowl the Canal wrap-up with posts featuring stats, lessons, and video. Talk to you later. Troy