OK....Trying to be positive, but need some advice

[bigcreekdad]

Heading to the French River next week with my son. Weather forecast for our stay is HOT! I don't usually do well on those calm hot days, so, rather than just get ticked off, I'm looking for some advice on how you change your technique in hot spells. I'm usually flinging bucktails, big rapalas, etc for muskie/pike, and surface poppers for bass, but the fish will likely be seeking cooler water and less sun.

[John]

Heading to the French River next week with my son. Weather forecast for our stay is HOT! I don't usually do well on those calm hot days, so, rather than just get ticked off, I'm looking for some advice on how you change your technique in hot spells. I'm usually flinging bucktails, big rapalas, etc for muskie/pike, and surface poppers for bass, but the fish will likely be seeking cooler water and less sun.

 

Coors Light and scotch usually helps me.....

[lookinforwalleye]

Coors Light and scotch usually helps me.....

 

I was thinking the same thing plus a burger, fish at first light and at sundown!!!

[Bill Shearer]

I was north of Temagami last week, and when I went into North Bay on the way home, every vehicle, building, pole etc, was covered in May Flies!(hexagenia limbata, for those that care)

The folks from that area call them shad flies.

The fish love them, and don't seem interested in anything else. So if you see a lot of empty casings on the water, and fish slurping them off the surface, the beer and the scotch would be the solution, I'm afraid.

[BillM]

Fish the mornings and evenings.. No need to sit out in 30 degree weather. Go swimming instead.

[Raf]

sleep/drink during the day, fish hard at dawn/dusk/dark.

[bigcreekdad]

So.....you are basically telling me to give up? You bunch of quitters!!!

[lookinforwalleye]

Sound advice from experienced anglers!!!

Edited July 14, 2011 by lookinforwalleye

[Bill Shearer]

Beer is for hydration,

Scotch is for relaxation after the serious hydration is accomplished.

Can be done between morning and evening fishing periods

[beagle dad]

fished the french a few times

 

fish like humans are not adverse to shade area look for deep holes,,rock pile weeds even lumber can be super productive...

my favorite time to fish is when the sun is high in the sky,, they will congregate in small areas and can be easy and numerous to catch

[pikeguy]

look for weed beads near a drop off.

ore head to the five fingers if that's the area you are heading

[Nipfisher]

The upper french (mouth to Lake Nipissing) fish are only biting from mid morning to early afternoon. No late bite unless you stay out really late. Guys are coming out with there limits of walleye fishing 35-45 fow with a chartruse jig and worm or minnow. Make sure you have a stinger hook on the jig or you will miss 90% of the fish. Rememer the slot size is 42cm -60cm.

 

Hope I didn't break any rules with this info.

[Spiel]

I was north of Temagami last week, and when I went into North Bay on the way home, every vehicle, building, pole etc, was covered in May Flies!(hexagenia limbata, for those that care)

 

 

I've had some good times with the fly rod during hex hatches.

[umKthxbye]

I enjoy fishing in the heat although it's a bit difficult from shore to do some flipping and pitching. I had some great success throwing plastics around lilly pads. Go do some junk fishin for bass, skim the weedlines for pike in the shaded areas. If also throw crank baits under trees and docks and usually get some decent bass strikes. Or go deep, during heat they either go shallow and shady or deep from my (not so long) experience.

[ChrisK]

Nipfisher hit it right on...

In past years my wife and I booked in mid July knowingly the heat would be on but then again so is the bite. I would venture out about 6.30am in the morning and fish till about 10.30am with the intention of targeting muskie.

After that I would go back to the cabin for breakfast and prepare to take out my wife for a mid afternoon of fun fishing and swimming around Tombstone and a couple other spots where theres lots of smallies,largemouth and pike.

Evenings for me meant walleye on the shoals. I got a few spots that I like to visit that have weeds to rock inclines which I fish at about the thermocline anywhere between 17 to 22 feet of water. This seems to be the the depth they like to turn on the feed bag in and it usually starts around 6.00pm and ends when you here the first mosquito buzzing around your head around 9.00pm. Within

minutes of that point you will be eaten if you don't get off the lake.

 

Good Luck !!

[mike rousseau]

I would troll weedbeds on drop offs... That's how I usualy fish walleye and musky and I do best on blue bird days when SPF 60 is needed and the water is smooth as can be...

[adolson]

I was north of Temagami last week, and when I went into North Bay on the way home, every vehicle, building, pole etc, was covered in May Flies!(hexagenia limbata, for those that care)

The folks from that area call them shad flies.

The fish love them, and don't seem interested in anything else. So if you see a lot of empty casings on the water, and fish slurping them off the surface, the beer and the scotch would be the solution, I'm afraid.

 

Oh man, I hated those things when I lived there. I remember one summer a few years ago it was insanely bad. Every year it's bad, but that year was really bad. We rolled down the windows and drove slowly and it sounded like a bowl of rice crispies. I took some pics (one is actually on wikipedia), as they were covering walls, vehicles, everything. Bleh. I don't miss that part of North Bay, at all!

[lunkerbasshunter]

well Im with the rest of the group. Im up marten river way in a couple weeks and i will be fishing early morning/ late nights but if i have to fish daytime i would go deeper. try jiggng for walleye and smallers in 20-30 feet of water. I would stay away form top water baits during the day as I find it really works best in the early morning or evening when the lake calms down a bit.

 

But seriously, stay out of the sun and heat and enjoy a shady spot with some pops. That is what I would do in this heat.