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Ken Truffen
2012-09-05 16:04:56

Water Level Down, Bass Heat Up


The water level on Belwood Lake is extremely low for late August/early September but I've had the most productive 2 weeks yet this year. I've been told the water level is about a month ahead of it's typical depth and one local told me he hasn't seen it this low at this time of year for 30 years. Regardless, that's not stopping the bass from biting. In fact, I've hauled dozens of bass into my boat over the last couple weeks with the average weight being 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. Although I've heard of dudes catching 5 pounders in Belwood, I haven't ever seen one over 3 lbs. But stay tuned. Over the last couple weeks I've thrown cranks, spinners, jigs tipped with plastic minnows and although I've had some bites, over 75% of my fish have been caught drop shotting a 3" Powerbait or Gulp minnow. I leave about 12 inches between the weight at the bottom and the dangling minnow. I've tested changing up the distance between the weight and hook from 6" to 2 feet but 12 inches seems to be the sweet spot. My most productive strategy for drop shotting is to find an exposed rock shoreline, anchor down about 70 yards from shore and cast the drop shot 60 yards toward the rocks. I'd say 90% of my hook sets occur within 10 seconds after the weight sinks to the bottom and i start my slow retrieve. I love the feeling of slowly retrieving over the rocky bottom. I did learn a lesson about horsing around with smallies. A few times I got a bit over confident and let the bass make a few dives next to the boat instead of jacking her into the boat. After losing a few fish, I realized horsing around with a smallie is just dumb. Although I had a few scares by boating in some unchartered territories around newly discovered islands (due to low water level) and almost damaging my prop, I got to admit the last couple weeks have been incredible. It's almost like fishing in a lake for the first time. The cement boat launch at my seasonal campground no longer reaches the water (my trailer detached from my boat on Sunday when I was loading it up) so I might put her in storage soon but I look forward to some trips to the Kawarthas in the coming months and ice fishing this upcoming winter. Ken @kentruffen (twitter)
1 anglers like this post
Sep 05, 2012 05/09/12
Richard Greene
Sounds like a great couple of weeks. Smallies are always fun.
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