Yellow is Mellow - - and Effective Too

photograph courtesy of Lotfi Sayahi

This time of year is often called the “dog days of summer,” because of the sultry, heavy weather.

Popular wisdom is that fishing is mediocre at this time of month.  If you fish a pond or stream that dries up, this is certainly the case.  But on many lakes and ponds, the fishing can defy the dog days.

Low light is always an angler’s friend.  Since June, low light has become more of a friend, with the loss about 45 minutes in the morning, and in the evening.

Over the last two weeks, Adel, Lotfi, Allen and I have been investigating summer angling with great results.

Our biggest successes have come with metal jigs with yellow plastic bodies, and worms fished on standard hooks.  Adel discovered that allowing the jig to sink and then retrieving it slowly drives the crappie crazy. 

Using this technique, he and his brother Lotfi boated 17 fish on an early summer morning.  They hooked even more fish but they either were too small or slipped the hook.  For a brief period, the angling duo had a streak that rivaled the action on those morning fishing shows.  First one brother would get a fish.  By the time we had that fish released or in the cooler, the other brother would have a fish bulling into the deep and putting up an awesome fight.

The technique works on other fish, such as pickerel and bass.  On this trip, the pickerel and bass gave a spirited fight but we released them as they were under the legal minimum.

Pickerel caught on a jig with yellow coloring
Photo courtesy of Lotfi  Sayahi

This past weekend, Allen and I returned to the same lake, but later in the morning.  Despite the later hour, we had a lot of fun.  We replicated the success with the yellow jigs.  Allen caught large bluegills on worms.  It was impressive to watch Allen fishing; usually with worms, the smaller panfish come in a clean off the hook.  Somehow, he was able to attract the larger fish.  In the spirit of experimentation, I trolled and casted a Flat Fish, which yielded a good bluegill while trolling.

On both days, the fishing was made even better by the setting and the company.  As you can see from the photo below, our lake is sometimes so calm that it’s hard to tell which end is up and which is down.  This past Sunday, the cloudy water from previous trips had settled out and it was possible to see dozens of feet below.

Which side is the real lake and which is the reflection?
Photograph courtesy of Lotfi Sayahi

Labor Day is coming up sooner than most of us would like.  But don’t despair.  The summer fishing is great.  Then as September progresses, we can enjoy autumn fishing.