Good Day on the Water 7/22/17

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Another great day out on Blue Marsh this past Saturday. I arrived at the lake at around 5:20 Am and was surprisingly only the 3rd trailer in the parking lot (it got busy quickly though). After hitting one of my favorites spots on the lake and not catching even a short fish I was a little concerned (I have a spot where I always catch at least one bass). So I headed down lake a few miles and decided to try a new spot for me. In the next hour I loaded up on Bass; I caught a good supply of short fish but added a nice solid 2+ to the days catch (and lost one about the same size). I then decided to start heading up lake again and hit a few more new spots which proved unsuccessful. My plans were to get off the lake by 10 or so to avoid the heavy pleasure boat traffic the lakes receives every weekend. By now it was about 945 and I decided to hit on more new spot for me. I moved back into a small cove and caught a 12" bass right away. I moved to the back of the cove in about 2' of shady water and scored my biggest bass of the day. She came in at a few ounces over 4 lbs. By then it was after 1030 and I decided to call it a day. But a super fun time; I caught and released 13 bass in the few hours I was out. Plus I managed to get in before the lake got crazy (with the exception of one total %$&#*# that was running his salt water style recreation boat full out in the no-wake area). Fortunately I was in the drivers seat of the boat (not up on the deck) at the time and hit the wake at a solid 45 degree angle so I came out unscathed. It sure was getting hot out there as well and shade is pretty lacking on the lake. The top baits of the day were a Missile Baits "48" worm rigged wacky and a Ned Rig. The 4+ came on the Ned Rig and gave one heck of a fight on my ML spinning combo with 6 lb. line. She headed straight towards the shoreline green slime and twigs but I managed to grab the net and get her in to the boat. I love fishing Blue Marsh and it once again gave me a successful trip.

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That is a good day. I got out of work early and fished yesterday but was skunked. Middle of the day there is rough. You seem to know the lake much better than me. Only been there 4 times now. If I wanted to target smallies should I stick to the main lake or go up the fingers. I asked on a Facebook group with 1500 members and got 1 response from a guy I know. People are tight lipped about that place.

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There's a much better FB page on Blue Marsh; actually myself and another guy broke away from the other BM Facebook page and created our own. Do a search for "Tales from Blue Marsh, PA" and click on join; I'll look for you request and add you. We don't have as many people in our group but it's a good group of people.

The smallmouth seem to be more in the main lake or I should say at least more abundant. I have caught smallies far up in the no-wake but they all seem to be little guys. The area where the two creeks come into the main lake is an excellent area for smallmouth (on the points). But it gets pretty rough in that area on the weekends with the wakes from the pleasure boaters (it's right at the end of the no-wake/main lake area). But look for the main lake points; that's where you're going to get the most action from the smallies. I rarely fish the main lake this time of year though because of all the boat traffic. But early Spring and late Fall is a great time for fishing the area.

I personally fish the lake for LM and have found a few good spots and I keep discovering new ones. Up in the Tulley Arm I love the coves and any laydowns I can find. Although this time of year the cliffs normally hold more than a few bass. On the cliffs look for laydowns once again. Sometimes they are tight up along the bank on the trees; other times they are out in the branches. so make sure you work the trees good.

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Thanks. I did get one nice smallie fishing the island in the main lake. Thanks for the tips. I'll join that group. I moved 15 min away from it so I might as well learn to fish it now that I have a boat again.

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I saw that you requested to join the group; I hope you enjoy being a part of it. Actually; my two biggest smallies caught on the lake did come from the island (just working my way around it with a shallow diving crankbait). I also caught one other nice one way back in the Spring Creek Arm. But that one was caught real shallow on a stickworm; I was amazed, haha. Just know that on the summer weekends the lake does get crazy everywhere. I typically get out there at about 530 AM and head off the lake by around 1030 or so.