Cody Hill

CHill Report

By Cody Hill

CHILL Report

July is here and what does that mean? July is the time I check my favorite mid lake structure spots and in the past few weeks it has produced greatly for us.  Checking the mid lake structure, we have found everything, and the unique thing is everything seems to be swimming together so you don’t know what will be biting.  In one trip we caught five different species of fish while spot locked and surprisingly perch wasn’t one of them!

Inside weed lines we have seen a lot of quality fish but in the morning, it seems the fish haven’t had their coffee yet and were favoring a slower presentation.  Slip bobbers have been producing a good percentage of our fish tipping them with usually a leech but this past weekend I couldn’t buy a bite and switched to a night crawler with immediate results.  The crawler presentation is something new to me and I can honestly say I’ve never used it before, but with the results we had this past week it will be used as often as a leach.  

Livescope is a great tool, but it is still a tool and it can be difficult for people to understand where the fish are spatially to try and get in the strike zone.  I like slip bobbers because it keeps a lure in the strike zone longer and allows me to help inexperienced anglers catch fish and ultimately who doesn’t get excited when a bobber goes under?  I also like slip bobbers because when I set up on a school of fish, I like to throw the slip bobber to where the school is allowing the other anglers a landmark of where to target.  The combination of throwing a slip bobber out and casting jigs has increased our fish counts for the day.

We have been having best luck with a 5-inch long Kalin soft plastic with a 1/8 oz VMC jig.  This combination is giving us enough weight to make long casts away from the boat but light enough to not instantly sink down into the weeds.  The VMC jig has an oversized hook that allows me to get the hook further into the 5-inch plastic allowing for better hook sets.  Best results have been a twitching/popping presentation as we lift the rod up with a long pause allowing the lure to fall.  Most of our bites have been on the fall so using braided line we are watching our line for a twitch indicating a bite as it is dropping. When shallower we were feeling the bite before we had our bails closed from our initial cast.

If the inside weed line isn’t producing check the outside weed lines and points.  Since we were deeper fish weren’t skittish of our boat and on the clear days the fish were using our boat for shade.  A vertical jigging presentation produced just as many fish as casting away from the boat.  Covering water and finding active fish is key because some schools regardless of what we were doing wouldn’t bite but marking them and coming back a few hours later did produce fish in the boat.

Before we know it, we will be starting to get ready for back to school, leaves will be changing, and temperatures will be dropping. If you are interested in booking a trip contact Cody today to book a trip that will make memories that will last a lifetime.

Visit www.chillguideservice.com or call (218) 443-3813 for more information.