Heat wave can help bass fishermen

Heat waves can sometime bring out the best for bass fisherman, especially early morning before sunrise.Smallmouth will congregate in rocky areas in deep cooler water, feeding mostly on crayfish and baitfish. Work those areas with artificial or live bait. Largemouths will be cooling off under the weed bed edges and lily blankets, so concentrate on using top water lures, and don’t be afraid to cast into the weeds or on the pads, this can be very effective.Last weekend we got an invitation to stay with friends in New Hampshire that live on Cobbetts Pond in Windham. Leo is an avid bass fisherman that spends many hours on the water each year and based on the experience I had with him that morning, it showed. After having a late evening on Friday night we decided to sleep in and didn’t start fishing until 7 a.m., which is really late. Well, it didn’t do us any harm.Before I could drop my line into the water, Leo had already landed two fish. Believing in what you have in the water for a lure really had a lot to do with our success because I just wasn’t a believer until he proved it worked. We were doing what Leo called “ready fishing.”On the mirror-like surface of the lake we cast as quickly as we could to rising fishing. What an experience! We were using a slug-type plastic bait with a ring in the center to connect your hook. Leo called it “whacky-rigging”. Basically you throw it in the water and slowly jig it back toward the boat.The slug bends in the center on each jig and straightens out after. I have to admit I was really impressed at how well they worked. We also had a rod set up with a finesse minnow that you cast and then during the retrieve, twitch the rod tip, and pause intermittently as you move across the water. It looked like an injured minnow or smelt trying to swim. I’m not sure if the fish were hungry or just aggravated by us disturbing them but, for whatever reason, it worked and it worked very well.We fished for just over an hour and landed 8 fish and had many others on that we shook off. Leo made a believer of me with a great fishing morning! Back to the house we were treated to a blueberry pancakes, real maple syrup and fresh coffee.I asked Leo if the color of the plastic bait made any difference and his comment was that “any color will work as long as it is black”! Thank you Leo and Bethany for a great weekend getaway! By the way, this morning I got a text from Leo. The text read “33 this morning in one hour fishing just like I taught you last weekend!”uThe Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is reminding hunters that the deadline to apply for the 2013 Any-Deer (Antlerless) Permit Lottery is Aug. 15.Online applications must be completed by 11:59 p.m. on that date and can be found by visiting www.mefishwildlife.com. It is free to apply for the any-deer permit lottery. The lottery drawing will be held on September 9 and results will be posted on the Department’s web site that day after 2 p.m. A total of 46,710 any-deer permits will be issued in these 16 wildlife management districts: 3, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15-17, 20-26 and 29. It is bucks only in all other wildlife management districts.u#With the MassFishHunt electronic licensing system, the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) reminds deer hunters that there is no public drawing, and postal notifications will not be mailed to antlerless deer permit applicants. Beginning August 1st and continuing through December 31st, (the Instant Award Period), hunters who applied for an antlerless deer permit by the July 16th deadline must return to the MassFishHunt licensing system to try to win their antlerless deer permit. There are three ways in which a hunter may participate in the Instant Award Period : (1) the Internet- Hunters may return to the MassFishHunt website using any computer with Internet access to try to win an antlerless deer permit (2) MassWildlife Offices – hunters may visit any office and the MassWildlife staff will log in the i