Grass and heavy fog usually aren’t an issue on the Immortal River until mid-August. But both are definitely a factor now.

Water levels remain near historically low levels, with August going into September typically the lowest levels in a low water year. The Great Rainmaker will let us know soon enough.

Although most summer panfish action is in the running sloughs and backwaters, navigating there is truly, TRULY hazardous. When the grass starts coming down pannies have always been a go-to option. This is still true…but it tougher to get to where the big uns are. Pretty much.

With almost all accessible fish located near the River mainstem there is now incredible fishing pressure and jockeying for position at the usual prime spots–especially on the weekend. The past couple weeks I’ve transitioned to secondary spots and have had fair success on walleyes & SMB using willocats and Da juice on Liquidwillowcat.com plastics–also on 1/8 oz hair jigs & Ned rigs.

The bite for channel cats is still almost sure-thing good–but I’ve had to peg a small split shot up the line about 3′ to intercept weeds. Flatheads are also intercepting willocat intended for walleye on just about every trip.

Boat position/control is critical, regardless of target species. The “active bite” seam may only be a couple feet wide, especially during the mid-day period.

The active bite in general is pretty much over by 8 a.m. on a sunny day, not picking up again until after 5. But hey, it’s August. Maybe we’ll get October in Sept. this year. I’m OK with that!