Come bass season, the fish were still 3 to 4 weeks behind due to the weather. Again, the weed growth hadn't developed, and the fish remained shallow right up through to the end of July before they moved out to the weed edges that finally began to take hold.

That first month was disastrous for me on the tournament circuit. I hate fishing shallow and that's where the fish were. I just couldn't believe that the fish weren't where they were suppose to be at that time of year and wouldn't adapt to the unseasonable conditions. During pre-fishing, I'd catch the odd fish out in deeper water and move on, convincing myself that they were there, I had found them, and that's where I'd fish come tournament time. Well after finishing out of the money the first two tournaments of the year, I decided to smarten up some and moved shallow with the rest of the guys.

I mean the season was so far behind that the weed growth even at the bottom end of Lake Scugog wasn't up. Normally by the end of June (which is our season opener for bass), part of Lake Scugog commonly referred to as 'the Bog' is so choked with weeds that you can almost walk across the matted slop.

Finally, by the end of July and into the first part of August, the fish had moved out into deeper water and took up residence on the outer edges and drop-offs where I prefer to fish. I still find that these deeper areas of the lake aren't pressured as much as shallow water and when you locate fish in deeper water, you'll normally will them in numbers. Since these fish don't receive as much pressure, they're easier to catch. Most of the time when fishing shallow water you are fishing for single fish only.

Mind you, if I'm fishing a tournament and I've already got my limit of fish in the boat and looking to cull up or for that one big bite, you guessed it -- I'll revert to shallow water -- but only then. Years ago, when I first got started in tournament fishing, I spent a lot of time fishing shallow and did pretty well at it. But over the years, more and more anglers are fishing the obvious shallow water structure, so I've gotten away from it and now concentrate on the deeper water fishery.

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