Deepwater Summer Bass

[BadContrakt]

So. I'm a fisherman on a budget so I don't have a depth finder/fish finder, or any of that fancy jazz.

 

I've got my tackle, my boat, and my knowledge. I know bass fishing pretty well during the spawning season and I also know that the majority of the good sized fish will be in deep water in the middle of the summer on hot days. On occasion you'll still find a nice fish in the lilies and still hanging around their beds.

 

But with my gear I'm not sure how to land middle-of-the-day bass that are deeper on the shelves and schooling around the lake.

 

Here's basically what I THINK I know for hot summer day fishing... Bass will be less active, but if you're going to find one that will bite it will generally be under shadowed water. Docks... Overhanging trees... etc. And also they'll be in the deeper water, which I can't fish. Actually let me restate that... Which I don't know HOW to fish with my gear.

 

Any good knowledge will be put to use.

[WRB]

I see you are from central MN where the majority of lakes are natural, not man made impoundments.

LMB tend to avoid deeper water off shore in natural lakes because the forage fish are usually dermasil and live close to shore and you may have pike or musky dominating those areas.

Unless your lake has a population of pelagic prey fish like cisco's, white fish, etc that are off shore bait fish, no reason for the bass to venture too far away from the shore during the summer period.

I would make an effort to get good maps showing the depths of your lakes you fish and an inexpensive sonar unit that will tell the depth and show you the depth of any baitfish in deeper water, otherwise you are wasting a lot of time fishing blind. The summer thermocline is also a major factor, so don't fish deeper than the bait fish are holding.

Night fishing is always good during the summer, bugs can be an issue in MN!

Start by looking at your map and fish the deeper water near shore, like points and any islands connected to the shore with under water saddles, summer bass love that type of deeper structure.

LMB suspended off shore are not active bass during the hot summer, the bass suspended near cover are usually catchable, check Glenn's Mojo Vedio, good presentation for your natural MN lakes during summer days.

Tom

[BadContrakt]

I see you are from central MN where the majority of lakes are natural, not man made impoundments.

LMB tend to avoid deeper water off shore in natural lakes because the forage fish are usually dermasil and live close to shore.

Unless your lake a population of pelagic prey fish like discos, white fish, etc that are off shore bait fish, no reason for the bass to venture too far away from the shore during the summer period.

I would make an effort to get good maps of your lakes you fish and an inexpensive sonar unit that will tell the depth and show you if any baitfish are out deeper, otherwise you are wasting a lot of time fishing blind.

Night fishing is always good during the summer, bugs can be an issue in MN!

Start by looking at your map and fish the deeper water near shore, like points and any islands connected to the shore with under water saddles, summer bass love that type of deeper structure.

LMB suspended off shore are not active bass during the hot summer, the bass suspended near cover are usually catchable, check Flukemasters Mojo Vedio, good presentation for your natural MN lakes during summer days.

Tom

 

Yeah every time I go out I think "Man a topography map would be awesome to have right now..." but I never get around to getting them. Gonna have to. So you say they're gonna be close to shore in the shelves and saddles connecting land to land eh? I know Knife Lake has an island. My two main lakes right now have no islands but I'm sure if I got a couple maps I'd be able to effectively fish the close-to-shore shelves.

How about baits for these deeper water fish? I'm a big top-water/shallow-water guy. I carry mostly T-rig stuff, spinner baits, Skirted jigs, Mister Twisters, buzz baits, poppers, and frogs. I haven't looked into getting any divers or anything and think I might have to. (When I got in an accident and totaled my car I think I forgot my tackle box in the trunk when it went to the junk yard, so I've been slowly buying and stocking up on tackle since earlier this spring and haven't got around to getting any divers. But now that summer fishing is becoming more and more apparent I need to start getting othe tackle).

"How about baits for these deeper water fish?"

[Derriick]

Carolina rigged plastics, deep diving crankbaits such as the strike king 5xd 6xd and heavy jigs are your best bet.

[Crestliner2008]

I'm assuming you are targeting largemouth bass? And I also assume that the lake/reservoir you are fishing contains a decent population of those predators and the forage on which they need to grow. You do not say what kind of a budget you are on. So, I would recommend purchasing a couple of sets of Spoonplugs and a copy of Elwood "Buck" Perry's book, "Spoonplugging for Bass".

 

If you can purchase these, you will way ahead of the pack on getting into some decent bass, quickly. You will learn what structure really is. How & why bass relate to it. And how to locate them. Without a sonar, this is probably the most cost effective approach you can take, along with reading all you can about this species and bass fishing in general. The articles above on this site...as well as the postings in various forums on this site, will also guide you in the right direction.

 

A sonar is not all that expensive. Craig's list has used units for well under $100.00. I'd also recommend you obtain a good hydrographic map of the lake(s) you are going to fish most frequently. Many marinas, as well as your DNR, can probably direct to a source of those kinds of maps. With the sonar and the maps (and either spoonplugs and/or a sonar), you will quickly learn your fishing areas and start to put together patterns to insure your success.

 

In asking questions here, try to specify the kind of water you are fishing, approx. geographical location, depths you are targeting, water clarity, water temps and general forage base. This way we can probably give you the correct answers you are looking for. Remember also, there are no shortcuts or miracle "lures" that will guarantee your success. The most expensive rod/reel combinations are just inanimate tools. You have to learn to use what you have. Only time on the water and experience will get you to where you want to go. I do hope this is not discouraging you! Good Luck and Welcome aboard!

[WRB]

well since I don't know what the weed cover is like, more than likely coontail and junk weeds that can make fishing deep divers difficult, unless you have some rocky areas. Crankbaits get expensive fast, although fire tiger color or perch colors tend to work good in your area, so stick to those.

Try getting yourself a few Scrounger head jigs and you can use your worms for trailers, instead of deep divers. Scrounger swim like a crankbait and go through weeds or rockes very good

Deep is about 15 to 20 feet in your nick of the woods.

Tom

[BadContrakt]

well since I don't know what the weed cover is like, more than likely coontail and junk weeds that can make fishing deep divers difficult, unless you have some rocky areas. Crankbaits get expensive fast, although fire tanger color or perch colors tend to work good in your area, so stick to those.

Try getting yourself a few Scrounger head jigs and you can use your worms for trailers, instead of deep divers. Scrounger swim like a crankbait and go through weeds or rockes very good

Deep is about 15 to 20 feet in your nick of the woods.

Tom

I just checked out the scrounger and those look really nice. I do have jigs with the weed guard on them and those have been working so far. Yes my lakes are pretty murky and have lots of weeds on the bottom. The weed guard jigs have been working fairly well though. Just had one out with a big worm trailer on it yesterday and unfortunately caught some ratty ass Northerns (Hate Northern... Always costing me money and what-not) but it handled the weedy bottom really well.

 

Also I just looked at some cheapy cheap fish finders and the Eagle Cuda 242 doesn't look bad. It has some pretty good reviews of people being really impressed with the machine for the price. My ol' boat is actually fully wired up for electronics surprisingly enough. Could be a good starter for me unless anyone knows of a better product.

[mc6524]

Email me. I have a Lowrance LMS C-334 color fish finder/GPS you can have for next t nothing.

[BadContrakt]

Email me. I have a Lowrance LMS C-334 color fish finder/GPS you can have for next t nothing.

 

Sent you a message on BassResource.com. Not sure if you meant to do that or to actually email you, but I don't have your email so..

[TWMstr]

You should be throwing a carolina rig on partly cloudy days, and a mojo rig on cloudy days before or after a cold front. Works everytime.

[BadContrakt]

You should be throwing a carolina rig on partly cloudy days, and a mojo rig on cloudy days before or after a cold front. Works everytime.

 

I think Mojos are illegal in Minnesota. I feel as if I remember reading "Any rig that is known to or has the ability to catch multiple fish on the same line is not to be used."

[Bassfink86]

On 6/27/2013 at 4:58 PM, BadContrakt said:

I think Mojos are illegal in Minnesota. I feel as if I remember reading "Any rig that is known to or has the ability to catch multiple fish on the same line is not to be used."

thats not what a mojo rig is, look up bassresource videos on it and try it out

[CPBassFishing]

I think Mojos are illegal in Minnesota. I feel as if I remember reading "Any rig that is known to or has the ability to catch multiple fish on the same line is not to be used."

don't know what you think a mojo rig is but it would be 99% impossible to catch more than one fish at a time on it. Its a single hook with a pegged weight 12-16" up the line.

[BadContrakt]

don't know what you think a mojo rig is but it would be 99% impossible to catch more than one fish at a time on it. Its a single hook with a pegged weight 12-16" up the line.

 

Hmmm.

 

http://www.njsaltwatertackle.com/images/stories/gh%20mojo%20rig.gif

 

That's just what I saw when I looked it up and wasn't too interested cause it looked awful lol.

[WRB]

Hmmm.

 

http://www.njsaltwatertackle.com/images/stories/gh mojo rig.gif

 

That's just what I saw when I looked it up and wasn't too interested cause it looked awful lol.

Wrong Mojo rig, this another thing about bass fishing, the termology differs regionally.

Look up split shot rig, the round split shot is replaced with a tubular slip sinker made by Mojo tackle and called a Mojo weight. As I mentioned there is a Vedio on this site to tell you how to fish it.

It's usually fished with a spinning rod/ reel due to the 3/32 or 1/8 oz weight, light line 8# test and size 1 or 1/0 light wire hook like Owners 5100 and 6" straight tail worms. The rig is cast and slowly dragged over the bottom or top of submerged weed beds.

Tom

[Smallmouth Hunter]

Look for docks in large coves. They will usually have deeper water around them and the docks provide shade (cooler water) and an ambush spot. Floating docks are not as good as docks with pilings but sometimes bass will suspend a few feet under them. I catch a majority of my fish in the summer off docks in water around 15 Ft deep.

[Wayne P.]

I haven't seen anyone mentioning how deep is deep and its potential for fish location in the summer.

If a body of water has no current, it will stratify and even water that is less than 20' deep will not have any fish on the bottom at the 20' level.

Look up the defintion of THERMOCLINE.

 

This image shows the thermocline and there would be no bass or their food deeper than about 22'..The deepest water in this area is about 43'. It also shows active feeding bass at about 17' on the edge of the drop on the left side of the image.

Even a simple inexpensive sonar unit will show this feature and help you elimintate a lot of water that is devoid of fish.