Large Mouth Quit Biting

[Paul Roberts]

All good advice above. Since you say it's a "pond" I'm going to assume you can still reach some of those fish. A couple things:

 

-Bass have a general tendency to move away from shorelines in summer. It may be temperature related and/or they be following prey as both bluegills and shad are known to move out too.

 

-Summer water temps can be too high for bass in many waters, and its not just the temperature alone but that and its relationship with prey availability. Bass at high metabolic rates need food to sustain them. If there isn't enough they can become inactive, awaiting better temperatures or periods and locations where prey is more available and/or vulnerable. If there is plenty of food they may continue to feed at surprisingly high temps.

 

-Some waters, notably those with dense vegetation that blocks sunlight, and those with a lot of planktonic algae (soupy green waters), can end up with an oxygen deficit at high temps.

 

Some ideas for ferreting out answers:

 

-During summer on my ponds I break out a long distance rig -a large spool spinning rig full of braid and a long rod. Sometimes long range bombing can help solve it.

 

-Night fishing, as Catt suggested, is always worth a shot. Problem may be solved just like that. I've had that happen. If O2 is an issue you'll likely do best earlier in the night as O2 usually drops overnight.

 

-To test if temperature is an issue, try fishing at daybreak when water is coolest. I've had the first light bite be nothing short of amazing on ponds that appeared dead during the day. If the first light bite fails, there may be an O2 issue as well.

 

-Search out other waters. Each water body has different ecological circumstances that can make or break them as summer fishing spots. You don't want to overlook things, but you also don't want to be beating a dead horse.