Big bass deep water ?

[Smoked]

Hey guys what do you think about hot summer days in the Massachusetts and New Hampshire area 

Suns out 85-90 degrees are the large mouth AND smallys  more apt to be in deeper water or more shallow towards the structures  ? Docks boats trees shade etc ?

 

[Damn Yankee]

Fish the shade shallow, deep during the day.

Welcome you can learn alot by looking around this site, good luck, go sox.

[Bluebasser86]

Around here the smallies are much more likely to be out deep than the largemouth. 

[Fish4bigfish]

In my area if an adult largemouth has the choice during summer, it will go deep. Lots of structure fishing.

[riverbasser]

Can't help much with small mouth but it really depends on the body of water I think when it comes to largemouth. They will move deeper but deep is a relative term. Basically I think what matters is where the bait is. In my local lake most bass have started schooling offshore and following the shad. But in the river they are normally shallow around cover. So it just depends

[Airman4754]

Summer is about cover, light penetration, structure, and thermoclines. 

An example of cover can be as simple as a dock or as crazy as a high mountain lake that I fish often with an algae bloom so thick you can't see through it. The fish never go much deeper than twelve feet regardless of water temp. Water temperature is of course a factor of them moving out deeper, but depending on your geographical location the water temps in mid-summer can vary greatly along with the depth the fish move out to. 

Off shore structure is tedious, but the easiest. Electronics, patience, and a markey buoy will get you where you need to be. 

Thermoclines for me are the most common. In a deep canyon lake summer and winter fish just about the same. A point that goes down to 120ft won't be holding fish all over it, they will almost always be within three feet of the first thermocline all across the lake. You can catch the ones out there suspended in open water with a flutter spoon, drop shot, wacky senko on a jig head, etc., but the ones holding to points are a hell of a lot easier. 

[Smoked]

 Thanks guys I appreciate the help 

I actually just got in from the water started at 5 AM stopped at noon the fish were pretty steady all day but being 90° the large mouth were 15 to 25 feet deep

I fished allot of docks boats etc in the shallows and there was nothing

"deeper water" I should have been more specific deeper water to me is 15-25-feet deep and Its seems the fish are always bigger in the deeper parts 

[Crestliner2008]

Being a fellow Bay Stater, I can attest to the fact that big smallies go deep around this time of the year. Their location is all about forage, water clarity, and structure. You need to find deeper structures (drop offs, points, channels) in about 25' - 45' of water, provided this depth is above the thermocline. Another pre-requisite to location is bait. If you are not marking bait balls on these deep structures, the odds of bass using them is minimal at best. Find structure, find bait, fish deep (i.e.: drop shotting) and you will catch some pretty decent smallies round this neck of the woods.

[A-Jay]

8 minutes ago, Crestliner2008 said:

Being a fellow Bay Stater, I can attest to the fact that big smallies go deep around this time of the year. Their location is all about forage, water clarity, and structure. You need to find deeper structures (drop offs, points, channels) in about 25' - 45' of water, provided this depth is above the thermocline. Another pre-requisite to location is bait. If you are not marking bait balls on these deep structures, the odds of bass using them is minimal at best. Find structure, find bait, fish deep (i.e.: drop shotting) and you will catch some pretty decent smallies round this neck of the woods.

Do This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

And fish this  . . . . .

A-Jay

[Turkey sandwich]

5 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Do This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

And fish this  . . . . .

A-Jay

This bait is way more versatile than it's given credit. 

[Smoked]

I just got some ktech swim baits the other day and rigged Em w a football head Jig hey work good and look awesome in the water I like the spinners on yours that looks like it works great 

["hamma"]

There goes A-Jay giving my secrets away again,...lol,.. just kiddin bud.

Will hit the nail on the head. Baitfish will dictate fishes location more than anything else this time of year. Find the bait, you've found the fish,.. this especially holds true on larger New England waters like Quabbin res., winnie, squam, sebago etc.,.. Now for smaller lakes and ponds the cover may rule, weeds, wood, boulders etc. Most New England lakes and ponds are loaded with these and will hold fish throughout the year, all be it deep or shallow. the smaller waters dont have the acreage to support huge schools of smelt or alewive, to be corraled by bass. so they hang out in their favorite cover to ambush from, or seek out crayfish. Sometimes all you need all day is a frog for weedbeds, or a jig and pig for docks, laydowns, boulders, or a white spinnerbait, or a topwater.,... but usually once you find whats working. It stays true unless light changes, or a fronts effects changes their metabolism

I love this time of year, ok lemmie re-phrase that ,...I love fishing period,..lmao

 

[offsidewing]

Once you figure out where Smallmouth hang out in the summer, fishing the spawn will feel like cheating.  I've found in New England once the sun is up, the smallies like to get in 15-30 feet of water off points or steeper banks with access to shallow water with cover or structure.    The biggest fish I've caught in the summer months in Maine have been in areas where the water transitions from shallow water (4-8') to deep water 20' plus.  My PB smallie and LMB have been caught in the afternoon in transition areas.