How to get lazy bass to bite in the summer?

[brent245]

So I fish here is AZ. The bass fishing has gotten tougher and tougher in the past few weeks. It's now approaching 100 degrees daily. I fish a small pond that I've gotten incredible luck at. I was pulling 4 out an hour about 2 months ago on wacky senkos. Now they won't bite at all. The only tactic I have now that works is sight fishing for bass 4-5 feet off the bank. They ignore senkos and lizards dropped right in front of them, they don't like cranks. But they get ticked if I swim a 6" glide bait in front of them into their "feeding zone". If I swim it right in front of them and let it sink and twitch it, they will swipe at it. They will swipe at it a bunch of times and eventually hook themselves if I'm lucky. They are focused feeding on small minnows and ignore my other attempts. They will rush out of deeper water, come into 6-8 inches of water in an attempt to eat the small minnows. I can see them sitting 4-5 feet of the bank not moving. These are big fish though typically 2-3 pounders. There are alot of other small bass I see swimming around but they ignore everything I throw at them.

 

Is there anything I can do to get them to actively chase lures or senkos or is this just summer fishing?

[visagelaid]

Ned Rig

[scaleface]

Try it at night .

[fishballer06]

Ned rig, rooster tail, small grub on a jig head, and the almighty Keitech impact fat. If they don't want any of those, they're not biting. 

[1234567]

1/16 ounce ball head jig and zoom tiny fluke.  Swim it and jig it. Sometimes they will follow and if they don't commit kill it and they eat it off the bottom when it's resting there. 

[jr231]

Try a dropshot with a small minnow imitation. There are Plenty to choose from...

[soflabasser]

Try fishing at nighttime.

[iiTzChunky]

Ned rig and wacky rig senkos. The hotter it gets the harder fishing it is. Early morning and late evening may help as well. 

[lo n slo]

cussing them don't work, i done tried it

[Jar11591]

Like others have said, try fishing after midnight. 

[WRB]

Bass are very active in the summer and have lots of prey choices and locations to use. Arizona is the desert and some areas are 100 degrees at night in the summer. Hot water over 85 degrees the bass go deeper to find cooler water or anywhere cooler water may be located. Bass usually stay within a few feet of the thermocline during the warm water period of summer.

Tom

[NCbassraider]

Ned

[Clinton john]

Top water early and late and fish at night, maybe try small swim bait that is close to the size and color of what you see them eating.

[superB]

Have you tried an A-rig? If they are chasing the minnows, it might just be the ticket...

[RoLo]

"How to get lazy bass to bite in the summer?"

 

Crank-and-glide a Culprit 10" Original Worm  (black)

 

I always dip the worm in Blue cheese.

Oh No not for the bass, just in case I run out of sandwiches  

[Catt]

7 hours ago, scaleface said:

Try it at night .

 

4 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Try fishing at nighttime.

 

2 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

Like others have said, try fishing after midnight. 

 

Turn the lights out!

 

In a pond I wouldn't worry about thermocline

[geo g]

Where would you go if it was hot, and you were stuck outside all the time.  You would not be out in the open!  In our shallow Florida lakes, water often gets in the 90's.  Deep water is often low in O2 levels.  So go to heavy cover, with lots of thick shade, cooler water, and loads of O2 from the plants.  Fish slow in the thick stuff, fish early, fish late, and find the bait fish.  They will not be far away.

[RoLo]

 

Let's not kid ourselves, bass are comfortable in all water temperatures.

Water temperature affects the metabolism and disposition of bass, but those are separate properties

from comfort. Bass are cold-blooded creatures with no core body-temperature to maintain,

so what purpose would a pain-warning system serve? This is difficult for warm-blooded humans

to comprehend, because we must maintain a core temperature 98.6 F. or else die.

 

As @geo g suggested above, when water temperatures climb into the 90s,

the most pressing issue becomes 'low dissolved oxygen content'. This is especially true

for a 'pond' in Arizona, New Mexico or Florida, where water depth will NOT be your savior.

On the contrary, your best approach would be to head to shallow water

and seek healthy oxygen-producing vegetation.

 

Roger

[Catt]

Darkness covers up an anglers presence and most of all his mistakes!

[A-Jay]

8 hours ago, Brent Heermans said:

So I fish here is AZ. The bass fishing has gotten tougher and tougher in the past few weeks. It's now approaching 100 degrees daily. I fish a small pond that I've gotten incredible luck at. I was pulling 4 out an hour about 2 months ago on wacky senkos. Now they won't bite at all. The only tactic I have now that works is sight fishing for bass 4-5 feet off the bank. They ignore senkos and lizards dropped right in front of them, they don't like cranks. But they get ticked if I swim a 6" glide bait in front of them into their "feeding zone". If I swim it right in front of them and let it sink and twitch it, they will swipe at it. They will swipe at it a bunch of times and eventually hook themselves if I'm lucky. They are focused feeding on small minnows and ignore my other attempts. They will rush out of deeper water, come into 6-8 inches of water in an attempt to eat the small minnows. I can see them sitting 4-5 feet of the bank not moving. These are big fish though typically 2-3 pounders. There are alot of other small bass I see swimming around but they ignore everything I throw at them.

 

Is there anything I can do to get them to actively chase lures or senkos or is this just summer fishing?

 

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~  

These fish you are seeing might not be lazy, just well fed.

As mentioned above - try fishing at night.

Also if you can see them , they probably can see you -  can make them very hard to catch.

Be sneaky.

A-Jay

[WRB]

Aeration is the key to bass serviving in AZ ponds during summer months. Catching bass during the spawn cycle is easy, trying to catch them during the day in plain sight isn't. Night is your best tactic.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

When the heat really cranks up during the summer I turn nocturnal, just like most of the big fish do.

 

Fishing shallow, heavy cover is also a good option too. 

[brent245]

Went today and it was cooler today, overcast and windy. So I threw out a chatterbait. Got this sucker after about 10 mins. One of the larger ones I got out of here.

[shovelmouth83]

try the HERE FISHY FISHY. then take a board or paddle and smack it as hard as you can on the water. and repeat. might not catch a d**n thing but you might wake them up.

[iceintheveins]

Ned rig for sure, and night fishing.