Favorite Early Summer Lures ?

[ChrisD46]

As the title states - what are your favorite early summer lures for Bass ? ... Here in North Georgia we have been cooler than normal with a lot of rain so there are still sizable numbers of bass that are still shallow while others have gone deep - a mixed bag of techniques for sure for bass at different depths .

[CroakHunter]

Swim jig/chatterbait and frog for shallow

Big worm/Big Jig/C-Rig for deep water.

 

Those are my go to's in the summer time all the way up until they start chasing shad really heavily in the fall. 

[Fun4Me]

I mainly fish small ponds from the bank. So far, frogs, wake baits, small spinner baits, and dragging worms have worked best for me.

[ww2farmer]

Usually a lot of bass are still  shallow here in the early summer. That means fishing boat docks, inside grass lines, shallow matted grass,laydowns, shore line cover, etc...In a few weeks some of them will move into the deeper grass beds, along the deep weed edge, or onto off shore rock piles, brush, etc...But a bunch will stay shallow all summer too.

 

I fish for shallow bass the same way almost all year round. I let water temps, clarity, and cover dictate my choices. I always have a jig, a t-rig, shaky head, and a wacky rig tied on for fishing slow, and a swim jig, chatterbait, and a squarebill tied on for reaction baits. Presentations that go in and out of the shallow rotation based on season will be a frogs, suspending jerkbaits, lipless cranks, drop shot rigs, wobble head jig, mojo rig, and a heavy punch rig.

[scaleface]

Texas rigs and deep diving crankbaits .

[Bluebasser86]

T rigged beavers, brush hogs, and big worms, buzzbaits, bladed jigs, jigs, flipping grass. 

[A-Jay]

Not a surprised, but it depends where, when & what I'm, fishing for - brown or green bass.

Early, calm mornings the brownies may be taken on topwater off long shallow points close to deep water.

While the green bass are often bank & cover oriented so buzzbaits, squarebills, spinnerbaits, lipless baits, swimjigs - swimbaits, Texas rigged soft plastics - and pretty much anything with a decent hook can get bite. And depending on the cloud cover - this could go on all day. 

Good Times. 

As the sun gets up or daylight increases the smallies usually drop back to the first of second drop (or even suspend, which is a total buzz kill).

Football jigs, drop shot and sometimes deep diving cranks sped & ground into the bottom can be the ticket.

Same thing will often get some green bass but for me they are usually not as deep so some of the baits mentioned above can be good, just need to be fished a little deeper ( well, except for the buzzbait )

As the day burns away and the sun gets close to the horizon, the whole deal just goes in reverse and I'll go to the 'morning' routine again.

 

Finally, after watching some of the most recent derbies, seems a jerkbait can be a major player even in the warmer water, so I'll be 'testing' that out in areas where I can as well. Certainly been good to me so far this year. 

A-Jay

 

 

 

[the reel ess]

In a deeper lake probably a C rig with an 8-10" ribbon tail worm. But where I fish now, it's shallower. And it's pretty much just "summer". So I go later and try a spinnerbait and some big topwaters. I recently bought some big soft plastic swimbaits so I'm going to go after only bigger fish  for the rest of the season.

[papajoe222]

A walking topwater can be worked over shallow cover or deep structure and draw strikes from post spawn through the fall turnover. A T-Rig can be, too. Add a crankbait or spinnerbait and you have the water column covered.  Then it's just a matter of fine tuning once you start to develop a pattern. 

[ChrisD46]

I see the big sticks have come out to reply - great information we all can use !

[Catt]

I have a tendency not to give my lures names like summer, winter, fall, or spring. That way if I throw my "early summer" lures during "late summer" they don't get confused.

[the reel ess]

Here's my little secret. Zoom Trick Worm. Don't let it get out. Catches fish all year. It's effective weightless when you can find fish shallow. Use it on a T rig when they want it slow. Use on a C rig when they're deep. I know I have one tied on now. Don't be afraid of the loud colors in any kind of off-color water. If you really can't buy a bite, rig up a lighter C rig with the Zoom 4" Finesse worm on a smaller hook in a more natural color. This is my modern "do-nothing rig" that can be rigged weightless.

 

I really don't like to "go small' when bass aren't biting because it's really fishing for small bass. But when you've been fishing and gotten skunked a couple times, it's time to break out the finesse and occasionally, there will be a good one mixed in.

 

I haven't used the Ned much but when I have, it has produced bites. 

 

If I'm at a place with a lot of wood cover early or late I'll throw a dark color buzzbait and make contact with the cover.

 

Don't be afraid to "show them something new". I caught some decent midsummer bass in the middle of a hot day on a bait I bought at the beach for reds and sea trout called a Trout Trick. I rigged it on the aforementioned finesse C rig.

[Bankbeater]

Around here it depends on the heat. The hotter it gets during the day the deeper I need to fish.