Summer square Bill?

[BlakeMolone]

I’m not much of a spring fisherman because my other hobby keeps me too busy all spring, I just caught a float tube and I’ve been collecting squarebills all winter and I really want to get better at fishing them! Once things get warmed up is there a time in the place during the summer I can throw my squarebills? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I’m in Oklahoma and will be fishing anything fro clear rocky lakes to dirty water shallow brushy lakes

[Hook2Jaw]

Deflect, deflect, deflect.  The rocks and brush will do it beautifully for you.  Focus on what you feel during your retrieve, with practice you should be able to feel when your squarebill is about to contact the targeted cover when the report down your line, through your rod, into your hand changes.  To me it feels dulled.

 

I don't have much rock where I fish, but when I cast my shallow crankbaits into wood I make sure the natural growth of the limbs are coming towards me to avoid wedging my bait.  Basically, I cast past the apexes of the crotches created by limbs and reel.

 

Also, I throw H2O Xpress CRS crankbaits when I'm throwing them because they come with decent hardware and run $4.50 a pop.  I'm not so afraid of losing a bait when it doesn't cost $15.  They're good baits and they get bit.

 

That's about all I've got.  I look forward to reading what more experienced squarebill fishermen have to say.

[TBAG]

Following. I love crankbait fishing and throw a squarebill all year long (spring,summer, fall).

 

I have varied success so looking forward to some tips.

 

Like Hook2Jaw above, I have the most luck throwing into wood, or in creeks I fish, rock.

[NorthernBasser]

My main advice...fish during the spring! Are ya nuts?! Best time of year to fish.

[NJBasstard]

The squarebill is my favorite thing to fish and I too use them all spring, summer & fall. I'm no expert but their are different ones I choose for different reasons. The main two though would be the flat sided squarebill and what I would call the traditional squarebill.

 

-Flat sided squarebills. These seam to have a much tighter action, meaning they don't search or hunt side to side as much as most regular squarebills would. From what I can tell most of the movement is in the body which I can only describe as a side to side wobble or twist. The biggest advantage to the flat sides is how slow you can retrieve them and still reach the desired depth. That reason combined with the slow floating most of them have make the flat sided squarebill a go-to in colder water for me.

 

-'Traditional' sqaurebills. The action on these seams to vary from bait to bait moreso than most flatsides. For the most part these squarebills put off a lot of vibration. A good squarebill to me has two things... a wide side to side action and a fast float. The downside to most of these compared to the flat sided ones are that the only way to get them to the desired depth is by fishing them fast or faster. If I do fish them slow I'll choose one with a depth range deeper than I'm fishing to make up for it. The upside (other than their often erratic action) is the fast float which allows me to cover water faster.

 

 

 

Then you you rattles VS no rattles. Theres no rules here but for me it's almost always..

Rattles - Dirty water, in current & choppy water.

No rattles - Everything else.

 

Theres also wood VS plastic but I wont get into that.

 

 

As far as fishing them.. I throw them at & around rock, laydowns, docks and even in open shallow water with hard or clear sandy bottoms. How I target those objects and how I retrieve varies from object to object and day to day depending on what the fish want at the time. Like Hook2Jaw posted above it all comes down to deflection. I want my bait to hit or the bill to drag on whatever I'm targeting. 

 

In shallow water with hard/sandy bottoms I'll run my 5ft squarebill in 4 FOW making contact with the bottom the entire time. Just cast & reel or burn-pause-burn retrieval dragging through the hard/rock/pebble & sandy bottom creates streaks and creates a lot of commission that can really trigger bites.

 

Their are a lot of ways to tackle tree laydowns and this is where I personally prefer a fast floating crankbait. Sometimes I throw in gaps between limbs and by pausing to go around branches and whatever other obstacles I might not even touch anything. Most times I try deflecting off of everything in my path. Depending on the tree, another thing I like to do when it's possible is casting straight up the laydown and dragging/bouncing the bait straight down the trunk.

 

For rock it really depends on what kind of rock I'm fishing. If we're talking large river rock than I fish it much like I would in open water and keep my bait on on the bottom. If we're talking large rock I try to find sections where theirs gaps or holes, throwing past the it and running straight into it, pulling or allowing it to float over and then dragging/bumping it across the top.

 

 

For all squarebill fishing you'd be suprised how much control you can have over the bait not just with retrieval speed but with your rod tip. I don't mean holding the rod tip up or down but small twitches and things like working the tip how you'd normally walk a frog can make a big difference in the baits action. I couldn't tell you how many days I've had where I'm catching nothing and a small thing like that changed things.

 

Another thing with squarebills is that more than half my bites come on the pause after hitting the object. Sometimes they just bump it and other times they inhale the bait. When you pause wether it's after hitting something or letting the bait float it's important not to let slack in the line. I only say this because you mentioned a float tube and if it's anything like being in a kayak then sometimes slack line is hard to control while drifting in windy conditions.

 

Most baits now don't have this problem but another thing to watch for is hook size. Even though the squarebills are meant to be used in cover their are some that come stock with too large of a hook that'll cause more snags than they should. Sometimes I like to downsize the front treble or I've even cut off the forward-facing hook on the front treble to reduce hangups.

 

That's about all the advice I have. The rest you'll have to learn for yourself. Don't be afraid to throw into sketchy areas and be prepared for a lot of hangups for a little while. Once you get the feel for it you'll know if you picked up grass, what type of structure you hit and what your baits doing down there. I won't get into rod/reel/line stuff because we all have our preferences and what I like might not be right for you. Just go out and throw them as much as you can and find out if it's something you like. For me it's something I have confidence in and it's been a go-to bait for a long time.

 

[OnthePotomac]

When the massive tidal Potomac grass beds come, I do square bills parallel to the outside edge

[Beeno]

Deflection of rocks stumps wood and if you don’t have much of that, reel and pause reel and pause.

[BlakeMolone]

I guess what I was really wanting to know is if you guys are commonly throwing squarebills I’m the summer months? I hear lots of talk about spring and fall squarebilling but not much talk of people using it in the summer. Am I wasting my time trying to really learn how to fish these baits in the summer?

[NJBasstard]

4 minutes ago, BlakeMolone said:

I guess what I was really wanting to know is if you guys are commonly throwing squarebills I’m the summer months? I hear lots of talk about spring and fall squarebilling but not much talk of people using it in the summer. Am I wasting my time trying to really learn how to fish these baits in the summer?

 

No not at all. I have one tied on a setup all summer long.

[Teal]

Perch or a shad colored squarebill should be in everyone's go to box.  Typically late in the fall I'll up the size and start throwing the really big square bills. 

[Bankbeater]

I use crankbaits year round. Last year shallow running crankbaits caught bass for me from ice out until November. 

[river-rat]

I can assure you have at least one and sometimes two square bill crankbaits on the deck all summer. I normally use Bagley's BB2 or a KVD 1.5 or 2.5.

[camman]

i throw one all year long, the only thing which differs will be the color and occasionally the size.

 

Lots of good advice above.  The one thing I found is that if I throw it like I don't mind losing it, my fish ratio went up.  I throw them in/over bushes, trees, rocks, etc.  I do break a few more and lose a few but you will be surprised how tight fish are to cover sometimes.

[primetime]

Crankbaits will catch fish all year long, most people go with a wide wobble in summer for stained water, but I have also found that the Academy cranks work plenty well.

 

I also use the Bomber Flat A all year long as it is really good for a different look and around spawning flats since it suspends and has a tight action, and is almost identical in shape to a young bluegill. 

 

I throw the older xcalibur square bills, Speed traps, Smaller Bagley B, KVD, Rapala DT's, and Bomber Fat A...Lately I find I do better with the smaller models, the little Bagley has been my best producing crank this year.....Most of my academy cranks have a rattle, but they are a steal for the price and come with good hooks, colors, and seem to work as good as the more expensive models....

[schplurg]

Caught the majority of my fish last summer on a squarebill, both along shorelines and open water, from bank and kayak. I love 'em and they love me back.

[smalljaw67]

17 hours ago, BlakeMolone said:

I guess what I was really wanting to know is if you guys are commonly throwing squarebills I’m the summer months? I hear lots of talk about spring and fall squarebilling but not much talk of people using it in the summer. Am I wasting my time trying to really learn how to fish these baits in the summer?

The reason you hear about throwing square bills in the spring is because of fish position during the pre-spawn. Bass will move up shallow and are often feeding aggressively which makes for a good square bill bite. When the water warms in the summer a lot of bass move offshore into deeper haunts so deep diving cranks, drop shots, c-rigs and so on will get more attention. That doesn't mean you can't use them in summer, as others have said, they work all year depending on the climate where you live. I use them a lot in summer but only when conditions make it reasonable to do so. For example, I'm not going to throw one under bright sunny skies with dead calm water, it would be the last bait I'd try. If we have partly cloudy skies with a little breeze and some chop on the water then I will have one tied on for sure. 

[DitchPanda]

I use a squarebill much like a spinnerbait...bump it into cover and wait for a deflection bite. Oh and you don't fish in spring? Makes sense...I mean who wants to catch more and bigger fish?!

[BlakeMolone]

2 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

I use a squarebill much like a spinnerbait...bump it into cover and wait for a deflection bite. Oh and you don't fish in spring? Makes sense...I mean who wants to catch more and bigger fish?!

It’s not that I don’t fish it’s just that my other weird hobby of looking for reptiles and amphibians is very season specific and spring is the best time to do it! I’ve been fishing ponds after work but this summer I’m really dedicating my free time to learning to fish out of a float tube and and really learning my two or three of my local lakes!

[jbsoonerfan]

I usually throw a 1.5 and a flat side during the pre-spawn and spawn and will transition to a 2.5 and something with a wide wobble for post-spawn all the way through summer and fall.

[DitchPanda]

That's cool nothing wrong with that was just giving you a hard time! My girlfriend doesn't fish much but she likes to walk around the ponds I fish...kind of her hobby I guess. Sometimes she finds me a new soft plastic or crankbait laying around...she's gets exercise and I get free lures so it's a win win.