Your Hot Weather Patterns

[Mobasser]

I know we have many members here on BR who are good at fishing for bass in both shallow and deep water.                                         On a typical hot summer day, which do you prefer? What would you consider your most productive summer patterns?                  I do a little of both. We run the banks very early in the morning, then move to deep water structure to finish our trips.                                                             What seems to work best for you?

[Catt]

First thing I do is turn the heat source off!

 

 

[jimmyjoe]

   Even though i fish from shore, I do  about the same as you. Early AM and late PM, fish are within 10-15 yards of shore. But when the sun is high, I take a massy, aerodynamic spoon and cast it wa-a-a-y out as far as I can and let it drop. (There are very few locations where it can get too deep.) Then I retrieve very slowly.

   That's how I've been getting fish so far this year in lakes, and I've been fishing lakes more than normal for this time of year because the rivers are really low around here.                jj

[gim]

I generally don't fish in extreme heat or humidity.  Its miserable and the bite usually sucks.  We had a stretch of 90+ degrees that lasted for about 10 days and I basically huddled in my air conditioned basement most of the time for relief.

 

That being said, when I go on a sunny, warm day in the summer (when its tolerable), I look for shade.  That usually means thick weeds, lily pads, docks, or deeper water.  Or like Catt said, you can fish at night time too.

[CrankFate]

One thing. Not fish slow.

[HookInMouth]

I'm terrible in the hot summer months. A lot of that is the fact that I don't use electronics on my kayak. The fish that stick shallow after the spawn I usually find in vegetation like pads. When that doesn't work I look for ledges with Navionics but that's hit or miss since I can't see cover. I have had luck with it though. 

[gunsinger]

Shade is key for me.  I figure that's where the bass will go and where I spend most of my time.  If they've gone deep, deep diving crankbaits, slow rolled spinnerbaits and chatterbaits....jibs.

[Canes1984]

All depends what part of the country your fishing in? I live in SOFLA. Traditionally flats in the am and move out deeper as the afternoon arrives. However here not many lakes have contours. Fish use the grass lines as contours. Some lakes, ponds, or canals may only be 6-8 ft at the deepest point. Covering water early wether it be a frog, buzz bait, swim jig, swim bait, crank etc.. ESP in the summer beat up the bank early. As it warms up start to focus on shade lines. Finding current is also key. Usually mouth openings into a main channel or lake where fish can transition to deep water quickly works. If the bite really slows find matted vegetation. Pitch n flip. Use a heavy jig. Work the bottom. 

[greentrout]

Sunrise in my neck of the woods ... approximately 6 AM ... fishing by 630 AM ... quit no later than 11 AM ... right now the temp at 11 AM 92 degrees with a heat index of 104 degrees ...

 

get heat advisories ...

 

Fish mostly with plastic worms, top water baits and spinner baits on mostly small waters from the bank and in a jon boat ...

 

good fishing ...

[Bankc]

I try a bit of everything.  I prefer to stay shallow as long as I can, but I'm not afraid to fish around the thermocline with a deep diving plug if the skinny water isn't treating me right. 

 

The thermocline around here will get about 30 ft. deep, due to the wind.  And that's with 1-2ft. visibility.  So if you're going deep, you need to go large and loud.  

[Bankbeater]

I always start fishing the vegetation first, especially in hot weather.  Cover for bait fish, shade, and oxygen.  When the bite dies in the vegetation, I start looking for shade over deep water.

[scaleface]

I use to fish deep a lot during the summer but those good deep spots are fished so hard that they just dont consistently produce like they use to . I find myself fishing shallow a lot more even in the hottest weather . I still give deep water a try just in case I time it right .

[schplurg]

I stick to "bright sun" patterns regardless of the spring/summer temperature. In the shallow creek here almost all catches are from fish hiding under cover. The air temperature has nothing to do with it. The bright sun does.

 

Like Roland Martin likes to say: "Fish don't have eyelids!" LOL

[WRB]

Answered on the wrong thread...Unsolicited Planner..duh?

Tom

[DitchPanda]

I'm a bank guy so cranks on offshore rocks or big worms in offshore brush is not possible for me. I'm an early morning guy by about July...this year its already started cuz its been brutal here. My best baits this time of year are super shallow cranks, flukes or senkos, poppers and old school worms.

[huZZah]

Bank fishing you get what you get. Go early or late unless you can work a bridge or other big shade during mid day heat. If you can cast under the bridge they’re definitely there. Spinners, worms, cranks, the usual. 
 

I enjoy night fishing and it’s the best bite I’ll get June through September. I agree that it seems the temp means nothing. It’s the sun. Cause overcast it’s game on all day. 

[Bluebasser86]

George Cochran once said that there's always bass shallow. I live and die by that quote, at least on our local lakes. I'll go deep if I'm on Table Rock or one of the other Ozark lakes or some other lake with clear water, but even then I'm looking shallow first. Our lakes don't have huge bass populations, so a lot of them can scatter throughout the shallow cover and never go deep. I've caught big bass from the shallowest, cruddiest looking mats of grass that look like they'd never hold a fish. I know I've got a video fishing one of our weeknight tournaments during a hot night when my buddy fired a frog into no water behind some shallow grass. I'd barely got something to the effect of "No way there's a fish back there", out of my mouth when a good fish ate his frog. 

[Big Hands]

I had remarked to a friend that I called July "Little Fish Month". He told me to be ready, he'd pick me up at 11 the next morning. I laughed and asked why he couldn't fish until 11 am. He just said "be ready, I'll pick you up."

 

He flat put a whoopin on me throwing a Bill Norman Deep Little N on light line, and grinding them down close to 22' - 24' on the main lake points and when they would dig into the  bottom, the smallest fish he caught was four pounds and he had a couple of six pounders in there too. 

 

I could get down there with my DD22's, but they didn't want them. I think they preferred the smaller profile cranks if you could get them down there. It's a lot of work getting those things down there in the midday sun & breeze, and it gets kinda rough with the summer crowds doing their thing all around you too. But now I know where at least some of the bigger fish go in the heat of the summer.

[scaleface]

4 hours ago, Big Hands said:

He flat put a whoopin on me throwing a Bill Norman Deep Little N on light line, and grinding them down close to 22' - 24' on the main lake points and when they would dig into the  bottom, the smallest fish he caught was four pounds and he had a couple of six pounders in there too. 

How did he get them to run that deep ? I use them in about ten foot of water .

[livin2fish]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

How did he get them to run that deep ? I use them in about ten foot of water

Yeah, my question too.

[rtwvumtneer6]

Locally we tend to stay pretty shallow, or the edges of grass lines that are close to a depth change. 

 

Lower light conditions I'll fish a buzzbait or frog but most of the day were dropping creature baits through the vegetation.  Don't usually get a ton of bites but usually produces a few good ones. 

[galyonj]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

How did he get them to run that deep ? I use them in about ten foot of water .

 

Maybe he took the handle off his reel and chucked it into a Milwaukee, and used that to reel?

[N Florida Mike]

I switch from fishing afternoons to early mornings, and I fish until mid to late morning. The more the sun gets overhead, the more fish begin relating to docks. Skipping a soft plastic bait under them is the ticket! If I stay out until noon, which is rare anymore, I fish deep holes where the coolest water is, very slowly with a worm.

I know that if I got out before daylight Id get a good bite but with my current work schedule I just cant. Got to sleep at some point!

[galyonj]

I don't really know how to fish deep, and I'm really not good at using my electronics yet, so, in a lot of ways, I still fish like a bank angler. The only difference is that now I've got the ability to hunt for better cover.

 

I'm kind of lucky in that the lakes that I fish are really just wide spots in the rivers that feed them where the current slows down, so there's always gonna be water that's got good oxygen, forage, and and a temperature that's comfortable for the fish.

 

So I really kind of just fish the same way all year because I don't know any better. In the summer my pattern is docks, visible cover, and shade lines; and I mostly fish jigs, worms, hard and soft jerkbaits, some topwater, and some lipless...and that's it.

 

Honestly, that's about how I fish year-round. I just sweat more while I'm doing it during the summer.

[A-Jay]

Fishing Summer Brown Bass for me can be a grind; in July especially.

Night ops are by far the best for me when it comes to numbers,

although I don't get out at night as much as I used to.

On calm mornings, first light topwater is easily my best plus size fish pattern.

Concentrating my efforts over & around deep rocks and the front of deeper main lake points

can pay off. 

However, unless there's some fog/haze or a a little cloud cover, it's over pretty fast.

Seems much of the population spends a good part of the season suspended and or 'roaming',

so fishing for them feels more like a 'chase' rather than a 'hunt'.

#heretodaygonetomorrow

Searching happens with a spin/spybait or a small swimbait and a drop shot is my usual weapon of choice to pin point 'spots'.  Which once located are like "Gold Jerry, Gold" !

Fish Hard

A-Jay