Going Shallow for Summertime Bass

[Swamp Girl]

In the just posted article, "Going Shallow for Summertime Bass," pro guide John Neporadny extols the effectiveness of fishing shallow for summertime bass and he defines shallow as 1' to 10'. Well, on the two ponds I fish the most, the deepest spots are 10', so shallow for me would be 1' to 3' and I do fish those depths every time I'm out in the summer.* 1' was the magic number when I fishing in the spring, but there are still a few that shallow this deep into the summer. How about you? Do you fish shallow in the summer and if so, what do you consider to be shallow?

 

*I also fish deeper. I never know where they are, so I look under every pond sofa and in every pond closet.

[LrgmouthShad]

Early-mid summer I like to be deeper. Late summer I like to be higher in the water column through September. My favorite time to fish shallow is winter, but this depends on the lake.

20 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

what do you consider to be shallow?

Stillhouse is fishing shallower than last year but last year I would call 10' shallow. That's because the water was 15-20ft low and very clear. This year water is higher so I would call shallow on that lake 5ft or less.

[detroit1]

I always start my my fishing day shallow no matter what time i get to the lake. Shallow fish (to me) are fish looking for food, and are somewhat easier to locate/catch. Any time of year.

[Mike L]

Okeechobee max’s out about 12ft with an average I guess around 10 depending on the season which is common for most of Florida’s natural freshwater lakes. 
There are a few spots and certain areas much deeper on The Lake but not easy to find if you don’t know where you’re going. 
 

The “rim canal” around about half of it is much deeper as it’s supports barges and larger boats going from the Gulf to the Atlantic 
 

Considering all that, I consider shallow 2’-5’ which for me is my sweet spot. 
Rarely will I fish the middle of the canal or even in deeper ares of Lake as I’ve never felt the need to. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Swamp Girl]

29 minutes ago, detroit1 said:

I always start my my fishing day shallow no matter what time i get to the lake. Shallow fish (to me) are fish looking for food, and are somewhat easier to locate/catch. Any time of year.

 

Interesting. I fish water with raptors (eagles and ospreys), so mid-day, I don't fish shallow much. I've seen the raptors plunge into the water and rise with a bass wriggling in their talons. However, if it's raining, foggy, early, or late, I think the bass are harder for the raptors to spot. 

[Pat Brown]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

In the just posted article, "Going Shallow for Summertime Bass," pro guide John Neporadny extols the effectiveness of fishing shallow for summertime bass and he defines shallow as 1' to 10'. Well, on the two ponds I fish the most, the deepest spots are 10', so shallow for me would be 1' to 3' and I do fish those depths every time I'm out in the summer.* 1' was the magic number when I fishing in the spring, but there are still a few that shallow this deep into the summer. How about you? Do you fish shallow in the summer and if so, what do you consider to be shallow?

 

*I also fish deeper. I never know where they are, so I look under every pond sofa and in every pond closet.

 

 

Shallow is relative. 

 

A recent Bass after Dark podcast episode about frog fishing with some of the consummate masters of the realm historically - revealed that for somebody like Bobby Barrack, who has caught multiple double digit LMB on the California Delta on frogs - the ideal depth to target with a frog for a double-digit fish that he's looking for is 8 to 12 inches.  He points out that a double digit fish is 7 inches tall and only needs 8" of water to hide.  I think some people just think they like to fish shallow. 😏😏😏😉😉😉

 

I think oftentimes when we target big bass up shallow we aren't fishing shallow enough.

 

Some of my most fantastic topwater bites have come walking a frog off of the bank and into the water into 1-2" - where the big bass out of nowhere wakes on it like a killer whale on a seal from those incredible videos!

[Woody B]

3 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Shallow is relative. 

 

 

And every body of water is different.   

[Pat Brown]

6 minutes ago, Woody B said:

 

 

And every body of water is different.   

 

Heck, I can't even find two creeks on my lake that behave the same. 

 

I think you've really got fish for the fish you're fishing for if that makes sense.  😂😂😂

[Catt]

In marshes around here it is not uncommon to catch bass all summer long in water 2' or less. 

 

Average depth is 24"

 

Bass ain't no choice about where they're born!

[rgasr63]

For me I don't think shallow unless I got treble hooks on the bait. It is all about wood and grass. There was a fella on the U-tube that always said find wood, pitch to wood, catch fish. I can see the fellas face but I got no name to put with it right now. But that's how I start. 6in deep to 10ft deep it don't matter.

[Swamp Girl]

25 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

the big bass out of nowhere wakes on it like a killer whale on a seal from those incredible videos!

 

What colorful writing! It both made me laugh and understand. 

[Jig Man]

For the last month the smallmouth and largemouth have been in 2-5 fow on Table Rock and Stockton.

[Swamp Girl]

16 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I think you've really got fish for the fish you're fishing for if that makes sense.  😂😂😂

 

Gosh, yes. I hope to fish for two hours today and I'll be fishing my pond, which I've now fished dozens of times. Do I have a clue whether I'll catch them or not? Heck, no! Bass are shifty and shifting and their rules change from pond to pond and hour to hour. 

[Mobasser]

My best shallow summertime spots are shelves that were formed when they dug out this quarry lake. The shelves start at around one foot near the bank, and end at about eight or ten ft, before they fall off into deeper water.              I catch fish on the shallow shelves early in the day. There are four shelves like this, but the two best have deep water close by.

[gim]

My partner and I caught all 20 of our largemouth, including our 4 biggest scorable ones, in about 4 feet of water yesterday. The water in this lake is pretty murky.

 

It was very windy and a nice chop was blowing in on one side of the lake. That’s where all the fish were. We fished aggressive and fast, ripping lures through patches of weeds. Could not catch much on the calm side of the lake.

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@gimruis: I love fishing the windblown shore,, but my canoe also gets windblown into the shore. Dang it!

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Interesting. I fish water with raptors (eagles and ospreys), so mid-day, I don't fish shallow much. I've seen the raptors plunge into the water and rise with a bass wriggling in their talons. However, if it's raining, foggy, early, or late, I think the bass are harder for the raptors to spot. 

The raptor couldn’t grab the bass if it wasn’t there 

[12poundbass]

6poundbass and I went out Thursday and the skunk was in the boat! We were set up in 5’ tossing the kitchen sink to 10-20’ of water with no takers. As I’m looking around I see what looked like a 3-4lb smallie cruising around in 5’ of water. Then a couple big largemouth in the same area! Still no takers. We loaded up, went to the lake across the road, and we’re catching largemouths in 10-15’ of water. 🤦🏼‍♂️

 

They do what they want. 

[gim]

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

@gimruis: I love fishing the windblown shore,, but my canoe also gets windblown into the shore. Dang it!

Boat control was an issue at times yesterday. Had to talon down many times to effectively fish an area or when landing a fish.

[scaleface]

Most of my fishing is done in a small boat on small lakes. With only an electric motor I cant run from spot to spot  so I fish my way from spot to spot. I catch shallow bass all summer, sometimes in just inches of water in the back of pockets .

[Bankbeater]

In the summer, I'll fish vegetation first because of the shade and oxygen.  It doesn't matter what the water depth is.

[Catt]

"Shallow" depends on the body of water. Our marshes or only 2'3' with very few boat trails 4'.

 

On Toledo Bend "shallow" offshore structure is 15-18'.

[Mike L]

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

I think oftentimes when we target big bass up shallow we aren't fishing shallow enough.

You’re right to think that way. 

Waters are different all over, I get it.

But if more anglers especially those new to bass fishing understood this and acted accordingly, no matter where you live your catch rates can and most likely will increase. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Pat Brown]

1 minute ago, Mike L said:

You’re right to think that way. 

Waters are different all over, I get it.

But if more anglers especially those new to bass fishing understood this and acted accordingly, no matter where you live your catch rates can and most likely will increase. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

During the recent storm/Tropical Depression Debbie, the spillway flooded 10 feet during the peak of the storm.  The water was up in the grass and ivy.  The next morning when I got there early as the rain began to settle and the water began to recede - the gizzard shad were schooling in very small tidal pools that were formed by the water level falling.  Literally in the divots of the bank grass leading back to the main river channel where one would normally fish.

 

There were HUGE bass gorging on them in these little slack water tidal pools - swimming in off the main channel through the ivy and pushing these shad into inches of grass along the dangerously low receding water line.  Dorsal fins and tails sticking out of the water.  Just absolutely wreaking havoc on these landlocked shad in inches of grass.  The shad were 2".  The bass were 27".  Elephants like peanuts too.

 

Bass use shallow water because it provides fool proof hard edges for them to pin their bait AND because their food uses it AND being that they're primarily site feeders and energy conservationists (lazy) - they love those ultra shallow eddys during flooding conditions because they can still see food and threats and because they can eat without fighting current.  Even when current is minimal and things aren't flooding - big lazy bass do the exact same thing in relation to ANY current at all in shallow water around cover.

 

I think when you're dealing with flooded creeks or river systems, especially - places where water flows in from multiple feeder creeks - there's always big big bass using next to no water near those in flow points.  How they relate to the area changes probably hourly even!  The depth in these backwaters is often long expanses of 1-2' max with plenty of humps and stumps and very good water clarity.  Shad and shiners and crappie spawn in this stuff all summer long and the big females just gorge themselves.  There's usually a lot of emergent vegetation in these areas.

 

The problem is - it's a no fly zone more or less if you are at all particular about your boat or prop so these fish remain largely un-messed with.  For most of the summer you can't even push yourself back there - it's just too thick.

 

I really like targeting these areas while the vegetation grows and the creeks warm up with spring rains AND as the vegetation dies and the backwaters cool off with fall rains - but the true giants can be found there in the dead of winter and summer just as easily - just harder to trick in the winter when these flats are cold and muddy and the water is like glass and there's little to no cover / harder to access in the summer while vegetation is rampant and thick.

 

Even on lakes that are bowl shaped/natural /have no dam - there's places that naturally form due to erosion and water flows in during rain fall and even sometimes underground.  These areas can be big bass magnets at certain times.

 

[Mike L]

Excellent post!

One thing that hasn’t been talked enough about is this time of the year is prime punching time. 
 

Don’t pass up the chance to get the big stick out. 

 

 

 

Mike