Going Shallow for Summertime Bass

[Swamp Girl]

I think @Pat Brown should have a fishing show because he's great at teaching and he uses words in fresh, funny ways (elephants, peanuts) to make a point. Plus, he has Jake, the Bass Catching Machine! 

[Swamp Girl]

Well, I just went fishing for one hour and 45 minutes. Conditions were tough, as it was mid-day, sunny, humid, and hot. Breezy too. I tried the windswept shore, lilypads, and the deepest water and caught nothing. Didn't even get a bite. The nine I caught were all on the protected shore in about a foot of water, tight to the shoreline. All caught on a spinnerbait or underspin. I lead with a pic of the shoreline. Then pics of the bass. All small except for the last one, which was chunky. So, shallow summertime fishing worked for me today, at least. I started casting to the protected shoreline when I saw bass feeding under the woody bushes. About seven of the bass came within inches of the shoreline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pat Brown]

7 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Well, I just went fishing for one hour and 45 minutes. Conditions were tough, as it was mid-day, sunny, humid, and hot. Breezy too. I tried the windswept shore, lilypads, and the deepest water and caught nothing. Didn't even get a bite. The nine I caught were all on the protected shore in about a foot of water, tight to the shoreline. All caught on a spinnerbait or underspin. I lead with a pic of the shoreline. Then pics of the bass. All small except for the last one, which was chunky. So, shallow summertime fishing worked for me today, at least. I started casting to the protected shoreline when I saw bass feeding under the woody bushes. About seven of the bass came within inches of the shoreline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protected from the wind = eddy.  😎😎😎😎🎣🎣🎣🎣

 

I definitely do well on deeper structure in the wind but for shallow water - let me find the place where it's calmer most of the time.  😏😏😏 

 

If you think about it - it makes sense kinda.

 

Shallower water gets stirred up really quickly in the wind and probably sucks pretty quickly to be in for baitfish and bass with the silt and mud and so forth.

 

Deeper water that has no wind probably doesn't have much food chain activity - not much to bring a bass to the area.

[Bird]

I catch bass in 1 - 3' of water all summer long in submerged lay downs with a spinnerbait.

Many times I've had to raise the trolling motor to get to them. 

[WRB]

The late Dee Thomas said “Shallow bass are Biting bass”.

I always take the thermocline into consideration where I fish. Hot water over 90 degrees doesn’t hold enough DO for bass to survive very long. Green weed beds produce DO via photosynthesis and provides Shade cooling water. IMO bass need comfortable water temps, DO levels and a prey source to be in shallow hot or deeper cool water.
Tom    

[Woody B]

Tom mentioned DO levels.  I think that's a very BIG piece of the puzzle, at least for me.   I believe there's many facets of water quality come into play.  

 

2 years ago I caught a BUNCH of decent Bass up the South Fork Catawba river.  (Lake Wylie tributary)  Winter before last we had really bad flooding.   It was a year before I caught a single Bass more than 1/4 mile up the river from the main lake.  I ask retired Bass fishing pro Guy Eaker about it.  He said the flooding probably washed all kinds of "bad stuff" (his words) into the water, either triggering a fish kill, or at least running them down river.  We had flooding last Winter, but not as quick, or as bad.  I've caught a few Bass up the river,  but no further than 3/4 mile or so.  Guy said it may take a few years for Bass to move back up the river.  

 

Regarding shallow Summer Bass, at least where I fish.   In spite of sonar advancements a vast majority of people fishing are "beating the banks".  I believe this drives most or all of the decent Bass off shore.   Every once and a while, on some magic occasion they'll move up on flats to feed.  This usually happens at night during the Summer.   The Fall when many people who are fishing now start hunting, going to football games, and participating in activities other than fishing the shallow bite will come back.  

 

Most days I can catch plenty of shallow Bass, but they're 10 inches long, and have hook holes in their mouths from being caught before.   

[Zcoker]

Shallow is as shallow does. Welcome to the everglades! Not much of a choice out there, summer or not. If I do find deeper water, I still fish the edges, the shallow edges, which can be mere inches in certain spots. For the most, I always look to merge the two, shallow and deep, fishing one or the other in close proximity. 

 

[Zcoker]

Here’s how shallow works out on the glades. Quite the handful. 

 

[Bazoo]

I always fish shallow. For me shallow is 5' or less. Sometimes I fish deeper than that, but not normally where and how I fish.

 

I've fished in water so shallow the fins of the fish would occasionally poke out of the water. I don't know why those fish were there, guess they liked it.

[Bankc]

I'll hit some shallow water spots.  Especially early in the morning.   Sometimes they're productive.  Sometimes not.  Typically, in the summer I don't spend a whole lot of time in the shallows, except in hard to reach areas where I can access with my kayak, but bigger boats can't go.  The reason being, shallow water gets hit hard in the summer, so the fishing pressure is immense.  It's not that fish aren't there.  It's that they become very weary and hard to catch.  But there are days where that's where the action is, so that's where I go.

 

As for what counts as shallow?  Well that depends on the lake.  Basically, I define shallow water and any depth that a bass might hit a topwater bait from. 

[WRB]

Clear water lakes like Lake Mead on the Colorado River bass often strike top water lures in very deep water. The bass are suspended in 25’-30’ and chasing Shad schools. Top water lures may not be the best shallow water definition.

Sometimes it’s necessary to cast onto the bank working the lure into water not to spook the bass. I do this a lot at night but not intensionally.

Tom

 

[Swamp Girl]

59 minutes ago, WRB said:

I do this a lot at night but not intensionally.

 

Ha! This tells me that even bass gods err here and there. 

[Bluebasser86]

I often joke that I get nervous if it's too deep for me to touch bottom. I'm a shallow water fisherman and that is almost always where you'll find me, regardless of time of year. 

[A-Jay]

On 8/10/2024 at 7:38 AM, ol'crickety said:

. How about you? Do you fish shallow in the summer and if so, what do you consider to be shallow?

I will go shallow when the bass are feeding shallow.

Doesn't mean I always get them,

but it does seems my odds of success go up a bit.

Shallow for me is anything less than 15 ft depending on water clarity.

Later summer sees me in stupid skinny water, 4 feet sometimes.

Not a place many bassheads hunt trophy brown bass on Lake Menderchuck.

Accordingly, I've has some very memorable mornings doing it.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

https://youtu.be/sITpRNLz_04?feature=shared

[Mike L]

46 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I often joke that I get nervous if it's too deep for me to touch bottom. I'm a shallow water fisherman and that is almost always where you'll find me, regardless of time of year. 

Ditto

 

Kinda says it all for me too
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Swamp Girl]

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I often joke that I get nervous if it's too deep for me to touch bottom. I'm a shallow water fisherman and that is almost always where you'll find me, regardless of time of year. 

 

I hooked (and lost) two big bass in shallow water yesterday, so they're there, "regardless of time of year," but it's tough (at least for me) to land them when there's way more weeds than water. 

[WRB]

Don’t scream sacrilege when I suggest light weight canoe stabilizer floats so you can stand safely to leverage those bigger bass out of the weeds 

Tom

[Swamp Girl]

I won't scream sacrilege, Tom, but I just don't want to make my fishing platform more complicated...or heavier...or slower. 

[TnRiver46]

I do well shallow in summer, deep in winter (SMB)

[bowhunter63]

There in the dirt right now here . Really shallow 

[uglyasheck]

Its not how deep you fish but the depth you fish. Fish are in deep water and shallow water.

[Fishing_Rod]

Greetings All,

I typically work the shoreline areas either from the shore or from the yak. It is easier and less fuss when in the yak. You are able to work more angles from the yak and also successfully retrieve more of those wayward casts.

 

Our summer time is HOT, so working the shady shallows has been more successful than working the deeper areas. The yak provides a quiet approach which I believe helps a great deal.

 

I can empathize about the challenges of dealing with the wind and doing what you can to avoid crashing into something. It is a two handed ordeal many times when working the paddle and rod simultaneously. Of course there are those occasions of where the fish drag you along too!

 

Much of the time I position the yak far enough away that I can make a cast with enough time to work it before having to reposition or work the paddle. On those times when I need a more determined effort and hover longer on a spot, I'll deploy my makeshift anchor. It is also my tool to determine depth. Because I'm never really in deep water I'm not dealing with a lot of anchor line. My current anchor is an old wheel hub from a hand truck. It works much like a mushroom configuration so it holds reasonably well with the soft bottoms as long as you deploy enough line to create a sufficient angle for it to grip. Yes, something that I needed to learn through experience, as it is not so much the weight of the anchor as it is the technique of how you use it. Yes, it is possible for an old dog to learn.

 

It holds reasonably well on the harder surfaces too. My original folding grapple anchor from the hardware store got seriously caught up in the rocks to be sacrificed, sad. So I went and harvested the next best thing and have been using that for decades.

 

The summer time weed ring about the lakes are a treasure trove of fun. Usually I'm targeting the deeper inner edge, one closest to the center of the lake. This time of year I'm working the outer edge that very shallow region between the weeds and shoreline. It is so fun to land a precision cast in that small open water space only to see a flash dash out from the weeds to hammer, ambush, the weedless soft plastic. The second half of summer time is when I transition away from my typical UL rigs and go with gear a bit stouter where I can apply some leverage. Usually it is a case of getting them pinned and then hold tension so I can sort of dig them out of the filamentous weeds. The smash and dash is exhilarating!

 

So yes, the shallows are totally fun for me. Be well and Cheers!

[Mobasser]

There was a well known pro angler named John Powell, who fished in early B.A.S.S. tournaments under Ray Scott. He always fished shallow, regardless of conditions. His main bait was a Creme Scoundrel worm.                                             He took some friendly teasing from other guys who said he fished in a tractor rut full of rain water. But he qualified for six classics, and won or placed in the top ten many times with his shallow water approach.Fishing shallow was his style, and he did very well with it. They say there's always some fish hanging around the shallows. I think it's true.

[Swamp Girl]

I sure scored this morning in shallow water, catching my two biggest in six inches of water and twelve inches of water.