Locating Summer Bass

[cgs2004]

I was wondering where prime spots are on lakes to find bass In July/ August?  Do you find them where you caught them in pre spawn or do they go to deeper water?  I'm in Kansas so the water temp is quite high.  The air temp has been going up to 90 for about 2 or 3 soild weeks now.  I'll be fishing Milford Lake in North Central KS.  It has a good population of both LM and SM Bass.  Is the summer time pattern the same as Spring: Points, drop offs, cover?  I am just not sure weather I should head back to the spots I caught them at in the Spring or should I find new spots for this time of year?

[playmaker47]

Hey im from Hays, Kansas and if you dont know where thats at its in NW Kansas and i fish Cedar Bluff Reservior mostly. i dont know if youve ever fished there but its a pretty good lake. anyways whats been working for me there this summer is hitting the deeperwater points with t-rigged plastic worms and pitching tubes around standing timber on the edge of the main lake.

[John Cullum]

The general rule of thumb for this time of year and that water temp would be fish deeper water. Underwater humps,islands or any type of deep structure should produce fish. Old road beds, bridges, foundations etc would be a great place to Texas rig a soft plastic, drop shot or C-Rig a soft palctic bait or even chuck a deep diving crankbait.

There isn't much deep water here in Indiana so we pretty much fish shallow all year long. Here are a few things I look to fish when the water temps are high.

I look for duck weed or matted weeds. You can fish a Scum Frog over these matted weeds all day long and catch fish. The best time to fish them are on sunny days anytime after the sun has been up for a few hours. During the morning the bass will more than likely be out roming because of the low light situation. But when the sun gets good and high the bass seem to prefer this type of cover over almost any other type. The water temps will be cooler under duck weed than the surrounding water. I've read sometimes up to 10 degrees cooler.

Another thing I fish is boat docks. Boat docks can be a good pattern to fish anytime of year but them seem to really come thru for me in the "Dog Days of Summer". When the sun is burning down on the water bass will seak shelter under the docks. It provides over head cover and chances to abush prey. The key is to find out what kind of boat docks they are holding on and how the bass is realating to the boat dock.

In the summer I like to fish shallow cove boat docks. It goes against the grain a bit but I've had really good luck doing this. The shallower the cove the better. The boat docks in the very backs of these coves seem to be the best. However you can also catch fish on the first few in the cove or any dock that is all by it's self. Coves with feeder creeks or rain water tubes are the best. In thses coves it's like killing to birds with one stone. The water coming into the lake will be cooler and the bass seak cover under the docks. Both of thses are bass magnets when the water temps and high.

Other heavy cover like blow downs or brush piles can be effictive way of catching these summertime bass. Jigs, big balsa cranks and spinnerbaits are a good choice for this type of cover. Also fish a buzzbait around this type of cover. I've caught fish all day long in the dead of summer without a cloud in the sky on buzzbaits. When your fishing your buzzbait try to cross the wood at as many differant angles as possible. Once you get a bit remember the angle and duplicate it on the next blow down.

Cranking bridge pilings and rip-rap. Bridges provide alot of shade this time of the year. Running a crankbait around the piling and the rip-rap will boat you some fish on almost any body of water.

Pontoon boats will hold fish when it's hot too. Light cant penitrate  between the two pontoons because of the pontoons floor. This means on a weedy l;ake a pontoon that sits in the same spot will often have a pocket of bare bottom surrounded by weeds. Weeds will grow up around the pontoons themsleves but not under them. This aloows a bass a place to ambush prey. Weightless Senkos, centipedes, and Slug-Gos are a few lure chooses for fishing pontoons.

Hope this helps some. I posted this on another board awhile back that asked the same question.

[cgs2004]

Oh yea I know where Hays is.  I hear that Cedar Bluff is a good lake to fish but I haven't been out there yet.

Nicely put together Cullum.  I'll give it a try.  Thanks for all the tips and in depth detail.  Helps a lot!!

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

great post John