Best summertime baits, presentations, patterns

[Valascus]

It's getting to be that time of year again...yep that time of year when, as Senko77 so aptly put it, it gets to be "1000 million degrees" outside. A lot of fisherman I know, myself included, tend to have problems around this time of year, especially when there is no boat involved and we cannot reach the deeper main channels from the banks. I thought it would be a dandy idea for everyone to post what tends to produce the best for them this time of year. What baits are you using? How are you presenting them? Are you fishing deep water, shallow water, or were they suspending somwhere in between? What cover or structure have you found the bass relating to? Were you able to find a consistent pattern, if so, what was it? I think this could help out a lot of folks who have trouble this time of year. Thanks in advance to everyone!

As for me...I usually get to go on about a week long vacation sometime in the dead of summer. Usually to the Lake of the Ozarks. Most of my fishing is done right of the docks or from the banks, rarely do I get a chance to go out in a boat, and even if I do it doesn't have any electronics on it. I usually had better luck catching fish early in the morning off of crankbaits casted paralell to the docks or into (and under if I could) boat slips. As the day marched on I would normally start to switch to deeper presentations such as t-rigged plastics with little to no avail.

I haven't had the opportunity for a vacation such as that this summer so I have been limited to fishing smaller bodies of water such as the ponds at Busch Wildlife, my municipalities local pond, and my grandparents farm ponds. I do well at the grandparents ponds using shallow cranks like baby bombers and mann's 1-. They just always seem to catch bass there...no matter what. Every bass I have ever caught out of those ponds is a dink though...usually less than a pound or close to one pound. So I have started keeping everything I catch there. Conditions on these ponds are stained to murky water that is pretty shallow in most areas of the ponds. The deepest areas are obviously closer to the dams at about 10-12ft. I generally find fish relating more to cover than structure on these ponds. Still hunting for the bigger boys there.

Busch and the local pond are both wildly different stories. I do ok to sometimes flat out skunked at Busch's lake 6 and lake 28. I usually opt for plastics there using 4" or 5" Chompers Spider Grubs on 1/8 oz. stand-up jig heads or t-rigged plastic lizards. I fish them slowly to moderate speeds in 3' to about 8' of water close to laydowns, weedbeds, or chunk rock.  

The local pond I almost always get skunked. it doesn't seem to matter what I use there. TONS of pressure, weak fishery, and stained mucky water. But...it's within walking distance...so therefore worth a shot.  

[Zebco202]

I have yet to find a pattern or anything that works so far this summer.  I had a pretty decent post spawn run there for awhile and was starting to get a lot of confidence in my fish catching abilities.  I've fished the last two weekends and I've been blanked both times.

It seems the fish just won't bite.  I'm finding fish near drop offs or points, some are as shallow as two to four feet.  Some are as deep as 20+ feet.

I'm throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them.  Buzz baits, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, jig-n-pig, dd-22's, topwater stuff, you name it, I've probably tied it on over the last two weeks with no success.

I'm headed out again tonight to fish a tournament.  I hope I have better success.

[cgs2004]

About the only fish catching patterm I have ever found in the summer is topwater early in the morning.  I need to spend some more time on the water this summer and figure the rest of it out.

[Chris at Tech]

Seems to me it would be a good time to try drop shotting, or Spotsticking soft plastics in the depths once the sun is up.

[Shad_Master]

Around here the weather has been screwed up all year.  We had 60* days in Janurary and 30* in April.  Week before last it was 105* on Friday and on Tournament Saturday it was 45* when we "blasted off".  However, as the grass has begun to die down along the banks, the bass are still hanging around the area, although they are pulled back right to the end of a long cast.  What I have found in recent years is that this is a good time for a shallow crank bait.  I have heard, and have found to be true, "warm water, wide wobble".  A Wiggle O or an Orion CB have been killers for me during the summer.  For soft plastic, I try to use something with a "wigglie" tail, like a ZOOM Vibra-tail Worm or a GULP! Turtle Back Worm.  It seems they need something to get them triggered.  Just my $.02.

[Raul]

You don have to be limited to the bank, get a belly boat. Unless you live in the swamplands of the south where there are gators the belly boat is your ticket to fish off the bank water. How much does a belly boat cost, 100 bucks ? man, any of my rods costs more than that. There 's no justification in not purchasing such a valuable tool.

[Valascus]

You don have to be limited to the bank, get a belly boat. Unless you live in the swamplands of the south where there are gators the belly boat is your ticket to fish off the bank water. How much does a belly boat cost, 100 bucks ? man, any of my rods costs more than that. There 's no justification in not purchasing such a valuable tool.

What in the heck is a belly boat? :-?

[Raul]

[RoLo]

Oddly enough, even from a float tube, most of your bass

will probably come from casts directed toward the shore

This especially true where you find docks and lily pads.

You'll gain more from lateral mobility, than the ability

to reach deeper water.

Roger

[Valascus]

I would imagine that would b slightly awkward to fish in. But for guys without boats it would definately be better than nothin.

[Raul]

Actually they are quite comfortable and you sit high on the water, high enough to cast without problems.

[Raul]

Some of my Spanish buddies in their tubes:

[Valascus]

I'll look into picking one of those up. Might help me get into some deeper water in some of these areas.

[huskertko]

I have this boat.  It is a little larger than a belly boat, and you actually sit out of the water, more comfortable when the water is 50 degrees.  I don't use the oars, but I use scuba fins and love it.  I can pack it up in my car so transportation is easy.  It cost less than $250, I have a depth finder and rod holder mounted to it so I can carry upto 5 rods with me on the water for every occasion.  They are very light and very stable, I am 6' tall and weight about 260 and I have never put the boat into a situation where I felt uncomfortable.  It solved my problem of being stranded on the bank.

This is a pic of a fish i caught last weekend 12-18 ft of water on a single tree stump that was sticking up.  She went for 3 pounds.

[5bass]

The best summer pattern where I'm at is deep brushpiles hands down.If you know where some are you're in business,if not,you're beating the bank catching mostly dinks.We are lucky to have 4,367,853 docks on my home lake also.You can catch decent fish around the deeper ones in the summer......deep docks save the day sometimes.

[Siebert Outdoors]

most of the lakes I fish I am mostly fishing 15-25 ft deep.  My favorite lures are a jig, 10" worm, or dd22.  

[Whopper-Stopper]

Soft plastics worked slow in midday; Spinnerbaits and topwater early mornings, late evenings and at night.

[Lightninrod]

Swimming a jig--fast!

T-rigged Senko

Pitched jig

Speed worm--fast

Basshunter--if you have a pickup truck

T-rigged Paca Craw

Matt's Baby Bass

From the shore

Matt's BB

9 lbs--Matt's BB

All those Bass were caught in the HEAT of the summer over several years including my PB, that 9 lber. Note how many different baits were used. A Fat Free Shad and other baits caught me some nice hot-weather Bass too so open your mind up to all the possibilities .

Dan

[Rattlinrogue]

My most successful summertime baits over the past few years have been the following: 1)Topwater baits early and late. 2) Carolina-rigged lizards, Senkos, finese worms, and French Fries 3) Tubes pitched and flipped into and around wood cover, grass cover,and docks.PS=also creature baits 4)Jigs and trailers pitched and flipped into and around wood,grass,and docks. 5) Down sized (3/16) spinnerbaits. 6) Shallow and medium diving crankbaits in shad,bream,and crawfish patterns. 7) Deep diving crankbaits in shad,bream, and crawfish patterns.

[jomatty]

i start the day with topwater and then switch to docks at smith mountain in va.  i use wacky senkos skipped under the docks, yam. grubs, and jig head worms with great success.  i plan on adding the fat ika to my dock arsenal this year.

matt

[roadwarrior]

Early and late (lowlight) topwater and shallow running crankbaits have been the ticket (Sammy, Spook, Bomber Square A, Norman Fat Boy and Bagley BII). I continue to have sucess with Senkos and Ika in water <12' deep. In the heat of the day my most productive bait, especially last summer, is a T-rigged Gitzit (tube) on or near structure in deeper water. The vast majority of my bigger largemouth have been caught on the hottest, bluebird days of summer between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM. Around docks, the GYCB 6 1/2" Kut-Tail worm (T-rigged with a bead, unpegged) has been a consistant producer.

[SuthernProg]

So far, my patterns have been yo-yoing a Chrome/Blue back Rat-L-Trap off the bottom, dragging frogs into holes in the slop salad and just leaving them there for a long time with subtle twitching, and buzzbaits shallow and early. But, it's yet to hit REAL high temps here. Supposed to be 95 tomorrow, the highest so far in Va.

Marion

[Alpster]

I love the summer time!! Surface jerkbaits and buzzbaits at dawn & dusk in shallow water. Later I pitch heavy weighted big (10" -12") plastic worms and big ugly jigs/trailers in deeper water. The best spots are lilly pads and grass beds. My 3 PB were all caught with a jig & pork trailer in mid day in deep water structure. Did I mention....I LOVE SUMMER!

Ronnie

[spotaholic]

Here is the patterns that work for me. Besides post spawn blue back runs when the topwater action is hot I love the summer. Here are the patterns I use the most.This is what is on my deck.

1) Floating worm ( Bright Color)

2) Spook Jr or Crazy Shad ( Clear or Custom painted)

3) Buzzbait (White)

4) Spot Remover ( Green Pumpkin)

5) Jig ( Brown with Green Pumpkin tips dipped)

6) T-Rig or C-Rig ( Green Pumpkin)

They are in specific order buy the Spot Remover is my go to bait.