Shallow Largemouth
There are many different ways to get quality bites in the summer months that do not require you to fish offshore structure. Bass are always shallow somewhere on your water in the summertime, here’s how to find them.
Vegetation is the number one thing I seek out in the hot summer months. I know bass will relate to this type cover all year round and are usually very receptive to baits. I know your probably thinking heavy matted stuff right? Well, wrong! It can be grass as simple as pond weed that will hold bass in the summer. I will always start out and work my way in to the fish during this time. Many bass will hold on outside weedlines and be very predictable in food choice. I like to throw a popper to start and back that up with a small finesse worm for fish that do not eat the topwater offerings. My favorite search baits are often topwater baits. They can give away the location of active fish.
Backs of creeks are also great this time of year and offer a bass a smorgasbord of food choices. When fishing the backs of creeks I mean the very backs of creeks! So far back you can cast from one side to the other. This gets bass close to current flow and they do not see much fishing pressure. Runoff areas usually occur here and this gives the bass fresh water which is normally cooler. Try and stay away from creeks with no current flow because this leaves the area with not much oxygen and thus bass vacate the area. If you find a cove with good current flow and laydowns you need to stop and fish this area hard. This gives a bass everything they need to thrive. Many anglers like to fish reaction baits here but I normally go straight to fishing jigs and plastics. I start out with a small finesse jig such as a baby Booyah jig tipped with a plastic chunk trailer. I back that up with a Gitem’ K.O. or Warlock.
Boat docks and piers can really produce good numbers of bass during this period and are relatively easy to fish. Try to focus on docks and piers with pillings that support the dock thus giving it natural cover for the bass to relate to. I also then narrow my search down to which docks have grass around them or scattered wood. Docks and piers with this type cover will be more attractive to bass in the hot summer days. When fishing docks and piers I like to pitch a Texas rigged worm or lightly weighted Gitem’ shad around the pillings or pockets in the grass. Make sure you control your boat when fishing these areas, bass will tend to spook if you get to close.
If your lake, river or reservoir has a bridge you need to fish it! Often times bridges will have areas that have multiple structure types such as rock mixed with grass or timber. This can be a hotspot for bass and water around the pillings can be cooler during this time. This is where I will normally throw reaction type offering to the bass. My favorite way to catch bridge bass is to bang crankbaits off the bridge pilling in shallow water. Bass cannot stand a shad darting in front of their face for long! Give this a try if you have access to bridges on your water.
Do not let the dog days of summer keep you from cashing in on some hot bassin’ action! Get out there early and load the boat with these tactics we discussed today!
Keywords: Bass | Booyah jig
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