Summer Tips

1. Fish of all species migrate to different depths and areas. Don’t trust the small fish, they will fool you.
2. Follow the food trail. Where the abundance forage food lives / travels the game fish won’t be far away.
3. Logically and scientifically we know the fish digest at a higher rate when the water is warmer. Summer temperatures make them feed more often and should make them easier to catch.
4. Don’t always beat the bank, move to secondary cover.
5. When fishing is tough regardless of the season smaller baits and slower retrieves work best.
6. Game fish like bass, crappie and others should be schooled tight when found deeper. Work them and find another similar situation (pattern) and come back to those fish after about an hour.

These are few of the basic approaches to use and apply in summer situations.

 

A Year Around Sport

H20 TempClear WaterMuddy WaterWinter

30-40 Hair Jigs, Jigging Spoons, Float-n-Fly, grubslow spinnerbait, crankbait, jigs

40-50 jigging spoons, jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, finesse crankbaits, blade baits, grubsshallow crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, vibrating jigs, spinnerbaits

50-55 Jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, shallow crankbaits, slow rolled spinnerbaits, jigsshallow crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, vibrating jigs, spinnerbaits, jigs

55-60 jerkbaits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, plastics, jigs, buzzbaits, swimbaitsflipping plastics, shallow crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, vibrating jigs, creature baits

Spring 60-65 jerkbaits, plastics like lizards, craws, tubes, creatures, jigs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, some topwaters, buzzbaits,spinnerbait, jig, crankbait, buzzbait, plastics,

65-70 topwaters, plastics, frogs, jigs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, buzzbaits, swimbaitsplastics, jigs, crankbait, buzzbait, spinnerbait, frogs

Summer 70-80+ topwaters, frogs, plastics, deep diving crankbaits, spinnerbaits, football jigs, flipping jigs, drop shot, jigging spoons, swimbaitsfrogs, buzzbaits, shallow crankbaits, spinnerbaits, deep diving crankbaits, football jigs, big worms and plastics,

75-70 shallow crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, smaller worms,  topwaters, buzzbaits, frogs, punching baitsshallow crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, smaller plastics, buzzbaits

Fall 70-65 lipless crankbaits, shallow crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, topwaters, offshore jigs and worms, drop shots, frogs, buzzbaitslipless crankbaits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, worms, frogs, buzzbaits

65-55 buzzbaits, shallow crankbaits, jigs, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, worms, blade baitsbuzzbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs

55-50 blade baits, jigging spoons, jigs, spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits, finesse crankbaits, some topwatershallow crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, lipless baits 50 -blade baits, jigging spoons, jigs, spinnerbaits slow rolled, lipless crankbaits, jerkbaitsslow spinnerbait, crankbaits, look for clean water