Summer Bass Fishing Tips and Techniques
The key to Summer bass fishing is to get out early and fish the shallows hard based on water temperatures and bait. Once it gets hot focus on deeper water where the water temperatures are lower and the bass have structure ambush bait.
You have to focus on those areas that will get the full force of the sun early because they will be too hot for the bass within the first few hours of the day. Once it gets too hot you will have to turn your attention to the shady spots and the deep water spots to maximize your summer bass fishing results.
Summer is not a good time to dilly dally if you are a bass fisherman. You have to beat the Sun to your fishing spots for best results because you are trying to avoid hot water temperatures and find cooler water temperatures.
One of my daughters, Emily, caught this bass in the photo above. She was fishing with a white buzz bait right before the sun went down. This little pond was just full of bass that were 5 pounds and under.
If you want to learn the best summer time bass fishing tips and techniques, then keep reading this article below.
In the article below I will teach you how to fish maximize your bass fishing adventures in the HOT Summer months. These bass catching tips and techniques apply to all bass fishermen regardless of where you live across the United States.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been catching bass all over Florida for more than 40 years.
Bass act in predictable ways based on their environment. Once you know how bass will behave during certain times of the year and other variables, then you can catch them consistently.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more bass in the Summer.
The key to Summer bass fishing is to get out early and fish the shallows hard based on water temperatures and bait. Once it gets hot focus on deeper water where the water temperatures are lower and the bass have structure ambush bait.
You have to focus on those areas that will get the full force of the sun early because they will be too hot for the bass within the first few hours of the day. Once it gets too hot you will have to turn your attention to the shady spots and the deep water spots to maximize your summer bass fishing results.
Summer is not a good time to dilly dally if you are a bass fisherman. You have to beat the Sun to your fishing spots for best results because you are trying to avoid hot water temperatures and find cooler water temperatures.
One of my daughters, Emily, caught this bass in the photo above. She was fishing with a white buzz bait right before the sun went down. This little pond was just full of bass that were 5 pounds and under.
If you want to learn the best summer time bass fishing tips and techniques, then keep reading this article below.
In the article below I will teach you how to fish maximize your bass fishing adventures in the HOT Summer months. These bass catching tips and techniques apply to all bass fishermen regardless of where you live across the United States.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been catching bass all over Florida for more than 40 years.
Bass act in predictable ways based on their environment. Once you know how bass will behave during certain times of the year and other variables, then you can catch them consistently.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more bass in the Summer.
Bass behave in predictable ways based on temperature and food in the summer months.
Bass are a very predictable fish. In general, they will behave a certain way based on two main variables. Those variables are water temperature and available food supplies. Yes there are tons of other factors that affect the way a bass or any fish will behave. These include barometric pressure, wind, rain, moon phases, water flow....
BUT if you can figure out the two most important factors of water temperature and available prey items, then you are 80% of the way to catching more bass.
There are 4 temperature ranges that all bass fishermen must understand if they want to consistently catch more bass. These ranges are Less than 50 degrees; 50 to 55 degrees (pre-spawn); 55 to 60 degrees (spawn) and 60 degrees and higher.
I am not going to cover bass behaviors for all of these temperature ranges in this article but you can find that information in our articles covering bass fishing for the different seasons. You can read those articles by clicking on them below.
Winter Bass Fishing Tips
Spring Bass Fishing Tips
Fall Bass Fishing Tips
Rule #1 for Summer Bass Fishing.
Beat the sun to your fishing spot. The early bird gets the worm in the Summer. This is the same if you are fishing saltwater grass flats tailing redfish or bass fishing on your favorite lakes and ponds.
Fish are cold blooded just like a snake or an alligator. They cannot regulate their own body temperatures so they have to use their surrounding environment to do that for them. Too hot or too cold will kill a fish. Fish have to move around to regulate their body temperatures. Your job is to figure out their movement patterns.
Your best bet to catch a bass in the Summer is to fish the shorelines in that get full sun first. Those spots will get too hot the fastest so if they look fishy, then you had better get on them first thing.
Once you are done with that shoreline, head over to the shady shoreline because those areas will stay cool longer. IF IT IS CLOUDY, THEN YOU CAN FISH THE SHORELINES LATER IN THE DAY. You just have to figure out what areas of the lake that you are fishing will heat up the quickest and make sure to fish those first.
Rule #2 for Summer Bass Fishing.
Fish deeper later in the day. Bass can't handle the water being too hot for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they will overheat and secondly, they can't breathe.
Hot water cannot hold dissolved oxygen as well as colder water can. In the Summer, there are parts of lakes and ponds that do not have enough oxygen to support fish. There is no sense fishing where the fish can't breathe, right?
You will find bass along deeper points, drop offs and deeper cuts in the lakes, ponds, rivers and canals when the Sun is hottest. Just a couple of degrees difference in water temperature might make or break your bass fishing adventure so keep moving until you find the fish.
Watch the video below and catch more Summer bass.
Rule #3 for Summer Bass Fishing.
Find life. Look for minnows and bluegills in the shallows. Look for shad schools or anything that signals that there is life in that area of the lake. Find wading birds like blue herons or ospreys diving to show you where life is. There is no sense in fishing where there are no fish.
This is a mistake that many anglers, including myself, have made. You find this spot and it looks like the fishiest spot on the planet. So you cast and cast and cast. You try 6 different lures and waste an hour without getting a single bite.
That's a rookie mistake that we have all made. DO NOT FISH DEAD ZONES!!! If you are not getting bites or seeing fish activity where you are, then it is time to move.
I don't care if you are fishing for bass, redfish or catfish. You can't catch any fish where there are no fish.
What are the best lures for Summer Bass?
Best Shoreline Lures- I like to swim a frog along the shoreline first thing in the morning. Another great lure choice is a walk-the-dog type of top water lure. If you can position yourself for a parallel cast along the shore, then you can cover a shoreline quickly and efficiently with these lures.
A spinner bait is another great choice for early morning shorelines. I like to use a white or chartreuse one for clear water and a blue or black one for dirty water.
Once the water temperatures start to heat the shallows up too much it is time to fish deeper.
Best Deep Water Lures- I use a spinner bait for deeper water bass fishing most of the time. BUT crank baits are another great lure for this scenario. You will want to focus your efforts on the deeper points, drop offs and cuts in the body of water that you are fishing.
The bass will look for ambush points along deeper structure so you need to find those likely ambush points too.
What is your best bet to catch summer time bass?
I think that your best bet for summer time bass is to fish heavy cover. You can fish heavy cover all day even in the middle of summer. Why? Because the bass like to chill out in the shade.
There is always shade under heavy cover like weed mats and lily pads. Those shady spots will hold bass all day long but it is really hard to get at them. You have to get your lures through all of that stuff and present it well.
FROGS
I like to fish with a floating frog in the summer months. You only need 3 colors of belly and you are good to go. You will need a frog with a black belly, a white belly and a chartreuse belly. The top of the frog doesn't matter. Those are painted all pretty to get fishermen to buy them but a bass only cares about what it sees from under the water.
Those frogs are very weed less. They rarely get any stuff on the hooks even in the thickest of vegetation. That is why you miss so many bass that hit the lure. It is a trade off and I would rather get a hit and miss it that not get any hits at all.
The key to frog fishing is to work it slowly over the weeds and try and steer it towards openings in the vegetation. Bass love to eat unwary prey items that are dumb enough to swim through those holes in the weeds.
Make sure to slow down your trigger finger too when you are fishing with frogs. The bass need a second or two to get it in their mouths. A lot of bass fishermen try and set the hook too quickly and miss the fish.
I like to say, "Eat that frog!" in my head before I set the hook. Just the second or so that it takes to think that phrase is usually enough for the bass to get the lure in its mouth better so that I can get a better hook set.
PUNCH JIGS
Punch jigs are just jigs with a pointy head that are heavier than normal jigs. A punch jig might need to be 2 ounces to punch through that heavy stuff and get to the bass lounging around in the shade of a hot summer day.
You just want to get it through the weeds and jig it up and down a few times then try another spot. You might have to fish a lot of weeds to get a big bass on your line but it is worth it.
Heavy cover is a great place to find big bass. Big bass want to maximize their protein intake without using many calories to do it. That is why the thick vegetation is such a great place to catch your personal best bass.
Bass will eat anything that fits in their mouths for the most part. They eat ducks, mice, snakes, baby alligators, other bass, whatever....... Those big bass are more patient that the little ones and will be lurking in the thick stuff in the summer months.
Conclusion:
Bass fishing in the Summer can be challenging if you don't play it correctly. The main keys to consistently catching bass in the Summer are: Fish shallow early; Fish deep late; fish heavy cover all day; and find life. It's really that simple but not always so easy to implement.
Bass do not like hot water and most of the water where you are fishing will be hot at some point during those Summer days. Your job is to figure out the movement patterns of the bass where you are fishing. They will move until they find a comfortable water temperature so you have to keep moving too.
If you get good at fishing the thick cover, then you can catch summer time bass all day long. Bass are a lot like us humans. They like to lay around in the shade and get something to eat every now and again. Base your summer time bass fishing on that premise and you will do just fine.
We created a new online bass fishing course for you. The course is a series of video tutorials that will increase your bass catching ratios.
Sign up below and get your course today.
I think that your best bet for summer time bass is to fish heavy cover. You can fish heavy cover all day even in the middle of summer. Why? Because the bass like to chill out in the shade.
There is always shade under heavy cover like weed mats and lily pads. Those shady spots will hold bass all day long but it is really hard to get at them. You have to get your lures through all of that stuff and present it well.
FROGS
I like to fish with a floating frog in the summer months. You only need 3 colors of belly and you are good to go. You will need a frog with a black belly, a white belly and a chartreuse belly. The top of the frog doesn't matter. Those are painted all pretty to get fishermen to buy them but a bass only cares about what it sees from under the water.
Those frogs are very weed less. They rarely get any stuff on the hooks even in the thickest of vegetation. That is why you miss so many bass that hit the lure. It is a trade off and I would rather get a hit and miss it that not get any hits at all.
The key to frog fishing is to work it slowly over the weeds and try and steer it towards openings in the vegetation. Bass love to eat unwary prey items that are dumb enough to swim through those holes in the weeds.
Make sure to slow down your trigger finger too when you are fishing with frogs. The bass need a second or two to get it in their mouths. A lot of bass fishermen try and set the hook too quickly and miss the fish.
I like to say, "Eat that frog!" in my head before I set the hook. Just the second or so that it takes to think that phrase is usually enough for the bass to get the lure in its mouth better so that I can get a better hook set.
PUNCH JIGS
Punch jigs are just jigs with a pointy head that are heavier than normal jigs. A punch jig might need to be 2 ounces to punch through that heavy stuff and get to the bass lounging around in the shade of a hot summer day.
You just want to get it through the weeds and jig it up and down a few times then try another spot. You might have to fish a lot of weeds to get a big bass on your line but it is worth it.
Heavy cover is a great place to find big bass. Big bass want to maximize their protein intake without using many calories to do it. That is why the thick vegetation is such a great place to catch your personal best bass.
Bass will eat anything that fits in their mouths for the most part. They eat ducks, mice, snakes, baby alligators, other bass, whatever....... Those big bass are more patient that the little ones and will be lurking in the thick stuff in the summer months.
Conclusion:
Bass fishing in the Summer can be challenging if you don't play it correctly. The main keys to consistently catching bass in the Summer are: Fish shallow early; Fish deep late; fish heavy cover all day; and find life. It's really that simple but not always so easy to implement.
Bass do not like hot water and most of the water where you are fishing will be hot at some point during those Summer days. Your job is to figure out the movement patterns of the bass where you are fishing. They will move until they find a comfortable water temperature so you have to keep moving too.
If you get good at fishing the thick cover, then you can catch summer time bass all day long. Bass are a lot like us humans. They like to lay around in the shade and get something to eat every now and again. Base your summer time bass fishing on that premise and you will do just fine.
We created a new online bass fishing course for you. The course is a series of video tutorials that will increase your bass catching ratios.
Sign up below and get your course today.