Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Wednesday, 17 July 2024 06:20

The Heat of Summer
by Mike Gerry

Your job as a bass fisherman in the heat of the summer is to create a bite.
As we move through July and into the heat of the month of August one thing that remains constant is that you must present your bait, so the bass reacts to it. Reaction bites are everything in the summer. You must get the bass to react to your bait. Some people have this talent. Others have to work at it. Either way it is paramount to catching fish.
It never fails when I put customers in the boat that tell me they just cannot find fish in the hot months.

The first thing I notice about their fishing skills is they just do not concentrate on the bait at the end of their line. You must work your bait until the presentation you are using creates a reaction and hauls you in a fish.
Presentation is everything, the key is for you to make your cast with thought and execution until you find a movement of the bait that causes the fish to bite.
There are no limits in my mind as to how many ways you try to move your bait. The thoughtprocess is endless, and it is your job as an angler to determine what movement of your bait catches a fish.

There are three elements to making a bait move erratically in the water, the rod, the bait, and your wrist. All three can make the bait move differently just by doing something different with each. You can change rods from softer to stiffer tips. You can change from one bait to the next with color, size and noise. You can hold the reel with your wrist in various locations, like palming the reel or holding it with one hand or two. You can even change locations with your hand on the reel and it causes your wrist to move the bait differently with each change of location.

There is something I have always believed in, if you do the same thing over and over you get the same results, and if you are struggling getting bites in the heat of summer you must examine your presentation and do something different to change the results, variety of presentations are key!
Captain Mike