Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Wednesday, 19 May 2021 12:10

Summertime thoughts
by Mike Gerry

Drastic change is ahead and as we progress into the summertime patterns, bass fishing becomes more complex and, hence, there are many more decisions you need to make to have successful trips during the heat of the summer.
Most of your decision processes evolve around your style while on a summertime fishing trip. What style means what pattern, or bait, gives you confidence and how do you approach the day with the summertime heat and limited feeding time for the fish. In other words, are you looking for size, numbers, top water action or are you just going to enjoy working different baits looking for different patterns?

I head to the water in the summer always trying to identify what my customer is looking to do, that way I can adjust quickly to the conditions and, hopefully, offer them some tips to accomplish their goals. One theme that is pretty prevalent is top water action; knowing this, I head to the grass and look for bait action immediately so I can take advantage of the low-light conditions early in the morning. When trying to find top water action I always look for deep water near the bank. It appears to me, that the bait moves to the bank around lay-downs, rock, and grass edges, so knowing this gets me to the top action fairly quickly.

Many of my customers, in the summer, are not interested in just hooking up on a big fish, yes, that is a great result, but many just want something pulling on their line. This is very different than trying to find tournament size fish so the decision process is more about baits than anything else. There is no doubt in my mind that smaller baits like finesse worms or paddle worms attract more bites. So, I make the decision to down-size to try and get continuous action, my bait choices reflect that all day long.

As you head to the water this summer have a plan of what you’re looking for, it will allow you to focus quicker and accomplish more than just going fishing and not putting any thought into your day.
Bigger fish have different habits than small fish and knowing what you want to do can lead you to some better summertime fishing with quick action and strong results.
Captain Mike