Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Wednesday, 16 June 2021 05:45

Summertime Changes
By Mike Gerry

As we progress into the summertime patterns, the heat causes bass fishing to become more complex and requires you to make many more decisions to have successful trips during the heat of the summer.
Most of the decision process revolves around your style, and enjoyment, while on a summertime fishing trip; meaning, what pattern or bait gives you confidence, and what do you want to accomplish between the time you put in and end the day!
Changes force you to look for many aspects going into the day; what matters is important, like 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. 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 downsize and try to get continuous action, and my bait choices reflect that all day long.

When 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!
Captain Mike