The Tough Summer Bite
As we move thru 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. If you are someone that constantly struggles during the hot days on the water, then you are not creating a bite. Just throwing your bait out and not putting any thought into what the bait is doing on the end of your line just does not get it.
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 thought process 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 and 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 Gerry