Baits for Summertime Fishing

As we progress into the hot summer I believe you have to be willing to attack fish in all types of different cover to be successful when it’s hot. You can’t be myopic you must be able to fish different depths and different types of cover and to do that you have to be willing to fish different baits to be successful. Variety is the spice of life and it applies when it’s hot and nothing is working and to catch a fish you must try different presentations.


Some examples of that occur every day for many fisherman, I generally start early in the morning on a hot day and start fishing shallow less than 10 feet. After the sun starts to get high in the sky I start looking for deeper presentations to adjust my style to the fact that the fish don’t like the bright sun and move to hide from it as the sun rises in the sky. Along with the knowledge of where the fish move too, I start adjusting baits and types of cover.


Early in the day I may start with some sort of top water bait, or fish swim baits over the grass that is below the surface of the water. As the sun changes and moves up my presentation starts to change, I start moving my boat out a little deeper I might very well be using the same baits but move to deeper water where the bass may be moving to hide from the sun. Once that bite goes away then I feel that the bass have moved to one of two locations either in the grass or to the deep cover like stumps or eel grass in 20 ft. of water.


This allows me to start adjusting baits; crank baits are for most a good go to bait when the bass hit the deep cover. Many times however this doesn’t work so you must change to another deep presentation like a jig or big worm to get that bite. If that fails I start presenting baits in the grass maybe not as deep but in thicker cover.


Work different depths, different cover and different baits you will find it can unlock the dog days of summer.


Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service