It’s starting to feel a lot like summer. Fish behave differently in the different seasons, and if we want to catch fish in the different seasons, we need to vary our lure presentations and how we go about catching fish. Following are some ideas for catching fish during the summer months.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that, regardless of when you’re fishing, you’ve got to find the fish. If you don’t put your bait in front of a fish, you won’t get bit. You can’t catch fish that aren’t there. Now that the spawn has been completed in most places, the fish will be where the food is. That could be pretty much anywhere in many bodies of water.
A weedline will often be a good place to start. Several species of fish will hang out along the weedline. You’ll find largemouth bass, walleyes, panfish, and northern pike on the weedline. If two anglers are fishing, it works great to have one angler throw a crankbait and the other a slower presentation, maybe a jig tipped with plastic. This way you’re showing the fish two very different presentations. If the fish are hitting one bait better than the other, both anglers should throw that style of bait.
If you employ this technique, the crankbait angler should try a #5 Hornet. Hornets are kind of a hybrid crankbait that appeal to a wide variety of fish. In clear water go with a natural colored bait, in stained water try something brighter.
The angler throwing the jig should start with an eighth ounce Lip-Stick Jig-Worm or Slurp! Jig with a four inch Impulse Ringworm or a Smelt Minnow. These shapes will appeal to bass or walleyes, and are very durable. Panfish might peck at them, but they won’t rip the bait up. The variety of colors and shapes and sizes the plastics are available in provide lots of presentation options, and the Impulse plastics have a scent that really appeals to the fish.
In the summer, along the weedline or on deeper structures, sometimes the fish will be scattered, sometimes they’ll be tightly schooled. You might catch one here and one there, or you might discover that you have to be very precise as to where you put your bait. On the weedline, look for points or pockets in the weeds to hold concentrations of fish. On deeper structures, maybe a rockpile or a corner on a large flat will hold schools of walleyes, bass, or crappies.
The sonar that we have available to us today can really shorten our search for fish. Much of the time, we don’t drop a bait until we’ve located fish on the sonar. Raymarine has been the major player in sonar in big water for a long time, and that technology is now being applied to smaller bodies of water. The picture that these units draw is truly impressive. If you’re not seeing fish when you’re fishing deeper water, move to an area where you do see fish.
Spring and fall fishing can provide outstanding fishing, but summer fish are eating machines. Put the right bait in the right place and you’re probably going to get bit. And for most of us, getting bit is why we go fishing. In the summer you can get bit a lot.
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