Summer Bass Fishing: 7 Tips That’ll Help You Crack More Fish

Summer is a fun time to get on the water. Weather is predictable and so are the bass and other game fish. Water temperature is at its highest and summer bass will be either up shallow or offshore which makes it easy for anglers to find them. This is the time of year you can target fish by choosing the best-looking cover or structure and fish it accordingly. You may not have the best chance at a giant fish, but you’ll definitely catch a ton. With that said, there are a few methods I and other anglers use during this time of year that produce good results.

1.) Summer Bass Fishing: Go Up Shallow

Flip a jig or Texas rig creature bait around cover. After the spawn, many bass will leave their spawning grounds and head for deeper water. But some will stick around and bury themselves into thick cover all summer. These areas provide great ambush points. Find those messy areas with grass on top of wood sticking out, or a boat dock with broken pilings around it – anything that looks thick and disorganized – the forementioned baits are irresistible to a bass.

I like fishing a Reaction Innovation Sweet Beaver on a medium heavy flipping rod, preferably 7’6″, with 30lb suffix 832 braided line to a 20lb leader. This allows me fish moderately heavy cover and still be able to crack them hard when I feel a bite. I’ll use a 3/8 oz tungsten weight when flipping a Texas rig and typically a ½ oz jig in natural craw colors. Bluegill colors are also effective when fishing lakes where bass are keyed in on small pan fish. When fishing away from grass and around boat docks or wood, I like fishing a dirty jigs 3/8 oz flipping jig on the same set up mentioned above.

How Weather Affects Shallow Water Fishing

Weather and barometric pressure can have an effect on shallow water bass fishing. Bass become more active when clouds pull in and light diminishes with some wind. It triggers them to be on alert for incoming food, as wind stirs up food like baitfish and grubs. Low light can condition like cloud cover reduces a bass’ ability to see and forces them to use other senses such as vibration through the water.

2.) Fish The Change of Light

Fish a topwater lure in the early morning and evening either before or after the summer heat sets in. Bass will likely be actively hunting around these times. A top water is a great way to cover water and find them while they’re oriented to the surface. It’s not uncommon to find larger number of bass within 3-6 ft during the change of light as deep water bass will rise onto shallow ledges and shallow cover to hunt and slide back to deeper water. Use walking baits, a whopper Plopper, or a small hollow body frog like the Spro Bronzeye Pop Frog 60, all make great top water baits. I love throwing the River2Sea Whopper Plopper in natural green color when its light and bone white as the light diminishes. Prop baits are great because they cause water displacement and allow bass to track them from further distances. For more subtle action top waters – poppers are great bait fish imitators.

The Megabass baby Pop-X is a tasty top water bait to call attention at the change of light in summer. Swim baits also make great search baits during the change of light. I like covering water with a top water, followed by a paddle tail that I can fish down the center of the water column. One trick I’ve always used is to switch to white swimbaits and top waters in low light scenarios. This allows the fish to home in and target your bait easier. You may need to experiment on different lakes. Some locations are better in evening after the temperature goes down, others are best in the early morning.

3.) Find Surface Vegetation

The topwater frog is a deadly lure during the summer heat. My favorite part about a frog is that it imitates a number of different prey items including shad, bluegill, and frogs. If they’re focused on bluegill, I’ll use a frog with more blue on the tail streamers. Find the best-looking surface vegetation. By that, I mean find the thickest stuff you can like matted hydrilla, lily pads, your typical surface slop.  Trophy bass will use vegetation to stay cool in the heat of summer as well as for ambush positions. This is usually the best-looking stuff on the surface such wood sticking out of grass, rocky bottoms with grass, and grass covered humps. Use a hollow body frog to search the area and wait for blow ups. Once you locate a fish with a frog but miss the bite, you can follow it up with a punch set up. A hollow body frog is the best way to cover expansive bodies of topped out greens. Isolated patches of surface vegetation can also be productive during summer. Find overhanging trees with sporadic surface cover and practice skip casting here. Big fish will seek out cover that provides cooler water, shade, and the opportunity to ambush.

4.) Summer Bass Fishing: Trust the Drop Shot

The drop shot is a set-up I have rigged year-round. Summer bass fishing slowdown in the dog days of sweltering heat. A finesse worm setup like a dropshot provides bass with an easy to eat meal that doesn’t require a ton of movement to catch. Similar to winter, slowing down and presenting the easiest prey item can pay off when the bite seems non-existent. Developing a summer pattern for me involves dissecting cover and structure with key baits such as a football jig when fishing offshore or a deep diving crankbait. But I always keep a finesse presentation ready as the clean-up crew. This applies too shallow water fishing too. After fishing a frog and a Texas rig, Heavy drop shot setup around weed lines or a Senko on a Tokyo rig. This applies when you’re catching fish too. If you land a few out of a small school, you can use a small worm setup to pick off any weary ones in the group.

5.) Summer Bass Fishing: Use A Chatter Bait

I can’t stress enough the power of a chatter bait in summer.  This lure incorporates sound, vibration, and action and pulls active largemouth bass from all over the lake. Bass become more active as the water temp rises. This allows anglers to get out early in the morning and evening or at the change of light and use baits that cause a ruckus. Bass’ diet varies more in summer as they’ll feed on a variety of baitfish, top water prey, crustaceans, and grubs and worms. A chatter bait can imitate all of these things, to a certain degree. What’s great is that these lures can be fished virtually anywhere. They can be skipped under docks, fished in and around grass, stumps, trees, rocks, and the deflect well and look great when ripped out of grass. I like fishing either the Z-Man Jack Hammer or Elite Evo around wood and grass. A chatter bait is the ultimate search bait for me when it comes to finding active bass. I’ll start slinging one during the change of light, in wind, and in poor water clarity, and ill mostly fish it up shallow within 3-6 feet of water. Alternatively, you an fish a lipless crankbait as well and achieve a similar effect. However, with a lipless crankbait, you won’t have the same versatility as a chatter bait.

Where To Use a Lipless Crankbait

You can use a lipless crank bait from summer to fall and even into winter. One excellent way to fish a lipless is to fish it offshore where bass will hang on ledges and rocky bottom until late summer / early fall when they begin rising to shallow water to feed. You can use a lipless crank and jig it in deep water back to the boat. If nothing is biting, follow it with a Texas rigged soft plastic.

6.) Go Big When Fishing Offshore

Offshore fishing is when anglers target fish in 10-20 ft on average. Some anglers fish even deeper depending on the lake. This is when I like throwing on a deep diving crankbait like the KVD XD Crank in chartreuse and blast it across points as far as I can and burn it down to the preferred depth (15-20 feet) and slowly reel in back, deflecting off the bottom. If moving baits aren’t the ticket to success, I’ll slow down with a bottom bouncing bait. As you may recall, I mentioned use a drop shot or finesse presentation when bass are lethargic from the heat. But when they’re actively feeding, go-big or go home. By that, I mean throw a big Texas rigged worm like a ribbon tail worm or KVD Bull Worm. Big lure equals big bass. But don’t expect trophies on every bite. Summertime bass fishing is more likely to produce numbers rather than giants. Other good deep-water baits are jigs and Carolina rigs.

7.) Protect Yourself, Stay Cool

Use UV protective clothing before venturing into the summer sun. Fishing often involves open areas with little shade. Be sure to pack plenty of water and use clothing items such a UV protective, long sleeve boat shirt and neck gator. Apply plenty of sunscreen and hydrate! The longer you last, the longer you fish!