After a long stalled out spring, the summer heat is finally here.
It took much longer than usual but the water surface temperature of the local lakes and Lake Erie is finally approaching eighty degrees and the fish have moved into their summer time pattern. Fishing can be challenging this time of the year unless you take time to understand their patterns when the water warms up.
This time of the year it can be important to get off the shoreline and go deep. Extremely hot water does not hold as much oxygen as cooler water so larger fish tend to head to deeper waters when the water temperature approaches the eighties. At Lake Erie, the majority of the larger walleye have moved east to the central and eastern basins. While the western basin is usually the best in the fall and spring, this time of the year, places like Lorain, Cleveland, and Ashtabula will be areas of better fishing.
That’s not to say you can’t catch walleye in the western basin in the summer. You can. However, the majority of the walleye in the western basin in July and August are going to be the smaller walleye and it can be frustrating trying to weed through all of the smaller walleye to find enough legal size ones to put together a limit.
Same holds true for the larger smallmouth bass as well. Just last week, I was still catching large smallmouth bass in the shallower waters around the islands in the western basin and once the water warmed into the upper seventies, they disappeared and moved on to deeper water making them harder to find.
The same concept holds true with largemouth bass in our local lakes as well. Head for deeper water this time of the year. Look for points near the creek channel, bends in the creek channel or deep-water structure like stump fields or rock piles. Bass will tend to school up on these areas so if you catch one, work the area for a while to see if you can catch more. Deep water baits like crankbaits, jigs, and plastic worms do well in these situations. Make sure your bait reaches the level the bass are. Use your depth finder to determine where the bass or baitfish are and keep your lure in that strike zone.
Another important tip for mid summer fishing is to get up early or go very late. Most of the fish are now feeding in the pre-dawn hours or at dusk and into the night. If you are going fishing in the morning, try to get there before the crack of dawn and take advantage of the active feeding time of the fish. If you are heading to the lake after work, stay as late as you can, as the fishing will continue to pick up as the evening gets later.
If you prefer fishing shorelines (as most fishermen do) these hours are the best. In the extreme early or late hours of the day, I prefer to use a surface lure to aggravate a bass into biting. Casting buzz baits, jerk baits, poppers, and burning spinner baits along shoreline structure can trigger a reaction strike from cruising bass. Having a lunker bass explode on a top water lure is one of the true excitements of fishing. The strikes can be ferocious and breathtaking.
Make sure if you are using a top water lure to not set the hook until you feel the fish. Many times a bass will miss the bait on his first attack and will come back to strike again. This can’t happen if you jerk the lure away from him by setting the hook on the sound of the strike instead of the feel of the strike.
It is also the time of the year to head for weeds. Most of our area lakes are deficient in quality weeds but a few have a healthy weed population. Bass love the weeds during this time of the year for several reasons. The weeds provide shade from the blistering heat, generate more oxygen, provide food for the baitfish that bass prey on, and they provide good ambush points for the bass.
Finding what the bass want in the weeds can be challenging but if you can find something that works, you can load the boat in a hurry. If it is early or late in the day, stick with the reaction baits like top water lures and spinnerbaits. Grass rats or frogs are fairly weedless and can be deadly in the thickest of stuff. If it is in the middle of the day, switch to pitching jigs and worms into the weeds.
Concentrating along the weed line edges (particularly where it drops into deeper water) and open pockets usually works most of the time when the fish are feeding. The bass will be positioned here to ambush passing prey. If it is in the middle of the day, head deep into weeds and fish the thicker portions. Make sure your worm or jig is heavy enough to penetrate the weeds and reach the bottom.
Another important factor this time of the year is to find the baitfish. The shad fry that hatched this spring will be concentrated in large schools. If you can find these guys, the larger predator fish won’t be too far away. I prefer to pitch a tube bait or jig into a school of fry and let it sink to the bottom. Oftentimes a bass will be right underneath them and will strike your lure as it falls. If I find that a school of bass is actively attacking the shad, I will switch to a surface bait like a Pop R. The catching can be fast and furious if you are fortunate to come across a feeding school.
You can also increase your chances of success by watching the weather. Fish will tend to go on a feeding frenzy right before a change in weather. If you can get to the lake before an approaching storm or cold front, you can increase your chances of having a successful trip.
Summer time fishing can get frustrating, but if you remember to change your tactics you can still have a lot of success. Remember, your spring tactics won’t necessarily work in the summer, so it’s important to adapt.
Until Next Time, Good Hunting and Good Fishing!
Ken Parrott is an Agricultural Science teacher with Northmor High School.
