As this past six months of “not summer” come to a close, the bass bite is heating up just as much as the weather. The Clermont Chain and Johns Lake have seen the bass spawn come and go; they are more often cruising for snacks as opposed to bedding down. The spawn for the most part is over. In general, stay shallow and work weed-lines, lily pads, grasses, and other shoreline vegetative areas. Key in on wind driven moving water or changes in depth.
For technique, throw weightless stickbaits for a slow fall to the bottom on 4/0-5/0 Gamakatsu EWG hooks. After they settle, twitch up and down to repeat the fall for a natural presentation. The drop is when the bite is most frequent, so pay close attention and don’t miss a hook set while
the bait is falling. Creature baits, craws and brush hogs are popular rigged on 3/16 oz tungsten with flipping hooks to work thick brush areas. Look for pockets of grass, flip and let settle with a more aggressive presentation than worms. Bouncing and twitching with a slow retrieve works best but vary it up to work more of the water column. Slow is the way to go.
Spooks and frogs are great for topwater, best results are normally yielded at first and last daylight. Work a Zara Spook on the more open water (less snags) for schooling fish. Rig frogs weed- less for areas of heavy brush and vegetation, try to emulate a struggling frog hopping from pad to pad. For gear, a 7’ to 7’-6” medium heavy baitcaster with 10- 15# fluorocarbon is my go-to for stickbaits. For flipping, choose a longer rod in heavy or even extra heavy with 30-65# braid and a faster retrieve ratio on the reel.