Go Big or Go Home

By Michelle Armstrong

Summer time fishing is tough. Not only is a  fisherman’s patience is tried by sharing the waters with summer pleasure boaters and jet skis, but the fishing is S-L-O-W.   That doesn’t mean you can’t seize some opportune moments and catch some nice quality Bass. In the heat of Summer, the ideal times are super early morning and early evening.  Not only are you missing the summer boat traffic, but you are hitting the moments when the fish are more active and eating.  Bass behave a lot like us in the heat.  They want to feed up early and late and stay lazy in the cool depths throughout the hottest part of the day.

A few key places to find Bass in the summer are on main lake and secondary points.  Ideally with a channel swing close by.  The Bass are using the channel as their vacation highway to travel to and fro.  They use the point to feed up on as the baitfish move up shallow in the am and pm.  Then they hang along the edges of the point for shade and protection and to intercept an easy meal if one should happen by.

When fishing either scenario I like to use a big worm.  Actually it’s more like a huge worm and can seem a little intimidating but once you see the quality of fish a big worm will produce, you’ll no longer be skeptical.  I choose between a Caraway Creek 8” Magnum and a 10” Ribbon tail.  The fish will tell you which they want but I typically start with the Magnum.  Caraway Creek is another local company that makes incredible hand poured baits.  And it’s ran by a girl (Carmen Nelson) so it gets double points from me!

Rigged on a light rig using a 3/16 sinker and a 3/0 hook…using a 7ft med heavy Bass Pro Shops Carbonlite Rod this is a quality fish producer.  Between the weight of the worm and a light sinker the worm will fall effortlessly along the edges of the point.   When casting up on the point during feeding, this rig will easily move over rock and through brush.

For a little different technique you can use a 1/2oz Shakey head hook with the 11” Rebel floating worm.  This worm looks crazy in the water with this presentation. There is a video available at the Caraway Creek website.

If you see the bait move back off the point and into the creek, you’ll want to follow suit but don’t get “lost” chasing bait.  This bigger fish will stay off on the points.  You can easily move up with the bait, fishing the structure, (blowdowns, docks, etc) only to return to the point for a bigger bite.

Remember, it’s hot, even for the fish.  They are reserving their energy to withstand the heat.  They would rather exert their energy for one big meal than waste precious time for a small caloric value meal.  You can purchase the mentioned fish food at www.c3baits.com.  So Go BIG or go home, and go catch a fish.