By Colt Bass
It’s hot, and then it’s cool, major rain, and then dry. Yes, you guessed it, summertime in the Carolinas. With the coming of summer, comes the change in fish patterns. During this transitional period there is one constant to be remembered; stripers will always look for the coolest water they can find. The later you go into the summer months the deeper you will find the fish. In early July stripers will begin to split up and roam, looking for bait and the cool pockets.
Prime fishing times also begin to change. In June there is generally a 4 hour period in the morning and a 4 hour period late in the day when I catch most of my fish. Depending on temperatures there is also a mid morning period when the fish can be pretty active. As you go through July those windows are reduced by about an hour each, down to 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening. By 10:00 in the morning I’m usually following the fish to deeper water.
In July the stripers are spawned out but are still looking to add a little weight. I like to start out with live baits, especially live shad. I primarily use a 4” to 7” bait with a circle hook, fishing deep to shallow ANYTHING, whether it’s a point or an underwater road bed, anything that has shallow water around it with access to deep water is a prime spot. Fish will be feeding in shallow water early but need access to deeper water by 10:00 to 11:00 in the morning. I’m pulling planer boards in the morning anywhere from a surface planer board, a freeline board with no weight, then I’m pulling anything down to about a 15’ to 20’ range and downlines from 20’ to 28’ to 30’. Stripers aren’t in the late summer depths yet and most fish are being caught in the 20’ to 25’ range.
Remember the later in the summer and the hotter it gets the deeper they’ll go. Lots of good summertime striper fishing on Lake Hickory and Rhodhiss Lake. Don’t miss out, come on up!
Colt Bass
www.coltbassfishing.com
(828) 381-3426