By Scott Norton
The keys to success in the dog days of summer come in the form of strategies and planning. Don’t fish without reason and know what you’re doing. The wisdom comes from years of patterning weather in relation to how it effects fish in their seasons. Key prime times to fish the summer is pre-frontal weather, full moon nights, storms, early morning, late evening, and shad spawn. If you plan these times in your plans, I promise you can escape the grind of hot summer weather. I will break down each situation so you can incorporate these categories into your plans.
Pre-frontal weather is the most common time to fish. You have the ingredients of shade from clouds, wind, and barometric pressure that cause bass to feed, or come out of their hiding spots. In times of low light, the shad spawn will relate to this as well. This is the time bass are more willing to chase baits. Just remember, the more wind you have the more chop will be in the water. You’ll need to use louder more aggressive lures. You have the choice of baits that have rattles or create water displacement. The bass will tell you what they want.
Full moon nights are such a great way to catch bass off guard. This is the time when they are not pressured like they are in the daytime hours. Remember when the water is calm, use a subtle lure to start with. When the bites increase, use more aggressive lures to draw in bigger fish. Time your trip based off of the moonrise time.
Storms are the best times when bass feed aggressively. You may have to fight wind and getting wet, but the results are worth it. This time to fish is not for everyone, but for those who go will provide chances for quality fish catches. You will usually have the lake to yourself as the recreational boaters will scatter at the sight of rain. Just remember, larger bodies of water can get rough due to the chop, wind, and lightning.
Now, if you only have certain days to fish and it’s not the right weather, make sure you’re on the water before the sun comes up. The early morning will give you a few hours of good feeding time, but as soon as the sun comes up the bite will shut down. These kinds of trips are short, so fish fast and do not stay in one place too long. It’s all about covering as much water as you can before the sun comes up. Make sure you don’t spend too much time messing with your gear. Come prepared with the right lures tied on. The more poles you have the better, as with more poles you will cut down on changing lures. You just want to pick up a pole and go to work. This will also apply to the evening time as well.
The shad spawn is a great time to fish. The reason why is that bass are focused on the feeding not the anglers. The times to catch will be times of low light, such as early mornings, late evenings, and cloud covered days. The lures of choice will be top water walking baits, spinner baits, crank baits, and swim baits. Try these strategies and you will have success.
Scott Norton is a Western North Carolina native. Born in Asheville, N.C., he is a long-time hunter, angler and weekend warrior.