Seems the bass bite has about disappeared here.

The last couple of times out to our favorite lake, it is like the bass are completly gone till it cools off.
I have tried all kinds of lures, top water, rubber worms, etc. Never even a strike of any kind.
Most bass caught there are released as they have an 18″ minimum keeper size there, so it is unlikely it is fished out.
My wife fishes for panfish and the bite has slowed there but still active to some extent. The bluegills and crappies like the yellow Powerbait it seems for the most part.
I am hoping that things will pickup a bit now that it has cooled a bit.
Until then I will “KEEP ON SMILING.”
Thanks for reading.
Iowa Roger

The dog days of summer bass fishing are here. Had by far my worst outing of the year my last time out. There are still fish to be caught you just have figure out some new patterns. I hope to get out there this afternoon myself to start to figure out something new. It’s about time for the slop bite to take off and I know for sure that the dock bite is going good right now. That the fun part of bass fishing. Figuring out new ways to catch them. Keep plugging away and good luck!

Have you been able to get out at first daylight and try it then? I found that to work pretty good for the first couple of hours at a small lake nearby. Found them regularly on the outside weed/pad edge on surface baits, and 6-10 feet down that same edge fishing wacky worm style. Pretty much peters once the sun starts to get higher.

Have you tried the deep weedlines and structure with a 1/2oz football jig yet? Always a good hot weather lure.

Another one is a creature bait punched deep into the weeds with a 3/4-1.5oz T-rig.

This can be an excellent time of the year…We can get too stuck on the shoreline…forget that and go DEEP~!
Deep water weed edges near steep drop offs, large boulders, fish cribs, or laydown logs in deeper water…mid lake humps or points extending into deep water.
Largemouth seek the thermocline, which could be as deep as 35 fow.
jig/trailer, C Rigs, drop shot rigs, to name a few.

Go deep. Most of the bass if not all i catch in the summer are in 15+ fow. I search for deep weedlines,main lake sunken islands, underwater points, and fish cribs. Depending on the depths i like to run the rap dt series in a baitfish pattern that matches the forage in the lake and depth range i am fishing. I also run a carolina rig with a lizard. But my all time fovorite is a small mushroom head jig with a 7 in culprit worm finessed back to the boat.Slow rolling spinnerbaits can also be very effective.

If you dont mark fish on the spot dont fish. Search and locate a school before wetting a line. Bass tend to school in the summer so if you get 1 make sure to pick the spot apart!

was up north of st. cloud on the missippi for smallmouth yesterday. Was slow we caught three in a row trolling rapalas in the last 15 min before we had to go. We were bobber fishing earlier. Got to the landing two guys said they got over 20 trolling spinnerbaits and rapalas. guess they wanted something moving.