This has been a banner year for my fishing and guiding… My clients have not only caught numbers of fish but lots of large fish. I have run eight bass trips since late may and we are averaging over 20 bass CPRed per person per trip! Mostly inexperienced adults and youngsters. I am posting this to pass along some of my observations that have paid dividends so far.
During the summer pattern in my area (the U.P. Of Mich), in clear water lakes, Smallmouth bass absolutely love to position near rocks, gravel flats and boulders. They spend more time along rocks and boulders than any other type of cover. These areas provide plenty of food such as insects, bait fish and crayfish. Smallmouth bass are often found near the bottom along rocky areas so tubes, jigs and soft plastics worked deep have been very effective. During low-light conditions, I’ve caught smallmouth bass shallow as 1 to 2 feet to search for crayfish in the rocks. When the sun gets high in the sky, smallmouth bass are usually found much deeper. It is not uncommon for me to catch smallmouth bass in 30 to 40 feet of water in clear, cold, deep water lakes.
While Smallmouth bass may not prefer wood to rock, they and their Largemouth cousins definitely do like wood. Wood provides excellent cover as well as plenty of bait fish and insects for food. Just like with weeds, the best wood areas that hold bass also have a hard bottom with a boulder or some rocks.
The hot weather moves larger bass to wood that offers lots of protection overhead, on a steep drop off to a hard bottom, deep water transition nearby. The more tree limbs that go deep in the water the better.
Jigs with craw trailers work best around wood. Flippin’ or pitchin’ a jig will help you get in the tough spots. When you can’t get them to hit a lure, a drop shot rig with a 4-5” fluke or worm will usually get them to eat. I like to slowly work the DS rig where the drop off meets the deep water transition (flat).
I have settled into flourocarbon line for these plastic presentations…its been windy a lot this summer and braid is a beast in the wind, blowing a big bow in the line…
Shallow to med depths with tubes Senkos and jigs… Med/Med Hvy 7 to 7’6” casting rods… 1/8-1/4ozjigs… 8-12# line
Deep water… Med Hvy/Hvy 7 to 7’6” casting rods… 3/8-3/4oz jigs… 12-14# line
Yesterday was a tough bite but we managed seven quality Smallies up to 5 lbs fishing 100yds of shoreline that had several logs laying on a very sharp dropoff. I rigged up a 7′ heavy/fast Dobyns rod with a 3/8 DJ custom jig and craw trailer that mimics the red crayfish I have seen regurgitated from Smallies there in the past…flipping short casts to the visible logs and gently “hopping” the jig down the break to the 24 fow at the bottom. The big bass would suck in the jig gently and swim off… I had to be really “focused”! Most of the bass I caught were at the bottom of the break. Dont be shy to use a hvy rod when fishing deep water you need the power on the hookset and to battle those 4-5lbers…
Sorry the pics are in my guests camera and I will post them ASAP. To beat the heat we were on the water by 5 AM! 
I hope you all are having a good summer bass fishing! 
