summer patterns

Post your bass fishing reports, failures, and success right here for the summer portion of the season. This thread should take us into September.

Summer is here! (officialy)

The kids and I hiked the sunrise river yesterday, much deeper then we should have but we crushed bass and pike on multiple different presentations. But top water , both whopper ploppers and buzzbaits were killer. We got some on swim baits as well but that wasn’t as fun nor aggressive.

Bearcat89 wrote:

sunrise river

Are there largemouth or smallies in that river? Or both?

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
sunrise river

Are there largemouth or smallies in that river? Or both?

We catch more large mouth then smallies, but we do get smallies from time to time

Will be hitting Medicine Lake Wednesday morning if the rain isn’t too bad. I’ll report back after that.

On Sunday tried a different lake known for larger bass but not numbers. Wife caught 2 20 inch bass on Wacky worm. I got 2 as well same size on Texas rig they just slammed them. 5-7 feet of water just off some thin vegetation. 10 pike as well respectable sizes but after bass. What was odd it was windy and by 6 PM the mosquitoes were so bad in the boat we left even with the wind. All in all not to bad. Really loving the Texas rig as others said I try a Texas first if they don’t hit that its a jig and a pig/plastic. Amazing how they like one or the other day to day.

I just wanted to mention and not to get off topic. The one thing that really helped my is using a tungsten bullet weight. I really can feel it and it is so different than lead. Thanks for all the help and advice on it as well!

Ill be out on the whitefish chain this weekend. Hoping the frog/dock bite is going up there.

mrpike1973 wrote:

I just wanted to mention and not to get off topic. The one thing that really helped my is using a tungsten bullet weight. I really can feel it and it is so different than lead. Thanks for all the help and advice on it as well!

The tungsten does make a difference. I also like you can fish a much smaller profile with tungsten than lead. One tip I’d give you on the Texas rig is to add a bead between the hook and weight. I use a force bead, I use the ones made by Vike. This adds a nice clacking sound as the weight hits the bead and also offers protection to the knot. I know this has made a big difference for me when fishing a texas rig.

The tungsten does make a difference. I also like you can fish a much smaller profile with tungsten than lead. One tip I’d give you on the Texas rig is to add a bead between the hook and weight. I use a force bead, I use the ones made by Vike. This adds a nice clacking sound as the weight hits the bead and also offers protection to the knot. I know this has made a big difference for me when fishing a texas rig.
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I’ve done both with a bead and with out a bead. I have never once noticed my knot being harmed either way, the weight slamming the bead in to the knot looks to do the same as the weight directly to the knot.
I add a bead just for a little sound or bright color.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I’ve done both with a bead and with out a bead. I have never once noticed my knot being harmed either way, the weight slamming the bead in to the knot looks to do the same as the weight directly to the knot.
I add a bead just for a little sound or bright color.

On some tungsten weights the hole is a little larger and that is when I notice the damage to the knot. I’ve actually had some weights where the weight gets hung up on the knot. The bead usually has a smaller hole thus preventing any damage or hang up on the knot. I like you mostly use the bead for sound but have found the protection to the knot a added benefit as well.

Do you guys not peg your weights?

I peg mine. I don’t like them sliding on the line.

I peg heavier weights. 1/4 or less I let them slide.
I rig my Texas rigs so the plastic is pushed up over the knot so the weight just contacts the plastic.

Youbetcha wrote:

Do you guys not peg your weights?

Some times yes and some times no.

Youbetcha wrote:

Do you guys not peg your weights?

Only when flippin heavy jigs. Otherwise I alway fish mine unpegged.

Youbetcha wrote:

Do you guys not peg your weights?

Only when flippin heavy jigs. Otherwise I alway fish mine unpegged.

Have pegged, but do feel at that point you may just as well use a jig.

I guess im weird. I always peg but the lightest I will go is 1/2 ounce.

A friend and I caught 20 bass, 3 pike, and a perch this morning. Biggest bass I could find was 17 inches. Spinnerbait and a wacky rig around docks were the top two presentations. Having some trouble finding bigger fish since they’ve spawned. Water temp was 71.

I was finally able to get back out chasing some bass last night after a rather long layoff ( 2-3 weeks ) The lake we fished the water temps were 72-74 Deg’s. I was a bit surprised the water temps were that warm but this lake is usually a little warmer than others in this area. The other thing I noticed right away was that the weed growth was well advanced for this time of the year. I would say the weed growth was about where it would be in Mid July already. We had well defined weed edges out to about 16-17 ft and plenty of nice weed clumps out to 20+ ft. From what I saw I’d say that the fish are about 75% already setup on their normal summer spots. The #’s of fish were a little lower and the larger fish don’t seem to be set up there yet, but I think are real close. By next weekend I’d think we will be in full on summer mode. My buddy fished his normal jig worm the whole outing. I fished mostly a Neko rig with the jig worm mixed in some. I would say on this outing the Neko rig was the hotter bait. I think a Texas rig would have worked real good as well. The fish seemed to be tucked rather tight to the weedline and not roaming far off of it. Like most years I think the larger females are the latest to show up. Our largest fish for the outing was 19″ with another 4-5 in the 18″ range and good #’s of 14-16″ fish. The small pike were on fire as well. My buddy probably lost 6-7 jigs to them and I lost another 2-3 and that does not count the # of pike we landed. I hate those little snot rockets. This lake is loaded with them. We should do it a favor and keep a few limits of them. I just hate cleaning them slimmy things.

gimruis wrote:

A friend and I caught 20 bass, 3 pike, and a perch this morning. Biggest bass I could find was 17 inches. Spinnerbait and a wacky rig around docks were the top two presentations. Having some trouble finding bigger fish since they’ve spawned. Water temp was 71.

I think the larger fish will start showing up in better #’s soon. They always seem to be the last ones to fully recover from the spawn and get to the more normal summer patterns and back to feeding heavy.

fishthumper wrote:

I think the larger fish will start showing up in better #’s soon. They always seem to be the last ones to fully recover from the spawn and get to the more normal summer patterns and back to feeding heavy.

Good point. Many of the fish I caught yesterday were clearly on the skinnier side, presumably from spawning.

Weeds are super thick too

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
I think the larger fish will start showing up in better #’s soon. They always seem to be the last ones to fully recover from the spawn and get to the more normal summer patterns and back to feeding heavy.

Good point. Many of the fish I caught yesterday were clearly on the skinnier side, presumably from spawning.

Weeds are super thick too

Funny thing was most of the fish we caught yesterday will rather Fat. I keep noticing how fat some of them were. They looked like they had been feeding rather well for some time already.

Ones I caught today were plumpfor their length. Forcast made me consider cancelling but the rain was light.

On the peg or no peg debate, I peg 100%.

Hit Medicine Lake on Wednesday. It was tough. The weedline didn’t go as deep as I remembered it going so some of my normal spots weren’t holding fish. Tried cranking for awhile as I’m testing out a new crankbait rod TUCR is coming out with and got a few. Then got a few more on docks, and then started crushing on a secondary point off the first break in about 10-13 fow. Biggest was an 18 incher that was probably four lbs a few weeks ago but post spawn was 2.77. They are definitely pushing out deeper but are also sitting on docks.

mahtofire14 wrote:

They are definitely pushing out deeper but are also sitting on docks.

Do you view summer patterns like tactical bassin where they say some fish stay shallow and some go deep? It may be more lake dependent on available shallow cover but I am curious if you see more go deep in summer.

I think a percentage of fish stay shallow all season provided there’s food and cover. Obviously almost every lake has some kind of shallow cover like weeds or docks.

On more pressured lakes, fish traditionally moved deeper to avoid that pressure. Now that there are more anglers capable of fishing deeper with spot lock and live/FFS, there is more pressure on deeper fish. Less places to hide IMO. So more of those fish may be moving shallower again. I read comments about this last season with tournament fishing here on Lake Minnetonka.

I am personally more of a shallow water/slop angler when it comes to largemouth, but I am also fishing on less pressured lakes too. That could be playing a role. And quite simply, I prefer to power fish with moving lures. Those types of presenations are generally more effecitve in shallower water whereas a vertical finesse plastic tactic is better in deeper water.

Just my 2 cents worth

Youbetcha wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
They are definitely pushing out deeper but are also sitting on docks.

Do you view summer patterns like tactical bassin where they say some fish stay shallow and some go deep? It may be more lake dependent on available shallow cover but I am curious if you see more go deep in summer.

My opinion is that there are some bass that spend most of their lives shallow and some deep. At any point of the season there are some fish that can be found both shallow and some deep. Once the summer is here I find I prefer to fish the deeper bite. The deeper bite is where you are most likely to find a larger school of fish. It is also just how I prefer to fish. I use to fish lots of docks and slop, but just don’t find myself doing that much these days. I’d prefer to get out on a deeper weedline or deeper rocks and find larger schools of fish.