Glenn: Hey, folks, Glenn May here with BassResource.com.
It is summertime.
It is hot.
It's 90 degrees right now.
And it's forecasted to get well above 100
today, so it's gonna be a hot one.
And this time of year in the middle of summer,
late summer, it can be a little tough fishing
out there on the lakes.
But on the rivers that's a different story.
I really like fishing rivers this time of
the year, and really for three main reasons.
A river that is churning and constantly aerating
the water so it holds more dissolved oxygen.
Typically, river water temps are a little
bit cooler than the surrounding lakes.
So, that also aids in holding dissolved oxygen.
And also that lower water temperature, the
fish tend to be a little more active.
And finally, and really I should have said
this is the first and the main point is the
current.
The current positions those fish and it makes
them more active.
They tend to be shallower, less than 10 feet
of water.
And the more current you have, the more active
that they are, regardless of how hot it is
outside.
So, I really like going out there and fishing
the river.
So that's what I'm gonna talk about today
is river bass fishing in the summertime.
And just the ways that I go about catching
more fish.
So, the thing you need to think about here
is the current really dictates everything
in a river system.
The stronger the current is, the more food
and nutrients are being washed down the river,
plus, it positions the fish behind those current
breaks.
Those can be bridge pilings, rock piles, can
be wing dams, stumps, even islands in the
middle of the river if it's a big enough river.
And what happens is you get these little eddies
behind these current breaks.
And that's where the fish sit in that slack
water.
And as the food source and stuff washes by
them, they dart out in that current and grab
it and go back in behind that current break.
So, current breaks are the key.
Really, they are the key.
And you need to figure out what they're hiding
behind.
And then it's a matter of just going from
current break to current break and catching
fish.
It can be actually a really fun way of doing
it.
A couple of things you need to think about
though is, if you're working on a river system
that has a lot of dams, you're at the mercy
of the dam operators as to how much current
flow is coming through.
And maybe some days are not pulling a lot
of water, that can shut down the fishing.
Sometimes they just go out in the middle of
river and suspend and won't bite, or they
just aren't in active feeding mode because
there's not as much baitfish moving around
and being swept downcurrent.
What tends to happen then is the fish will
move up alongside the current break.
Say for example it's an island.
Let me just give an example.
So, you have an island here, the current is
going down this way, strong current, the fish
will be right behind the island.
As the current is less and less, they'll start
to move up on the sides of the island.
And one area that can be a real hotspot if
the current is really slack is what I call
the shoulders.
So, the top of the island is here, current
is coming this way on the edges here.
That's the shoulders.
The current comes down and it's a little bit
faster right here on the shoulders than it
is on the rest of the island or any kind of
current break.
I'm just using this as an example.
So, instead of fishing behind the island,
those eddies get up in the front to fish those
shoulders, because the fish will sit right
on the edge of that island and that current
washes over, and they'll be right there and
darting into that current to grab fish.
So you need to pay attention to the strength
of the current as to where the fish may be
positioned.
If I had my druthers I'd be out where there's
a lot of current, just a lot more action that
way.
But the one thing you gotta keep in mind is,
if you're gonna go out on a boat in strong
current, I strongly advise you, you need to
have a strong trolling motor at least a 24-volt
system.
I recommend a 36 volt, that's three batteries
dedicated to the trolling motor.
Have a separate battery for the cranking motor.
If you're in strong current and you have the
same batteries are powering both and you have
a failure, you turn a fun day and the fishing
to a very dire situation.
It could be life-threatening.
So, just make sure that your equipment is
in good operating order, and your batteries
are in good shape.
So you can navigate those strong current waters
without any problems.
So, enough of the PSA.
Alright, so before I get into the different
lures to use, I wanna get into the kind of
the universal foundational way of presenting
these lures in the summertime.
It's all about the current, guys.
These fish, like I mentioned, are positioned
behind a current break.
So, what you wanna do is throw your lure upstream
above that current break.
Bring that lure in the current and let it
pull into that slack water area where the
fish are hiding.
What you'll see is this rip line, this current
rip, if you will.
It's a break where it's a transitionary between
the current and the slack water area.
You'll see this current seam, right?
This rippled area, is this turbulent water
and it's a little line.
That area is typically where you're gonna
get bit.
So you wanna bring your lure through that
as it transitions into that slack water area.
And this is true for pretty much every bait
that you wanna throw.
The key thing about it is, when you're making
your cast, it has to be relative to that current
seam.
Now, when you're fishing lakes, you're used
to throwing to objects, you're used to throwing
to docks and rocks and stumps, and all that
kind of thing.
Well, with this, that current is constantly
fluctuating, and that current seam will move
with that.
So, if you make a cast that you're relative
to something that's physical located, and
you get bit and then you keep casting in the
same spot, you might not get bit anymore.
You need to watch that current seam and watch
it move and make your cast relative to that,
that's important.
So, let's get into those lures.
There's basically seven lures, seven types
of lures that I fish in the summertime and
that is crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater,
worms, jigs, soft plastic stick baits, and
my favorite, the tube.
So, let's go through these really quick.
The crankbaits and the spinnerbaits are what
I like to use when the water is really moving.
I got some good, strong current.
Or say for example, there's been a thunderstorm
or some rain activity and the water's muddied
up a bit.
These are really great lures for that.
What I'll do is, say for example the spinnerbait
that works really well if there's some weeds
present, and you wanna pull this across the
top of those weeds, you can draw those fish
out of those weeds.
But I'll throw that again upstream and I'll
use a 1/2-ounce to 3/4-ounce bait, it's a
heavier weight because of that current, you
want it to sink down and get down the strike
zone as it goes by you and into that eddy.
So I'll use that.
I'll use willow leaf blades because they have
the profile of baitfish.
They have the flash and vibration.
They also allow that bait to sink more.
Plus, as a little bonus, when it gets downcurrent
from you and you're winding it back up, you're
not having to wrench it back, you're not all
this resistance that you're having, you're
gonna wear out your wrist pretty quick if
you got a Colorado or Indiana blades on your
spinnerbaits.
So, added bonus there.
As for the crankbaits, I break it into basically
three different types.
One is the vibrating lipless crankbaits.
I'll throw that, again, same way with the
spinnerbaits, over those weed beds right over
the top of them draw those fish out.
So it's excellent, excellent bait for that.
But also, if you're fishing in deeper water,
you can let that crankbait fall down through
the water column and get down towards the
bottom.
Or if you're bringing it up say there's a
current, you know, something that's breaking
the current, you can bring it up shallow,
it's got that drop to it, and I've fished
a lot of areas like this where it's maybe
1 feet deep and suddenly it drops to 15.
And right in that eddy is where those fish
are.
You can bring it right across that and drop
it right down where they're sitting and catch
them that way.
So that's a really good bait to use for the
summertime.
Two others is a deep-diving crankbait.
In the summertime a lot of times there's a
lot of rocks, not weeds but a lot of rocks
mainly due to the strong current.
We're using a deep-diving crankbait that gets
down to that 10 to 15-foot range and there's
some big boulders down there that the fish
are sitting behind.
You can get that crankbait down there and
let it bounce off those rocks and ricochet
and dart erratically, and you can trigger
bites that way.
Conversely, like I mentioned, a lot of times
in the summertime these fish are shallow,
they're up less than 10 feet of water, and
that's where a square bill crankbait works
really well.
Same presentation, just shallower.
Boulders is what I like to go after, rocks,
chunk rock, and just let it bounce and ricochet
all around these rocks and just dart erratically,
and you can get fish that'll jump out behind
these bigger rocks to smash that lure.
So, typically with these lures, with a spinnerbait,
I'll use a white color spinnerbait.
And with the crankbaits, I'll use natural
colors because, again, the water is pretty
clear, so, crawdad color, shad colors, I'll
throw maybe chrome in there as well.
The blades on the willow leaf blades will
be chrome.
And if there's been, the water has muddied
up a little bit, then I'll throw some chartreuse
in there to give it a little more color, a
little more contrast.
But that's basically it for those lures.
Moving on to top water, really, it's poppers,
that's what I like to fish during the summertime
because it looks like an injured baitfish.
And that works really well specifically when
there's not a lot of current.
And you can work it like you do on a lake.
It's almost flat calm sometimes, very little
current, and that's when the fish, you can
get it up there and behind those little current
breaks or those little shoulder areas that
I told you about.
Let it drift through those areas, give it
little twitches and pops.
And, man, the bass will come up and just crush
it.
It's also a really good lure to use if those
fish are out suspended.
If they're in less than 10 feet of water or
so, you can throw it over the top of them,
even though it maybe 20 feet deep underneath
them.
If they're that close to the surface, throwing
a popper over the top of them and just subtly
popping and giving the subtle little twitches
across the top is all it needs.
And you'll get fish to come up and nail them.
So, a really good fish with this...A really
good bait for those suspending fish.
Let's move on to the jigs and the worms.
This is kind of the in-between current, when
it's not super strong and when it's not really
weak.
And you can do it when it's super weak too.
But I like to use it when it's kind of moderate
current.
For me, that's when it shines the most.
What I'll do is a jig.
I'll use a round ball head jig, because when
you fish it in the rocks, it has a less tendency
to get hung up.
And it also, if it does get stuck in there,
it's easier to get out because it doesn't
have any weird shapes for it to wedge down
on the rocks that's why.
And the same thing with the plastics.
I'll put them on a round ball head jighead
weedless and fish that.
And these can work really well in the weeded
areas, but I like to fish in the same manner
I told you before, throw it upcurrent, let
it come through that current break into that
eddy.
The key with fishing them here is, for the
weight.
You don't want it to get down to the bottom
and then jig it on the bottom like you would
in a lake.
Here, you want the current to kind of flush
it down and let it bumble along.
Every once in a while ticking those rocks
and logs and what's down there, just kind
of bouncing off of it, not landing in them.
So, a heavy weight is not necessarily a good
thing because it'll wedge down in there and
sometimes you can't get it out.
I mean, river fishing, you're gonna donate
to the tackle gods, that's all there is to
it, you're gonna get hung up, you're gonna
lose gear, know that going in.
But you can do some things to avoid it.
And one of them is not to use a heavy, heavy
weight with these jigs and worms, but you
have to experiment.
I typically I start with a 1/4-ounce weight
and I'll move up and down depending on the
current.
The stronger the current is I may go up to
1/2 ounce, even 3/4 ounce weight.
You just want it to fall down through the
column and just bounce on those rocks as it
goes by into that current break and into the
eddy.
That's the key.
So, if it gets down there and you wedge and
you get stuck you know you're using too heavy
a weight.
If it just gets swept downstream and never
hits the bottom, you got too light a weight.
So, and again, I'll stick with the natural
colors because of the clear water.
So watermelon seed with maybe red flake in
there.
I like pumpkin seed, any kind of the browns,
green pumpkin, I like to use smoke with salt
and pepper flake in it.
Those type of colors, crawdad colors are also
really good to use.
If it's really muddied up, then I may even
flip to a black and blue jig or some people
call it peanut butter and jelly jig with purple
in it.
Those work really well.
Keri: Right at the boat.
Look at that.
He caught a little one.
It's a monster.
Glenn: There we go.
Little dude.
Stop it.
Well, they all can't be big.
But they can all be fun.
Keri: Yeah, that's right.
Glenn: Thank you little guy.
Keri: And he is out of here.
He's like, "I'm gone."
Glenn: All right, let's move on to the next
bait, which is, the soft plastic stick bait.
Now, this can be used whether you have really
strong current or no current at all or anything
in between.
It's really just a matter of how you rig it.
I like to use it when the fish aren't biting
as aggressively in that slower current.
I just rig it weightless Texas rig like you
normally would, throw it out there and just
let it slowly sink.
And a lot of times it elicits a bite, especially
if the fish are suspending you can bring this
through the suspending fish.
And a lot of times it won't make it through
that ball of fish before it gets bit.
But I also like to use it in targeting areas
like those wing dams and those brush piles,
those rocks, those stumps that have a little
bit of current break.
If there's a little bit of current you can
just let it slowly flutter down behind that.
It's a great way to catch those fish.
If there's more weight...if there's more current
then I add some weight to it.
And here I'll use a ball head jighead again,
I'll start with an 1/8th-ounce jig head and
it's the same premise as using those plastics
and jigs.
Throw it upcurrent and let it slowly sink
as it gets by you.
But in this instance, you don't even want
it to hit the bottom.
It's the slow fall that elicits a bite with
this lure.
So, that's why I start with an 1/8th-ounce
weight.
You can go up to 1/4 ounce or maybe even 1/2
ounce, but I wouldn't go much higher than
that.
I don't want it to get the bottom.
I want it to be falling as it gets through
that strike zone.
That's usually when it gets bit.
If it's already on the bottom usually doesn't
get bit.
So, that how I rig it.
Simple and easy.
Just wacky rig with a little ball head jighead,
change the weight, you can catch a lot fish
that way.
Finally, let's get to my favorite bait which
is the tube.
I love fishing the tube because it really
resembles the two main forages that the bass
are eating on, which is the baitfish and crawdads.
And you really can't go wrong with that.
So what typically I do is I rig it with a
jighead up to a 1/4 ounce.
Open jighead just open hook, throw it out
there same way up the current, let it come
on down, drift into that current seam and
right into the bass' lair right where he's
waiting.
If I need more weight than that.
You can't really fit it in the tube anymore.
This ball head jigs and the tube jigs are
just too big, they're too fat, they won't
fit inside the tube.
So I'll switch up and I'll throw a split shot
rig.
Mojo rig is what some people call it.
Using the cylindrical weights.
These cylindrical weights don't get hung up
as much as other type of weights.
And so I'll use that and I'll go up to maybe
even 3/8ths to 1/2 ounce weight on that and
just rig it like a split shot so you've got
18 inches and 2 feet of line past it, and
that's where the lure is tied onto it.
Throw it out there same methodology applies,
nothing else different beyond that.
A lot of times the fish will get bit...The
fish will bite that lure when it's drifting
on down past them that way.
So it's a really great way to do it.
Typically, I'll rig that bait weedless when
I have it on a split shot because I also like
to use that rig for throwing in weedy areas
too.
So I can be really productive for those.
Colors, same colors apply.
Use the green pumpkins, I like to use clear
with sparkle flake in it or smoke with salt
and pepper.
I like to use a color people call it baby
diaper yellow, it's kind of a blend between
green pumpkin and watermelon.
Those light color, natural colors is what
I tend to use the most and catch the most
fish on them.
So, those are the different ways that I fish
it.
One of the key things I wanna make really
clear is, on all of these lures, all these
presentations, I'm using straight fluorocarbon
line.
I don't use braid unless I'm really in the
thick weeds and I'm using heavier weights
and digging the fish out of the weeds, then
I'll use braid.
Other than that, it's straight fluorocarbon.
No line, no leader, no braid-to-leader knots
anything like that.
Straight fluorocarbon because the water's
clear.
So I want less visibility, it has greater
sensitivity, and you have greater control.
Braid is buoyant, and when you're in that
current situation it bows really quick and
you don't have as much control and sensitivity
of that bait as it's moving through the current.
You need to have that, guys, you have to have
that when you're fishing this current.
So straight fluorocarbon is the best way to
go.
All right, so, that's how I fish it in the
summertime.
That's how I catch a lot of fish and enjoy.
Even though it's gonna be super hot out today,
get out on the river and catch a lot of fish.
For more tips and tricks like this, visit
BassResource.com.
