Where To Find Bass During The Hot Summer Months

It seems that every year it's the same story. At least, that's been the story I've written in my own personal book of experiences.

I fish a lot. Even when it's 100°+ outside and not a breeze on the water. It's miserable, yes, but when your rod loads up and the fight is on, it's worth every swampy moment of it. But therein lies the problem...

Where are the fish at?

For years I've been a bank angler. Even when floating around the lake in a fancy boat, I usually always fished the weeds and rocks. There's nothing like punching reeds with an ounce of tungsten and pulling a monster from the shallows or hearing that gulp dragging a frog across moss and hydrilla. I always find fish in those places the rest of the year, why would it slow down so much during Summer? The answer is simple. When it's hot, the fish you want to catch aren't hanging out in the shallows.

About the time the lake warms up over eighty degrees, most fish head off to deeper water. That's not to say they aren't still hanging out in the weeds and grass, there are some that do, but your best odds of finding them stacked up are further out into a body of water.

Structure. It's one of those misleading terms anglers use to describe anything that isn't the flat silty bottom of a lake. It's not just brush piles and fish attractants set out by others, structure is river channel, silted points, vegetation, etc... and it's where you'll find your fish. The great thing about fishing in Oklahoma is, as almost every single lake has been built by damming up a river or creek, it's really easy to locate bass in those established channels. You want to look for the areas where the bottom drastically changes. Places where the bottom just drops off into a channel.

Keep in mind, for big water, you're not looking for bass at forty fathoms... you're looking for them in that 10-14 foot range. That's when you reach for a crankbait on a long 7'+ medium or fast medium heavy rod with a slow reel. The slower you reel, the deeper that bait goes to an extent. If you can get that bait down to them, they'll have a go at it.

Sure, it's easier to find with good electronics, but in most bodies of water, you can see channels either by current or clarity. Your mileage may vary.