Bass Fishing - Finding bass under changing conditions (2/3)

Bass go into their summer mode after the water reaches seventy degrees or more. This is when they are at their most predictable, no more cold fronts to deal with or sudden drastic drops in water temperature.

Stable water temps are the bass fisherman's best friend, fish are very catchable now. Early and late they move shallow and reaction bait fishing is superb. Later in the day the fish drop back into deeper water and are very susceptible to jig-n-pigs, Texas rigged plastic worms, and my favorite drop shot worms fished wacky style, ( more on this later ) there are many more patterns and types of summer fishing and we will get into them later also.

Now the summer is passing and it starts to feel like Fall, the days are getting shorter the water is cooling down and the fish go on a feeding spree to put on fat stores to get them through the winter. As the water cools the shad and other bait fish move into coves to take advantage of fall plankton blooms and the bass are right behind them. You will know the coves that the bait fish are using, they are the ones full of diving birds. When game fish chase the shad to the surface there are usually seagulls around to pick off the fleeing shad as they jump out of the water trying to avoid the bass chasing them. Also you will see many types of birds that are divers, they float on the water like ducks, but dive down and swim underwater to catch the shad. ( Boy I would hate to be a shad or other minnow!! And you thought your job was tough!! )

Sometimes you will see hundreds of these diving birds floating on the surface inside shad holding coves. Even if they aren't diving at the moment, they soon will, when the next school of bass chases the shad back near the surface.

BIRDS ARE NEVER THERE FOR NO APPARENT REASON! ALL THEY DO IS FISH EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES AND THEY ARE VERY GOOD AT IT!! When you find many birds in an area youusually find bait fish nearby. If I see a cove with lots of birds and I know that I usually don't catch many fish there, I will still run in and usually catch fish in it. Birds are your friends, they will always point out the best spots to fish to you.

Lipless crank baits are, my favorite at this time of year, they are compact, cast well, sink quickly, and are a perfect imitation of the shad the fish are chasing. I fish them with a countdown method, cast them out and count them down, one thousand and one, one and two, etc. say they hit the bottom at the count of fifteen, since they fall at about one foot per second, the bottom is probably about fifteen feet here. On your next cast, count it down to about thirteen, then start a medium to fast retrieve, this will keep you from snagging the bottom so often.

If there are lots of snags in the cove and you are hanging up a lot, clip the two downward facing hooks off the two sets of trebles the lure has, this eleminates 90% of hangups and does not seem to hinder hookups, although you may miss a few fish. But the flip side is it will give you the confidence to throw back in weedy places where you may not have thrown if you were afraid of losing your lure.

THIS IS WHERE YOU WILL ALWAYS CATCH YOUR BIGGEST BASS, BECAUSE EVERY ONE ELSE IS AFRAID TO CAST INTO THERE TOO!!

10 PERCENTERS ARE NEVER AFRAID TO CAST INTO THE JUNGLES!!!!!!