So we are steadily learning to Bass fish the local area lakes,
As summer has hit we have spent time focused on crappie fishing and the oldest boy is steadily chasing bass in the early am.
I am at a loss on how to help guide him to success though as the heat has really slowed my ability to find and catch fish.

What are some of your favorite/productive summer time techniques?

We have been throwing top waters early, cranking rocks and trying to find drop offs on points and carolina rig those areas.

Probably need to incorporate jig fishing and dont have a clue about, wacky, shaky head, drop shot styles at all..

What lakes are you targeting? Different lakes have different types of structure that you can concentrate on during the summer

We will be at Tawakoni on Sunday
Ray Roberts would be the primary big lake we are probably interested in learning to bass fish due to its proximity. We primarily fish Lavon and Coffee Mill. We had good success on Monticello this spring.


My oldest is planning to try his hand at the High school bass tournament routine this year so I think we would ultimately need to learn the circuit lakes there as well, which I think are Ray Hubbard, Tyler, Tawakoni, Fork and CC

really just trying to get a starting point, we bought our first fishing boat this year and we have spent alot more time fishing than I expected, and honestly it is an intricate, game between, electronics, rod reel setups, tactics, I wish I had bought more boat already hahahah

Get into deeper water. The shallow zone will be productive early in the day, but when the sun comes up, the mid and deep zones are more productive.

A football jig is my favorite summer time lure. I like 1/2 - 3/4 oz. depending on the depth you'll be fishing. Fish them over rocks, shell beds, ledges, or just any hard bottom. I use 7'3 MH and H rods with 15# line. Make long casts and allow to reach bottom. Keep contact with the bottom, drag, pause, drag pause with an occasional hop. These are what I use: http://xcitebaits.com/reflex-football-jigs/ My favorite colors for summer time are purple passion, blue bayou and of course watermelon red.

You should also try a light shaky in the mid to deep zones. Xcite Baits is my plastic of choice. http://xcitebaits.com/slim-x/ 3/16 oz jig head, http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Gambler_Screw_Lock_Giggy_Head_4_0_4PK/descpage-SGH.html Maintain bottom contact and drag by reeling slowing, pausing, then shaking, keeping the rod at about 10 o'clock. The Slim-X has a unique movement on the pause. Colors: Just pick one. My favorite in summer is watermelon red, but have also had success on sprayed grass. I fish this on a 6'9" spinning rod/reel with 8# fluorocarbon line.

Fishing marina slips is a good place to try also. Start out wacky fishing an Xcite Baits Slim-X. During summer months I use a wacky jig head 1/8 - 3/16 oz. Fish the shaded side of the marina and work from the front to as far back as you can. I use 6'9" spinning rod/reel with braid and 3 foot 8# fluorocarbon leader. Of course its a confidence thing, but my color choice is watermelon red. http://xcitebaits.com/slim-x/

Hope this helps out. Good luck and keep those boys on the lake!!!!!

Very helpful thank you very much.
What defines Mid vs deep zones

Deep and mid depth zones are going to depend on the lake. Some lakes are as deep as 100ft, some it's 20 ft. and anywhere in between. I fish Grapevine most of the time. Deep zone for me would be 20 - 40 ft. Mid depth would be 10 - 20 ft. Shallow 0 - 10 ft.

The number you're going to catch in either the deep or mid zones decreased as you are trying to catch fish in a greater amount of water. It doesn't mean you can't catch numbers if you find a good spot. I don't have expensive electronics. I look at the depth, the bank and just imagine what could be out on a point.

FWIW- Lake Conroe- I've been having success tossing a baby brush hog in downed timber and docks. Hooked a nice 3.62 lber on Monday late afternoon.

As the water warms, start looking to deeper water as stated above. Learn to read available maps for your lakes, preferably an electronic version with gps capabilities, such as either a chartplotter with a Navionics card or take advatage of the Navionics app for your phone or tablet and look for irregularities such as points, tight drops, road beds etc and start looking at those places. If using a chartplotter, check on sonar for schools of bait around those areas and there is a decent chance the fish will not be far. Depending on conditions, comb those areas with a big tx rig worm, a carolina rig or football jig and then if there is a little wind or current pick up a 6th sense 500 or 300 DD....good luck.

Waterdog on the bottom

2 weekends ago I got an eye opener on hot water in the summer. Fished a night tournament on Fayette County Reservoir. Started at 6pm ended at 2am. Air temperature was 103 deg. f when we took off. Have not been on the lake in 10 yrs. and a friend of mine said he had been catching them in the outfall on soft plastics. So I ran straight there with 2 other boats. Water temperature was 111 deg. f. That is no typo- 111 deg. f. I watched the other 2 boats (who beat me to the spot) catch 4 bass in the 2-3 lb. range in the first 20 minutes. I lost one around 2 lbs. The air was so hot and humid that I could not breathe. I left and ran to a long main lake point about a mile from the outfall. Water temp was 103 deg. f. I caught 8 keepers, jumped off 3 other good fish, and broke another one off in about an hr. Then I had to leave the spot because of the wind. Did not catch fish anywhere else.

Moral of this story. The fish can't tell temperature. The bait was there and so where they. Don't give up on the shallow water bite just because the sun came up. You may want to change your tactics to flipping brush, or punching grass before you go out deep.

On a recent trip to the lake the air temperature reached 102, water temp was upper 80's to low 90's. Conventional wisdom says the bass will hold in deeper water to avoid the heat. I started the day fishing on a main lake point and moved from 6-10 foot out to 15-18 foot as the sun rose and the temperature increased. Landed a few fish with a football jig and craw trailer. Tried several main lake points, first with crankbaits and then football jigs...action was generally slow. Decided to call it a day, but wanted to cool off with a short run to the back of one of the large coves off the main lake. At the very end of the cove I turned my boat around and started to idle out to deeper water and noticed some action near some lilly pads running out into the cove. Water in the area is 3-5 foot deep and the temp was mid 90's...pulled out a 1/4 ounce rattle trap and started random casting into the broken moss and pads. Thirty minutes later I'd boated over a dozen bass ranging from 1-4 lbs. The action continued for another hour...just got too hot for me to hang on any longer. The bass were stacked up in the broken moss and on points where the moss and pads merged and extended out toward the center of the cove. Moral of the story...let the bass tell you where they are not the other way around.

Drop shot with a trick worm