Summer Bass Patterns

It is that time of year when you have to really work to locate those schools of fish. July and august are the time of year when fishing reservoirs, you have to fish deeper water. The baitfish and bass must move to where the water temp and oxygen levels are suitable.

What an angler is looking for is an area where the old creek or river flows. Finding cover in these places will enhance your chances of catching fish. Again I抣l start with my lake map. It will give me an under water visual of where these places can be found. Let抯 say that I am looking at my map I will locate areas that have a long tapering point leading out to the creek or river channel. You will be able to tell if the point is a sharp drop or a long tapering point by the contour lines on the map. For those who aren抰 familiar with reading this type of map, the contour lines will indicate how gradual the drop in the bottom is. The closer they are together the sharper the drop is and the further they are apart the flatter the drop is. Ok once I find several places like this I will take a fine point sharpie marker and mark the contour lines with it. This will give me a starting point.

Now once I抦 on the water I will us my lowrance units to locate these areas. I will go over the areas if they are at least 15 feet deep with my big motor and any thing any shallower than that I抣l use my trolling motor, to look for cover. If I see anything cover, bait, or bass I will fish it and I will make several casts to the place trying to hit the cover or catch a fish. I always start with a crankbait. This bait will allow me to cover the area and not waste a lot of time. Once I know that there is fish then I may use a Carolina rig ZOOM brush hog or a four inch worm.

When I抦 fishing these places I will work in a zig zag motion trying to find any thing, and always cover the area thoroughly. You can miss a school a fish by just a few feet, and never know it.