It’s almost August and we’re quickly approaching the Dog Days of Summer. If you’re an avid angler, you already know that summertime is a great season to catch big, hungry bass. Plus, the long days, warm evenings, and holiday weekends provide plenty of time for practice!

Whether you prefer to fish in your small backyard pond or at a large public lake, there are a few foolproof tips you should always follow to enhance your luck on the water, especially when the summer sun is beating down and the surface water temperatures hit 90 degrees.

First and foremost, just like real estate, it’s all about location, location, location! WHERE you fish during the summertime is just as important as WHAT you fish with – we promise! That said, there are two specific places that you just can’t go wrong: Deep Water and Heavy Cover.

In a new “On The Lake” video from Lucky Tackle Box anglers Scot Arganbright and Eric Thue, the two fishermen break down the pros and cons of each summertime location, plus the baits, lures, tackle, and equipment they like to have on the water.

Lucky for YOU, everything they use in the video came in the July “Summer Water Fishing” Bass XL box. Check it out!

Soft Plastics

  • Gambler Lures – 7” Ribbon Tail Worm
  • Gambler Lures – Ugly Otter

Hard Baits

  • Stellar Jigs – Intruder
  • Clear Cut Lures – CS6000
  • Krave Baitz – The Call
  • Senshi – Aite

Terminal Tackle

  • Mustad – 4pk of Red Trebble Hooks

Lucky Xtras

  • LTB Xtras – Trailer Spinner Blade

Now, let’s dive into each prime summertime fishing location:

1) Deep Water Fishing
It’s no secret that summer heat does funny things to bass. When water temperatures rise, so do their metabolisms. So, not only are they hungry but they’re also grumpy from feeling so uncomfortable in the heat – not an ideal situation! To strike a happy balance, bass love to swim to deeper waters and suspend on the thermocline where the water’s cooler and more oxygenated, and also where there are plenty of baitfish to snack on. To catch deep water fish, you’ll need at least two different types of baits: lipless crankbaits and deep diving crankbaits.

2) Heavy Cover Fishing

Yes, deep water is usually productive during the hot summer months, but don’t forgo shallow water locations! As long as there’s heavy cover, you’re likely to get a bite or two. Look for any place with shade – weeds, lily pads, fallen trees, and docks are great places to start. Another benefit of heavy cover fishing? Bass up shallow are often hungrier since the baitfish like to hang out in deep waters, so they might be more aggressive with your lures. To catch fish in shallow water with heavy cover you’ll need substantial baits like jigs and ribbon tail worms.

If you’ve fished the deep waters and you’ve picked through heavy cover and you’re STILL not getting any bites, try trekking to a cold-water creek! The constant eb and flow of creeks keeps the water temperatures low, and they’re typically surrounded by shady trees, weeds, and grass. Remember – if something’s not working for you, don’t be afraid to try something different! You never really know when luck will strike J

That’s it for now, Lucky Tackle Box Nation! Did you learn something new about Summer Water Fishing? Let us know in the comments below, and on our social media channels! Also – we’ve got some exciting news to share. Starting next week, you’ll see a few LADY ANGLERS join our video team! Fishing is for everyone – men, women, and kids – and we can’t wait to get the girls on board.

 

How To Locate And Catch More Bass During Summer’s Hottest Months: Video Transcription

Scot:

What’s up LTB slayers. We got a hot new box coming your way this month. We’re going to be hitting them deep, hitting them shallow.

Erik:
Also exciting. This month, we’re going to be having two lady anglers joining us, hopping in the boat.

Scot:
You’re going to want to stay tuned. It’s going to be fire.

Scot:
Summertime fishing, you’ve got a lot of fish that have moved out to the deep water. They’re on those grass lines. However, there’s always fish to be caught in the shallow water. Those resident fish, they’re in the heavy cover. So we’re going to be flipping a jig, throwing a ribbon tail worm, two classics for that shallow water, heavy cover fishing. You can do it from the bank, from the boat, super versatile techniques. And they’re going to catch you those fish pretty much all the way through the summer.

Erik:
Alrighty, Scot is going to be pulling them out of that heavy cover up shallow. I’m going to show you guys the deep side now. As you know, summertime, our water temps are on the rise. These fish actually tend to slide out into some deep cover. We might have a weed bed that’s adjacent to a rock pile, transition lines where we have soft, hard bottom, maybe deep wood and other structure, if you would. But the biggest thing is that these fish are following, a lot of times their bait fish, out into that deep cover. And the best way to approach it is lipless crank baits, deep diving crank baits as well. You guys, I’m sure you’re all looking for that summertime pig. This is going to be a great box to be able to do so. Let’s get at it.

Scot:
To kick off this month’s sexy box coming at you guys is a stellar jig. So you did have a jig in last month’s box as well, but this jig is a standup jig. It’s also a half ounce jig, so really good to fish around lay downs of shallow, shallow water weed lines, pads, just dragging it through there. But this bait is going to stand up, straight up and down on the bottom. So when you are in deeper water, you are on those grass lines, weed lines, you’re going to be able to drag this along really nice, pause it, soak it for a while, let those fish get a good look at it and then hammer down when they bite.

Scot:
The setup that I like to use for throwing a jig is a medium heavy. I like a little bit more length, so this is a seven five. That’s going to allow you to have a lot of backbone. You’re using a Texas rig. You really want to get them out of that cover. You’re using a heavy jig. You don’t have to worry about not having enough backbone and not getting a good hook in that fish so you can really hammer it home. On top of that, you want seven, 15, 17, 20 pound fluorocarbon. That’s going to make that line invisible to the fish. They don’t get a good look at your line, you get more bites. The reel that you’re going to want to use is a high-speed reel. So this is an 8:1:1. You want to be able to pick up that line really fast, set the hook hard, get them back to the boat.

Erik:
Sounds like a big fish catcher to me. This is the crave lipless crank bait. As you can see no lip to this, you guys. So this is a variable crank bait. You going to be able to fish this at just about any desired depth that you’d like. Essentially, we can cast this out, give it a countdown, letting this sink. Keep in mind that countdown one, two, three, however long you make that, because once you start catching fish, you’re going to want to replicate that if you would. So the lipless crank bait is going to sink down. Those loud rattles we’re able to cast and retrieve it at that desired depth, and that bait’s going to rattle, pulse, and move through the water. If you’re bumping on logs, maybe even a rock or two, that nose is just going to bump and deflect also inducing predator instincts to want to chew on that thing.

Erik:
Another technique that I like to fish this, is almost a yo-yo style, a jigging it back. Every time we jig this bait back, it’s going to raise and flutter with that loud rattles kicking and fall right back down to the fish and pull away from the fish and back down. So that is another great way to fish this. You could also jig this almost right off the back of the boat. And there’s a number of times where we graph on our electronics fish, and if we’re able to hunker right in on them, there’s no reason to be making long bomb casts. You could drop straight down on their head, giving it a couple of different variations of jigging strokes. Try to entice those fish, see it, and have some fun with the crave lipless crank bait.

Erik:
So the setup I chose for running the crave lipless crank bait is going to be in a six eight medium power with a fast action tip. I’m running this on a little bit lighter line, a braided line, down to a four carbon liter. This does give me a good line to lure contact as I make longer casts, or even in deep water, I can really lay into that fish really hard. It’s going to have a direct connection and I’m going to be able to peg that fish really, really easily. You could get away with straight braid if you’re in really dark water or even a straight fluorocarbon setup. This bait could be fished in a lot of different capacities in a spinning rod sense. The bait casting in a medium to fast gear ratio is a little nicer because once we lay on that fish, we got to get that fish up and over to the boat and in our hands.

Scot:
Tried and true guys. You go to the pond. You go to the garage. You go to grandpa’s tackle box. Pretty sure he’s got a ribbon tail worm. This is the seven inch by Gambler. So we’re going to rig that, coming all the way down past the barb, slide that up the hook shank, give it a little twist. Use the bend in the hook as your gauge, and then pull that right in. Nice and weedless. Again, super classic bait here. You can roll this around docks, down weed grass lines, around pads. Again, typically you’re going to use a smaller weight for… It’s a little bit more finesse-y, but especially in the South, super popular bait. And again, this is just another great, awesome bait in this month’s box that’s really going to help you guys catch more fish.

Erik:
Now what summertime box would not be right without a spinner bait? This is the clear cut spinner bait. We’ve got a little bit of a different twist here. We’ve got a blade on that. This is going to actually violently shake and quiver as you work the spinner bait back. You’re going to feel that transfer all the way through your rod, all the way to the rod tip, down to your handle, so you’re going to know that this thing is running right. This is in a three quarter ounce spinner bait, if you would, and a size class like that is absolutely great to be able to cast this out, let it sink down to that desired depth to where the fish are, and slow roll this. Fish this a little bit slower, make sure that these blades are turning. Like I said, you’re going to feel it in the rod that way you know it’s fishing properly.

Erik:
What I have this set up to is a fluorocarbon leader. I’m generally running this right in that maybe as low as 12 pounds as high as 17. Use your judgment based on cover. I may direct tie that to 20 pound braided line here. I’m going to run this on a seven foot medium heavy action. It’s actually a moderate action tip. A mod fast action tip is going to load up a little bit nicer with the casting, as well as your hook sets with the spinner bait. For the reel, I’m actually running this on a slower gear ratio reel. A lot of times with our fast gear ratios, it’s harder for us anglers sometimes to mentally think, “Okay, I need to slow this bait down. I need to slow down my retrieve.” Now we did just kind of cancel that out and go right to a slower gear ratio reel.

Erik:
This doesn’t only just shine for being able to have that winching power on those deep crank baits, but it also is going to shine for dragging deep spinner baits. You guys are going to have some fun with this this summer, I can tell. Look at that blade.

Erik:
Also included, number four, red Mustad treble hooks. These are going to be great to be able to swap out if need be on that lipless crank, any crank baits that you have at home that might need just an updating. Sharp hooks is definitely key, but we know you guys are going to be reefing some hogs with this box, so we want you well-prepared and be ready while you guys are out fishing.

Erik:
Coming at you, is the Lucky Xtra. These are willow leaf attachments, which could also be used to swap out some willow leafs that you maybe have on an old spinner bait that’s seen a few better days, get that bait running, back in action. But with this, we’re going to rig this right on to that lipless crank bait. You could virtually rig it just about any way or capacity with any of these baits in the box, but that is really where it’s going to shine on that lipless. We’re also going to take that and rig it right onto that jig.

Erik:
And we’re going to show you how to rig that right here. That willow leaf, it’s going to have a small barrel swivel with a key ring on the other side. We’re going to put that right through the hook. It’s going to sit stationary or swivel on there, but to stationary it, we’re going to take this rubber grommet piece that’s added in that little package, and we’re going to put it right down the middle of that. This is just going to keep that in place. We’re going to pinch it right past the barb. I like to try to keep it somewhere in the midway of the stem there of the hook in that curvature bend. This is going to ride upright. When this falls straight down to the bottom, as we swim this and fish this, this is going to thump and kick and add a lot of extra flare in the water. Something that is going to give you a step up in catching some big pigs this summer.

Scot:
When I think deep water, I talked to you a little bit earlier about the jig, that might be my number one choice, but this one is definitely my second choice, if not the first. It’s really close. Running this out deep, this runs 13 feet. So you’re going to want anywhere from like a 10 to a 12 pound fluorocarbon when you’re running this bait out deep. That’s going to allow you to snap it out of that grass if you need to. It’s got enough strength to it. However, you’re going to be able to keep it down at that 13 foot depth.

Scot:
The set up that you’re going to want is a moderate action rod. And then you’re going to want a slower speed reel. The reason for that is you want to be able to slow roll this bait. You won’t have to physically think about slowing down your retrieve. So you want that slower reel and the moderate action rod. The reason you want the moderate action rod is these are just treble hooks. You’re not jacking on the fish like you were with that jig. So you’re going to lean into these fish, nice and softly, but give it a good firm lean in to them and then bring them on in back to the boat. Now that you’ve got the hot sauce to get out there, catch some of those super giant mega burritos out deep, you’re going to want to stay tuned for more hot content.

Erik:
Don’t be afraid. Smash that subscribe… I did it again, geez. Smash that subscribe button, do not be afraid to ask any questions down below. We’d be glad to answer them for you guys at any time. And until next time, we’ll see you on the water.

Scot:
Giant burritos, super mega.

If you’re wondering where our guys got these awesome baits from, the answer is a monthly fishing box

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