Well it’s now July and our summer has started up with the 90 degree days hanging in most every day and with the rains we have had it just seems humid hot every day. With it being July I don’t think the rains will continue and if they do slow down you will see the lakes tend to drop a little each day and for a lot of folks they will think this will hurt fishing but I am here to tell you that this is a time that I like to fish, for with dropping water the bait fish will move up into the creeks and sloughs and this will make fishing great.
At this time you will find the lake clear for the most part and the surface temps ranging from the low 80’s to the upper 80’s depending on how cool our nights are.
As I said earlier I like the hot summer time fishing because when the bait fish begin to move then so will the bass. You will see some school activity with top water baits doing well early and as the day moves along you will find that plastic worms will begin catching good numbers and for your big bass I like to throw very large crank baits. The crank baits that I throw will have a shad pattern and color to it. The color of the shad and the size will be how I match up my lure combination. I will pick a lure out that looks to me just like the ones I see in the water.
The bass will set next to some kind of structure and in the dark side of it.
What I mean is that if they are near a bridge they will set in the shady section or if they are near a log, or tree they will be on the shady side of it. This will allow the bass to see the bait fish coming from a distance and he then will ambush the prey when he comes by.
When fishing during the heat of the day I will pay close attention to my Lowrance Depth Finders to see the bottom structure when it changes such as when a creek or slough runs into a river bed or a slough running into a creek channel. These places will be great ambush points and will be very good locations to find big summer fish. When you fish the upper end of the lakes in the summer as the water drops it will make it easy to locate many of these places I have mentioned because you can see them easier than when the water is high.
When I find a location like I mentioned I will first fish the crank bait down the creek so that I cover the drop off where the creek bank makes its break and where the slough merges into the creek. This will be what I feel is the best part of the creek because the bass can get out into the deeper moving water or he can move back just out of the current into the slough where a lot of time the bait fish will hold up and you can find big schools of shad moving round and round in small areas and this will make feeding on the shad very easy for the bass. After I fish the crank bait both in the creek and then up in the slough working it in the same type areas as I did in the creek I then will switch over to the plastic worm. When fishing the worm I will cast it as close to the cover as I can and work it very slow. This will sometimes produce some mighty fine strings of bass just as the crank bait will. The plastic worms that I choose to fish are the Mister Twister 6 inch Thunder Worms in a red shad color or a watermelon/red flake. The Thunder Worm is a very good soft plastic worm and has been producing big bass for me now for many years. When you fish the lures I mentioned above you will need to fish them as slow as you can to keep them in the strike zone as long as possible. Another thing that works well for me is to make sure you fish each spot you cast to more than one time and if you catch fish in a spot on the creek and it seems like you caught them all just fish on up the creek and come back to where you caught your fish again a bit later and you will probably catch a few more fish from that spot again.
If you go fishing on your own and just can’t seem to find fish well you might consider taking a trip with a guide. Most of the times we can show you how to locate fish as well as how to catch them. I have served now as a full time fishing guide for over thirty years and I do my best to teach my clients as many new tricks in fishing as I can. I will always ask my clients to ask questions about the things they feel will help them because if they learn one new trick or technique that can help them then the money they spent on their trip out with me was worth while. There are a lot of guides some good and some not so good so check them out and ask questions about them in the place where you obtain their card or number and this will help you to find the best guide for your money.
Some of us have different rates and the cheaper ones are normally the newer guides trying to get started and are not normally the best just because they have less experience and are not on the water as much as the older guides. So cheap is not always best when it comes to fishing guides. I hope that what I have said this month that you will be able to go fishing and produce some of your largest stringers ever.
If you are coming to Lake Palestine or to Lake Fork and need a guide then please give me a call at (903)561-7299 or (903)530-2201 you can email me at [email protected]
Until next month remember to practice catch and release with our bass and our kids will then have the opportunity to enjoy and love the sport we call fishing.By: Ricky Vandergriff
