By Allen Hamrick
Its summertime, and summertime means fast, furious fishing for quick bites and the constant search for old lunker bucket mouths hanging out in deep pockets in rivers and lakes. Ledges, points and brush piles become strike zones as bass tend to favor large helpings in the summer as the hard bite slows down with the rise of the thermometer. You have to adjust the way you fish for them, and knowing where they are at a certain temperature can greatly improve your chances of having a great day on the water versus just a day on the water. In the summer, bass like cover where ledges and sharp drop offs occur. They love points with cover where the current slings by the occasional dinner. However, this article will focus on the dense vegetation on lakes such as hydrilla and lily pads. These areas provide a great deal of shade for the overheated bass to shelter in while they wait for food. Lily pads are on a number of lakes in West Virginia and are a great place to catch some big bass in the summer. Most of the times if your lunker huntin’, early morning or when the sun goes down are the best times to catch motivated bass. To fish lily pads on most occasions, it is best to use weed less baits such as frogs and toads to match the food source of lily pads. If you’re skill is fishing below the surface of the water, then using small lizards and crawdads may be the best bet. Although, a lot depends on what type of bait is living in that area as to what you fish. There are many ways to fish lily pads in the summer, but these are some of the tried and true methods.
Avoiding the high temperatures in the middle of the day is a good bet, but knowing that, a cloudy and rainy day is one of those times to not stick the gear in the closet but get out and do some fishing. Just before a rain, the humidity is at its highest, and at that time, the fish will be on the run instead of hanging out waiting. A science fact is that bass feed different when the barometric pressure is up or down. When it’s up, they are slow and sluggish as it is in the winter time, and when it’s down, and it’s way down just before it rains, fish go on a feeding frenzy. So, high humid conditions and low pressure are best when it’s raining, hence better fishing opportunities to catch a lot of bass. The fact is summertime bass fishing is as unpredictable as a family reunion; conditions change, sometime fast, and you have to be ready to adapt. If something ain’t working, don’t go home; try something different but do it intelligently.
Rainy fishing brings its own set of rules to follow. Not everybody wants to jump in a boat or kayak when it’s raining hard enough to sink a Jon boat. If you’re crazy enough to do it, break out the rain suit and get to casting – it can yield a lot of fish. Top water baits are often the best during the rain, and you just have to play with the retrieves to get the speed right. Buzz baits, spinner baits, spoons – anything that will make a noisy presentation – will often draw a lot of attention from bass in predator mode. Hit the openings in the lily pads, the bass wait for something to come off the top and into the zone. Summit Lake in nearby Pocahontas County is a great place to put in your kayak or small boat. With a kayak, you can get up and into places boats can’t get to, and the lily pads are abundant as well as the bass. Rainy days are as good on the river as they are on the lake, so before you just sit back and wait for pretty days and low humidity, get that rain suit on and challenge yourself to go out of your comfort zone and to embrace those rainy days and lily pads.
