Except for those who may be bass fishing in Alaska - what are your favorite:  "Dog Days Of Summer" favorite bass lures ? ... I'm talking August with heat indexes in the 100's , water temperature not far behind and little to no wind . I am slowly dragging a ribbon tail worm or a football jig - mainly because I do not have the energy to make multiple casts in this hot , humid August Georgia weather ... *It was so hot yesterday  , the bass were fighting over ice cubes from my cooler I dumped in the water at the boat ramp when it was time to go home - Let's hear your suffering & successes !

The best answer is fishing early or late but sometimes I just can't do that with my schedule and the only chance I have to fish is when the sun is high.  This has been my skunk-killer since the water got warm.  Some days literally the only thing they will bite.  I rig it on a 3/0 worm hook (could go 2/0 easily) with the lightest @Siebert Outdoors tungsten weight that I can use depending upon wind speed.  I peg it (manmade lakes with lots of snags) but I'll keep the bobber stop a few inches up when I can.  It's Gary Yamamoto's Fat Baby craw.  It keeps me catching fish in two different lakes using any green pumpkin or watermelon color.  The blacks/blues don't seem to work quite as well, which is surprising for my waters.  I find the fish on docks and laydowns in 4 to 8ft of water.  Good luck and keep your skin covered!  

 

Topwater of any kind , but lately I’ve been throwing a jitterbug and I’ve got to say, it’s a hoot and a half ! 

By far the Berkley Buck Tooth Choppo has been killing it for me early and late. Largemouth and river smallmouth alike. With the flat bottom, it stays upright, you can roll it extremely slow and it still has a violent plop.

Whatever you use do it at night.

Tom

10 minutes ago, WRB said:

Whatever you use do it at night.

Tom

 

Texas Rigged Plastics 

Jig-n-Craw 

Buzzbait 

Ribbit 

Spinnerbaits 

 

 

 

 

It depends where I find fish . If shallow the usual spinnerbaits , toads , soft plastics...    I like to fish  flats deep in august . I dont catch a lot on deep flats but sometimes I hook into a lunker . Crankbaits cover water , then  worms and Red Eye Shads bounced on the bottom if I find them .    Same lures on points , I just dont need to cover as much  water on points .

This has been a strange summer. About the only thing Ive had any consistency with are yum dingers. They arent even biting real senkos much.

1 hour ago, OG Crankster said:

By far the Berkley Buck Tooth Choppo has been killing it for me early and late. Largemouth and river smallmouth alike. With the flat bottom, it stays upright, you can roll it extremely slow and it still has a violent plop.

*I had to look this up : When did Berkley come out with this baby Beaver / Otter rear prop bait ? That thing is a different deal for sure !

For me it's not so much the bait, as where I fish it.  When the sun gets high and hot I start looking for grass and vegetation.  

Plastic worms, buzzbait, spook, popper. 

Powerbait power worm chartreuse tail. 

@Bass_Fanatic Have thrown the 6th Sense Crush 300DD?

In my neck of the woods ain't no "dog days of summer", nor air turns into soup ...... down here it rains and rains and rains and .... did I mention it rains a lot ? sometimes you plan to go fishing and there you are in the middle of the lake when it rains. Not exactly bad though, temps drop and with all that rain activity rises, bugs are washed down into the lake and 'gills, minners and other baitfish go crazy. Spinnerbaits and cranks work really good, also jerkbaits.

Popper early morning...wacky rig finesse type worm (skunk repellant)...weightless senkos...Texas rigged big worm(zoom mag 2 or 9inch jelly worm)

Each year it seems to be different.  Last year, topwaters and deep diving crankbaits were killing it.  This year, I'm doing better with T-rigged craws.  

 

Last year was hotter, and this year has been wetter.  Also, the water seems clearer and there's more vegetation this year.  

 

I usually just start trying different things until something works.  And once I find something that works well, it tends to work from late July through late August, with a few exceptions sprinkled throughout.  

My most consistent bait in the last(10 trips) 5 weeks(night fishing) has been a Black Zoom Trickworm on a Shakey Head lubed up with MegaStrike on cover(mostly rock) in 15 to 30 FOW as our thermocline is at 32'. Every trip I throw my Buzzbaits up around shallow grass and have caught few nice one's but they're almost like hen's teeth right now. I've tried big worms 10 - 14.25", jigs of all sizes, swimbaits from 2 - 10 inches, and T - rigged craws which have  produced a few but none can compare to the SH.

Jig and craws really come into their own late July, August into September.  However, when I think of the dog days I think of pitching/punching heavy cover with heavy jigs. 

56 minutes ago, Catt said:

@Bass_Fanatic Have thrown the 6th Sense Crush 300DD?

Yes sir!  I like the 300DD and 500DD in the dead heat of the summer and cold of the winter.  It has a little more slender profile than the Cloud 9 series and tighter wobble.

I like dragging a plastic worm on bottom when it’s hot (or cold or anything inbetween). Summer is also when I have most success with topwaters 

 

Georgia in august? I’ve felt that heat once or twice and nearly fell over dead 

A homemade bladed jig, beaver baits, and Berkley Cane Walker have been my hot baits lately.

 

12 hours ago, Bass_Fanatic said:

Friday we struggled on Sam Rayburn until 1:00.  We had 6 bass at 12:30 so I called a audible, ran 15 miles up the lake and caught 60 in the next hour on a 6th sense C15 crankbait.

man, the 6 fish would be a good day for me lol. 

I have no idea what the dog day of august will bring.  But mid Atlantic has seen temps for the last 6 weeks of that of August. August might be a better month of temps and water temp come down a bit. Yesterday 8/1 I fished in the 70’s with a steady rain. I loved it. 
 

I don’t plan on throwing anything different. I did realize yesterday that I had not thrown a Salty Spider or any Slider setups this season yet. Common part of my fishing. I’ll dig those out for my next trip. But they are not related specifically for my August fishing. 

I've been beating bottom and catching suspending fish on the Strike King 3xd, catching more fish on a ³/¹⁶ ounce shakyhead with a Z-Man Fattyz, catching more fish with a Texas rigged D-Bomb, and then catching fish with a Berkley SPY in the middle of the day.

 

It has been a grind.