All right, it's July and it seems like the bite has died off. No, it really hasn't, but you gotta change your tactics from what you've done in the springtime. So let's get into it.
One of the things you can do to improve your catch ratio is to fish early or late in the evening, Fish early in the morning. I mean, get out there the crack of dawn, guys. And some of you, if you're in the northern climates, that can be tough because you got to get like at 3:30 in the morning, man. It's it's but that the loss of sleep is worth it. I'm telling you, because the bite can be dynamite.
Now early morning bite can be Fantastic, especially on top waters like walking baits like the Zara Spook or on buzz baits or in frogs. You can have yourself a blast a lot of times you can go out, catch a bunch of fish by 9:00 ten o'clock the bite dies off you can go back in and go do whatever you want to do for the rest of the day. That's great that's fantastic.
Or if you just can't make it work early in the morning, evening bite works really well too during the summer months, the evening lasts longer, it takes longer for the sun to go down. You got more time so go out there and. And catch a bunch of fish as the you know, the dawn during the dusk period of the day.
Another thing during the summer is the shade. The shade pattern can actually be a really good way to catch fish throughout the day because you have shade in the morning and in the late morning, sometimes that shade goes away as the sun moves across the sky. And now areas that didn't have shade will begin to have shade. And so you can work that shade pattern throughout the day as the shade moves around.
So, for example, let's talk about docks. Cast shade and so working around them, especially if there's weeds around the docks can be really productive working, you know, work a spinner bait along a chatter bait alongside of them. Can work really really well.
Boulders. Big boulders or stumps, can create shade, and so dropping a jig, dropping a worm right alongside into the shadows can work really, really well. You can catch a bunch of fish that way.
Here's one. A friend of mine won a tournament this way on a really Clear Lake. You can see the bottom in 20 foot of water. Well, you know the ski boats, they like to have those giant buoys and they tie up to those buoys overnight. While they're out there floating in the water, guess what?
On a day like today? Bluebird sky. It's casting a shadow on the bottom of the lake and he figured out by by throwing small lures into that shadow, there was almost always a fish sitting in that shadow. And he went from boat to boat to boat to boat and just throwing into the shadow that that boat was was casting and caught a bunch of fish.
And then he would go back and start over again. By the time he went back to the first one he caught fish that had replenished and he just did a milk run right.
So anything that casts a shadow if you're, you know in the West and you got Canyon lakes those canyon alls can create shade for a long period of time and then again as the sun moves, one side of the lake's got shade on it, and then the sun moves, now the other side is going to have shade on it and you can chase that all day long.
So shade can be really productive areas to fish even during the bright middle of the summer day. You can catch a lot of fish that way.
Now what lures to use? Wow. It is July, so the bass are biting. They're biting a lot and it seems like you can throw anything and that actually makes it difficult.
You know when you go to a restaurant, you got a menu that's like 14 pages. It's harder to decide from a menu that's 4 pages. So let me break it down to you.
You can set it just like throw anything. This is like 4 main categories of baits that are very productive during July.
The 1st is the top water. Topwaters can be very, very productive again early morning, late evening, but they can work throughout the day too.
Top waters like the Zara Spook and the Sammy. Those are walking type baits. You can work those anytime during the day, anytime the water is a little bit of ripple on the water, a little bit of wave action. They work really good.
And you can fish them over the top of weeds. You can fish them along docks, You can fish them over deep points. I've caught fish as deep as 20 foot deep on a point. And then you know if the water is clear enough, they'll come up and whack it even if it's sunny out like this.
So walking baits work really well.
Buzz baits and prop baits. Can work really well over weeds and vegetation. The submerged weeds and vegetation like hydrilla and milfoil that hasn't reached the surface. Yet you know you can cover a lot of water, a lot of weeds, fishing buzzbait.
Just casting and winding and casting and winding. Although you can be more productive if you target irregularities in the weeds. If you're looking for a point caused by the weeds or maybe a cut or some kind of irregularity in the edge, maybe there's a pocket or where it thins out not so many weeds, and then it gets thicker.
That could be a change in contour or bottom composition. Or maybe the weeds mix in with other types of weeds that transition. Those irregularities are what you want to target with those weeds for those top water baits.
Another type of bait category is the finesse baits. A finesse bait work really well when the bite's a bit slower. And this is like the the Neko rig, drop shot, Split shot you can work them in place, like this drop shot. You can work in one spot.
If you know the bass are sitting up under a dock, you can sit there and work that dock real slowly. Entice them to come out. You can fish pinpoint areas, again, like I mentioned earlier, like the shade that's great for throwing split shot rig through, drag it through that shade or isolated boulders or stumps or weed patches on a point.
You can work these finesse lures through those areas. Fairly well and very effectively and catch a lot of fish. Those smaller or sometimes are the key to getting more bites this time of year.
Frogs and toads can be very productive. You know, frogs, everybody throws frogs. They work great over the matted vegetation and, and work them out into those pockets and let them sit.
You can work them fast or slow under any kind of vegetation through reeds. They they come through the reeds very well, very easily without getting hung up.
But a lot of people don't throw toads and I think that's a mistake. Toads work great. Toads are solid body. They've got legs in the back that kick and gurgle and they bubble along. They're more subtle than a buzzbait. I weed I rigged them on a 4/0 or five ought keel weighted hook. Like 1/4 ounce keel weighted hook with a screw lock on it.
Throw it across the same areas that you would the the frogs. But here when you come to a pocket, you can pause it and it flutters down and you just kill it and it drops.
Or you can bring along docks and then just kill it. And that falling action a lot of times is what gets a a bite.
Whereas you know, you can pause a frog and it sits on the surface, but sometimes the frog, the the fish don't want to come up and hit that frog. Here you drop it down with a toad right in their face and they can't resist it and they have to bite it.
So make sure you got a toad in your arsenal and then lastly is a football jig.
A football jig can be either skirted or non skirted, but make it big and bulky. The the fish are going after bigger baits right now, so a football jig with you know, a larger trailer like a Battle Craw or a Rage Craw, Rage Hawg or a. Even a Space Monkey.
I mean, they're big, bulky, create a lot of disturbance in the water and you just crawl it on the bottom. Don't hop and skip and Bob. Just crawl along the bottom.
Make it look like something large that's moving on the bottom and a lot of times fish will just pick it up off the bottom and run with it.
You can fish. Wobble head jigs too, and the swing jig. That works really gives it a little bit of extra action here.
In the warmer months you want some extra movement, so a swing head jig really could be very productive. It just moves it back and forth as it's wobbling on the bottom and makes it look alive, makes it look real, something edible and attracts a lot of bass that way.
Another key consideration fishing in July. Guys, here's the deal. A lot of you hunt and a lot of you fish in the winter time. What do you do? Well, you're wearing your full coveralls. You're wearing a thick jacket, Gore Tex. You got the gloves, you got the boots, insulated boots, right?
You're comfortable and dry. When you're comfortable and dry, you can focus more on what you're doing. Same thing in the summertime when it comes to fishing. You have to dress accordingly.
First of all, from protection to the sun, but also the heat.
Now what I like to wear are the button up shirts. And the reason I wear the button up shirts is, yeah, there's a lot of performance shirts out there. The hoodies are especially popular long sleeves.
It's got to be long sleeve no matter what, whether it's button up or or the hoodie to protect your arms. Those hoodies are great. They're really lightweight and the air flows through them and they keep you cool and dry and comfortable.
Us older guys don't look so good in him. The material they cling, you kind of look like a sausage that's really just burst. It's just, you know, it's not very flattering, but also because they're clinging to you, the air doesn't flow very well through them and you don't keep keep cool and dry.
So I wear the button up shirts. They just work better for me. They're more comfortable. But again, they're 50 SPF accordingly.
I wear long pants, long, I don't wear shorts, I wear long pants. They keep me comfortable and dry throughout the day. 50 SPF.
They're very lightweight, the air moves through them, they breathe, I don't sweat. And they keep me protected from the sun.
If I'm not wearing a hoodie, then I'm wearing a lot of guys like to wear neck gaiters and they, you know, go over their face, they go over the head, they protect their neck.
I'm not a big fan of those for two reasons. Number one, typically you can't find him anything stronger than 30 SPF. I don't I don't think there's few, there's few about that.
There's a few, maybe 40, but I don't know if too many that make too many manufacturers that make 50 SPF.
And the reason is that's the second reason is they cling to your face. They're they're pretty tight and the thicker material they're making 50 SPF. It's almost suffocating.
But even at 30 for me, it's too uncomfortable. I don't like that on my face.
So instead I use sunscreen, I use 70 SPF. Sunscreen, I know they say you only need 50, but they're gonna say that until someday along I know at some point they're gonna go well, you should have been using SPF 70 SPF all along.
So if if they make SPF, I'm gonna use 70 SPF.
And if you do use sunscreen guys, make sure you get the back of your neck and the top of your ears. Those are areas you miss a lot.
And if you're wearing a button up shirt, make sure you get right here because you don't have a collar like this. This area is exposed.
So even though you get your neck you got a spot here, you get sunburned so make sure. Sure, you get that area too, but make sure you're covered up.
Sun gloves are another thing to wear. The fingerless sun gloves, those are very comfortable.
They make them, you know the days that they used to make them long ago where they weren't very comfortable gone. And the ones that are out these days, you don't even know you have them on.
I like the ones from AFCO because the, the fingers are a little bit short and they, they fit me. I got smaller stubby fingers, so they fit me really well.
The ones from Simms are longer fingers and they actually come to the tips of my fingers, which don't work very well for me. But if you got longer fingers, The Simms gloves will work for you.
There's a bunch of other manufacturers out there. I I encourage you to try them and figure out what fits you best.
I like the ones that I have open palm so I can hold on to my reel and I get a little bit better feel that way. I could feel the subtle bites, that sort of thing.
Totally up to you, there's big amount of all kinds of styles and colors. But definitely where I'm there 50 SPF and that way you don't have to put sunscreen on your hand and accidentally transfer that onto your lures and baits which would turn off the fish.
And then finally your feet. I wear Hey Dude shoes for a couple reasons #1 they're very comfortable, I can fish all day long and my feet don't hurt at the end of the day which is rare.
Finally after I got Hey Dudes my feet don't hurt anymore. But also they're airy They'll they'll the breeze can circulate through them and keep my feet cool and dry unlike tennis shoes.
Plus they cover my feet completely. 100% SPF. I don't get any sunburn at all.
I used to wear sandals and although they were comfortable. Man, I swear the fastest thing that burns is the top of your feet. No matter how much sunscreen you put on them, I always got sunburned feet.
And even Crocs I would, you know, they get the holes on them and stuff and they're not very comfortable. The air doesn't circulate through them. Your feet would get all sweaty, so.
Hey Dudes. Try them out man, they really work so that's what I wear and I'm comfortable and dry. And I'm cool throughout the summer months and I can go out there and fish and not worry about getting sunburned.
So hope those tips help.
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