Noah Heck has a specific strategy for finding bass.
Photo courtesy Noah Heck
It’s not summer yet. Not officially, anyway.
That doesn’t come around until June 21.
But forget the calendar. It feels like summer is here, right?
The recent warm days have made it seem so.
That means it’s time – beyond time, really — to get out and get fishing. The crappie spawn is already underway in spots, the action on walleyes will be right behind, then it will be time for bass.
And that’s to say nothing of the other benefits of fishing, from the relaxation to the beauty of being outdoors to the time spent with family and friends.
It never hurts to catch some fish, though.
With that in mind, here are a half dozen tips on how and where to perhaps hook a few more this season.
Tip 1
Noah Heck, founder of Kayak Anglers of Western PA, has a strategy for finding bass.
He searches for them using a Texas-rigged soft plastic, meaning one that’s outfitted with an offset hook so as to be weedless. There is typically a weight and sometimes a bead in front of the plastic.
Heck fishes such a setup fast, reeling quick enough to almost pop the lure at times.
“It’s how I search for bass. That’s how I like to fish. It’s how I’ve caught some of my biggest fish,” he said.
He’ll usually start out throwing a white bait, as it produces almost independent of water clarity. Green is another good color, he added.
Almost never does he worry about reeling it in too fast. Smallmouths in particular seem to chase it down no matter what.
Such baits can be cast a long way on light tackle, are relatively easy physically on the angler, and quickly determining whether there are fish in an area.
“It’s going to drive those fish crazy, but it’s not going to take too much out of you,” Heck said. “And you’re going to cover a huge amount of water.”
Tip 2
A lot of anglers throw tube baits for bass. The fish see them a lot.
So how to makes yours stand out?
For starters, try stuffing it with an Alka-Seltzer. Susquehanna River smallmouth bass guide Rod Bates of Koinonia Guide Service in Carlisle will put a tablet in a tube, with a piece of cotton behind it to hold it in place.
“As it gets wet it bubbles, and that can draw in finicky fish,” Bates said.
At other times, he makes sure his tubes have a rattle. That’s also effective, he added.
Tip 3
If you think in-line spinners are just for trout, think again. They can be effective in larger sizes on walleyes, pike and bass, too.
You have to be quick in the sense that you’ve got to start your retrieve before that hit bottom or they’ll snag. But they can work. And, having gone out of vogue, they offer a different look for pressured fish.
Tip 4
If you’re trying to decide where on a river or creek to fish in summer, think oxygen.
Fish – trout, smallmouth bass, walleyes, or other species — will gravitate to sources of oxygen as water temperatures rise. That might be a spring, the inlet where a smaller tributary flows into a bigger water, or downstream of a bubbly, frothy boil.
Approach those places from downstream and cast beyond the fish, letting your bait or lure swim past them.
Tip 5
Determine how to fish based on the clarity of the water.
Clear water presents the best optical conditions, so for bass in particular fish as fast as you can, or as fast as the water temperature will allow. Clear, opaque and naturally-colored baits are often best then.
In stained water, go to brighter-colored lures, like those in a firetiger pattern. Think sound and feel, too. Baits with rattles, flash and thump are good when the water is murky.
And if it’s downright muddy? Add some scent to your lures.
Finally, if the conditions present a variety of water colors – say where a muddy creek flows into a clearer river, presenting a definite mud line – fish the edge of the two. Bass sometimes lay in the muddy water, using it as camouflage from which to attack passing baitfish and other prey.
Tip 6
If you want to improve your fishing, you’ve got to keep track of what worked and under what conditions so that you can repeat those techniques when the time is right.
It’s hard to remember what you did from one weekend to the next, though.
Unless, that is, you keep a journal. Note things like the your days fished, where you launched your boat or fished from shore, the water depths, air and water temperatures, barometric pressure, whether – if on a river – the water was rising, falling or steady, what fish you caught and how many, what you caught them on, noting bait size and color, how fast or slow you were fishing and anything else you can think of.
Then, the next time out, you can look at the situation and have a starting point to reference.
