bass fishing tips

The past couple of days I was fortunate to be able to get out on the water to fish during some cool and cloudy conditions. We have experienced a lot of sunshine this summer without much rain or very many cloudy days. I decided to put in by the dam and target some of the backs of the creeks in the morning with a topwater bait. The bait of choice was an Ima Skimmer in the color wounded albino. The Skimmer has become a go to bait of mine. It is a walking bait that has a great deal of action. This summer has been a bummer because it has been so hot. Normally I catch a lot of fish on topwaters throughout the summer months. I thought that the cooler and cloudy conditions might be right for a topwater so I decided to give it a try. I fished a couple of rip rap banks and caught a pair of fat spotted bass in about a foot of water or less. Rip rap can be great in the mornings for topwater. I like to fish deeper rip rap banks this time of the year. They hold baitfish and bluegill all the time and get use a lot by bass. The water was also very clear so I was making really long casts parallel to the bank and trying to keep quiet so I wouldn’t spook the fish. The fish on this lake spook easy and the big ones get accustomed to the sound of the trolling motor. I’ve been doing better by in and around docks by sneaking up on them with just the momentum from a distance. The cloud cover didn’t stick around for long and the dreaded sun came out. This made the topwater bite start to fade. I started targeting shady back sides of condo docks which is something an angler can do to try and extend a topwater bite. I finally got a 2lb spot to come out from under the dock and explode on the bait. Shortly after catching this healthy fish the topwater bite went completely dead. I poked around with a jig, shakeyhead, and did some cranking the rest of the day. At least I got to experience some topwater action and I guess it is a sign of good things to come.The fish have been getting a little bit more active and shallower here every week. Shad are starting to show up in schools in the backs of the creeks which leads me to believe that it won’t be long before the bass start to make their annual move back in the creeks with the shad. While the year is dragging on some of the best fishing is still left to come and fall is one of my favorite times of the year.

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