What are the bass doing? 2024
FCPhil reply :
I fish medium to large ponds in Colorado. They are shallow and have lots of submerged vegetation. Since mid July I have really struggled to catch much at all. I have often assumed the bass are out deep in the middle where I cannot reach from shore, but that seems like a convenient excuse for my low catch rate.
My question is what are bass doing this time of year?
frosty reply :
Usually in deeper, cooler water or around vegetation they Use for cover and the vegetation puts off oxygen.
BCline reply :
In south Florida they must be all laid out on the beach working on their tans because they don't seem to be biting my lures.
Paul Roberts reply :
PM sent.
Catt reply :
On 8/23/2017 at 4:57 AM, Paul Roberts said:PM sent.
I
What ya don't want share? ?
Paul Roberts reply :
On 8/23/2017 at 5:51 AM, Catt said:I
What ya don't want share? ?
I always share. However, this response pertains to my YT video channel, where I highlight fishing the summer season in small vegetated waters, and not all that far from where FCPhil fishes. My channel is not monetized yet, but will be eventually. Just trying to stay within bounds here.
Sword of the Lord reply :
On 8/23/2017 at 6:03 AM, Paul Roberts said:I always share. However, this response pertains to my YT video channel, where I highlight fishing the summer season in small vegetated waters, and not all that far from where FCPhil fishes. My channel is not monetized yet, but will be eventually. Just trying to stay within bounds here.
Can you PM me? There's a small vegetated pond I like to fish. I have success there every time, but would like more information as well. The hogs only come out to play once in awhile.
Sam reply :
I think in Colorado they are smoking pot.
OK, just kidding.
They need cover and if there is no structure they will use the water as cover and go down to the thermocline.
You need to consider a Carolina rig. If the bottom has very little structure, try the Ned rig.
The farther out you can go you will find them in deeper water.
Also, can you get to the pond before sunrise? If so, hit it with topwaters as they wake up and have breakfast.
Let us know how you do.
NHBull reply :
Welcome to Summer, but rest easy, this GS are starting to change and September will bring the nass closer to the shore for you. You should also try some surface lures during dawn and dusk.
Hez reply :
On 8/23/2017 at 4:57 AM, Paul Roberts said:PM sent.
I'm so jealous lol
soflabasser reply :
The bass are still biting very good in South Florida if your willing to fish early in the morning, late in the afternoon, at night, cloudy days,etc. As for lures, I have been catching quality sized bass this summer on topwater frogs and poppers even on the hottest, most humid days.
Paul Roberts reply :
Apologies for coming off like I'm being secretive or exclusive. FCPhil happens to live close enough to me that those vids are directly relevant. I PM'd because, although Glenn allowed me to share some of my YT videos because my channel is not monetized, and bc I've contributed so much to this site over the years, my channel will be monetized and/or seeking support in the future. I didn't want to trespass on Glenn's good will further.
So, here's a more inclusive response to the OP.
On 8/22/2017 at 5:55 AM, FCPhil said:I fish medium to large ponds in Colorado. They are shallow and have lots of submerged vegetation. Since mid July I have really struggled to catch much at all. I have often assumed the bass are out deep in the middle where I cannot reach from shore, but that seems like a convenient excuse for my low catch rate.
My question is what are bass doing this time of year?
Summer As I Currently Understand It (via "best information" I can muster):
You know, if you fish long enough, and I mean years, you'll come to realize that things come back around year in and year out. And if you peruse the internet fishing sites long enough as well, you'll recognize common themes throughout the country. One theme is the difficulty many anglers have catching bass during mid-summer. In particular, it is weekenders (with limited time and versatility), shoreline and shorebound fisherman and, interestingly, many Florida bass fishers that are most often piping in on this very subject. This latter, the FL thing, is notable to me bc it likely copies what's happening in my waters too, even though the two are distant in both climate and sheer milage. Some pithy things are, apparently, "shared" there.
Although there appear to be common themes across the bass's range -indicating shared characteristics within the species- there are regional differences I won't be addressing in this post. That's fodder for book length treatment. So... if you don't see the videos, remember that seeing the movie is not the same as reading the book. Just can't stuff as much into vids, or posts.
Also, at the outset, know that every year is not exactly the same in any given water body regardless of location, as there are many factors -many localized- potentially at work. The trick is to identify them, then figure out which are most important in the moment.
In order to understand them, I've come to see them in a hierarchical order based on the scientific literature observing/describing the species, and then ground-truthed by direct observation and fishing. At the outset one must have some handle on -if not a measure of- the accuracy of such gleaned information; human limitations and biases being expected. Scientific literature does it's best to provide controls and/or mathematical and statistical measurement, and info often acquired by technology and expertise not readily available to everyone. Angler observation and fishing tends to be quite a bit… looser. This is the playing field. As an attempt at a "control", I used horizontal retrieves in my recent videos not bc they're always the best tack, but bc they provide a rough measure of the bass' "willingness to chase" -how much energy they have to spare for activity.
My fishing is done on small heavily vegetated waters in N Colorado and I see my horizontal chuck-n-wind bass fishing takes a nose-dive when water temps surpass 80F, esp so under bright sun. Several things are at work here: Key factors are temperature, prey availability/vulnerability, and lighting.
Lighting
I’ll start with lighting because it’s more generalized in effect, influencing our fishing regardless of physiological factors at play. In short, bass have an advantage over prey under low lighting. Under high visibility conditions, prey (bluegills at least, by research and my own observations) can see bass coming from a distance and avoid them. Under low lighting bass gain the upper hand. Bass are also safer from predators themselves -especially avian predators- under attenuated lighting and thus more able to turn their attention to hunting rather than watching out for predators. Under high vis conditions, bass tend to move to safer areas such as getting closer to bottom, into dense cover, or into deeper water if available. Attenuated lighting also obscures angler’s lures, making it easier for bass to mistake them for actual prey.
Temperature
Temperature is critical to cold-blooded creatures. Biologists consider it “the master factor”. But it doesn’t stand alone. And bass in particular are known to be “labile” in their abilities to operate across temperature ranges and changes. Still bass, and apparently all LMB (including floridanus), hit their a metabolic peak (in terms of basic energy-in < > energy-out) in the low to mid 80sF. The bass’s engines are essentially hitting redline at these temperatures. This means that energy-out is peaked, which must be balanced by energy-in: Food! If they can get enough food they can show peak growth at these temperatures. If they can’t get enough food they will begin to lose body weight. In response to high heat and low food, bass will begin to limit their active periods (activity, i.e. swimming, chasing) to the most opportune hunting times: low light of night, dawn/dusk, and deep overcast; and cooler temps of night and, especially, early morning. In larger water bodies, with deep water scenarios available, many bass will drop to deeper, cooler and dimmer waters, or to areas with more food. Which makes a great segue to prey availability/vulnerability…
Prey Availability
If bass are going to afford to remain active hunters they will need a lot of food to keep their ramped up Summer engines stoked. Thus they will seek out the best food resources. If they can find a motherload of prey they will stay put. If not, they are apt to keep searching. However not all bass find the best places; Many will find what biologists call “false peaks” -areas that may not be the best in the lake but that are enough to attract and hold some bass. Some bass will find inadequate resources and must reduce activity commensurate with food resources. And some bass may find the motherload and remain active, and grow, despite high heat.
Prey vulnerability is another piece of the puzzle. Prey is not easy to catch, the result of the evolutionary arms race over time that has resulted in the body forms and capabilities of predators and their prey, alike. Each prey type and species has it’s defensive strategies that shine under certain habitats and conditions. Bluegills and other sunfishes are particularly adept at evading bass in dense cover. Shad are adapted to avoid predators in open water. Bass are both pre-adapted to these and can fine tune their hunting behavior to that prey, habitat, and conditions (i.e. learn). However, although bass have been described (and by those who should know -fish behavioral scientists) as “perfect piscivores”, they too have limitations.
Bass are known to hunt best in broken cover, where they can use the element of surprise to get close enough to prey to realize efficient capture rates. Not that bass can’t hunt in denser cover, or more open water, but conditions and individuals must be more "disciplined", if you will, and require more learning, and luck, for sufficient success. Or even better, simply have a LOT of appropriate prey available.
My Waters in Summer
So, with that background in place, in my mostly shallow heavily vegetated waters, lighting, temperature, prey vulnerability/vegetation density appear to be the primary factors. I fish at least a dozen water bodies and each vary in their make-up of course, so not every one reacts in the exact same way. But those parameters above are pretty basic to all waters.
Fishing
In general, many bass will move away from shore in summer, even in smaller waters. FCPhil, you are right there. Bluegills will drop away from the surface too as heat penetrates deeper. When shore fishing I may break out a large-spooled long casting rig to reach. However, away from shoreline reach is not all there is to it. You are right there as well.
Fishing under high heat in shallow waters often means hitting the darkest and coolest periods. If you suspect high heat affecting bass activity, check for a "first light bite" -the coolest time of the day. And I mean first light -it may be over by the time the sun hits the water. And the fishing can be wild! Keep track of body condition of the bass you catch. Thin bass can indicate the fish are not getting fed well enough to keep up with their metabolism.
If you want to fish chuck-n-wind you may need to focus on low light and cool periods. Praying for rain -a good dark cold front- can help. I don't know if you've been out much lately, but that's exactly what we've been getting here in CO the last couple of weeks. Jump on it, man! Otherwise, under heat and sun, you may be better off fishing vertical presentations, and closer to bottom, in your daytime fishing, such as jig-worming ("Shaky") and drop-shot for neutral bass, or flipping in heavy cover.
Hopefully this helps you home in on what's important in your waters, or at least gives you some gristle to chew on toward that end.
This background will also help viewers make better sense of my vids too, as I try to keep the length of my narrations to a minimum to keep viewers from clicking away from a talking head. However, this is the cool stuff, if you ask me.
Hez reply :
On 8/24/2017 at 12:28 AM, Paul Roberts said:Apologies for coming off like I'm being secretive or exclusive. FCPhil happens to live close enough to me that those vids are directly relevant. I PM'd because, although Glenn allowed me to share some of my YT videos because my channel is not monetized, and bc I've contributed so much to this site over the years, my channel will be monetized and/or seeking support in the future. I didn't want to trespass on Glenn's goodwill further.
So, here's a more inclusive response to the OP.
Summer As I Currently Understand It (via "best information" I can muster):
You know, if you fish long enough, and I mean years, you'll come to realize that things come back around year in and year out. And if you peruse the internet fishing sites long enough as well, you'll recognize common themes throughout the country. One theme is the difficulty many anglers have catching bass during mid-summer. In particular, it is weekenders (with limited time), shoreline fisherman and, interestingly, many Florida bass fishers that are most often piping in on this very subject. This latter, the FL thing, is notable to me bc it likely copies what's happening in my waters too, even though the two are distant in both climate and sheer milage.
Although there appear to be common themes across the bass's range -indicating shared characteristics within the species across their range- there are regional differences I won't be addressing in this post. That's fodder for book length treatment. So... if you don't see the videos, remember that seeing the movie is not the same as reading the book. Just can't stuff as much into vids, or posts.
Also, at the outset, know that every year is not exactly the same in any given water body regardless of location, as there are many factors -many localized- potentially at work. The trick is to identify them, then figure out which are most important in the moment.
In order to understand them, I've come to see them in a hierarchical order based on the scientific literature observing/describing the species, and then ground-truthed by direct observation and fishing. At the outset one must have some handle on -if not a measure of- the accuracy of such gleaned information; human limitations and biases being expected. Scientific literature does it's best to provide controls and/or mathematical and statistical measurement. Angler observation and fishing are quite a bit… looser. This is the playing field. As an attempt at a "control", I used horizontal retrieves in my recent videos not bc they're always the best tack, but bc they provide a rough measure of the bass' "willingness to chase" -how much energy they have to spare for activity.
My fishing is done on small heavily vegetated waters in N Colorado. I see my horizontal chuck-n-wind bass fishing take a nose-dive when water temps surpass 80F, esp so under bright sun. Several things are at work here: Key factors are temperature, prey availability/vulnerability, and lighting.
Lighting
I’ll start with lighting because it’s more generalized in effect, influencing our fishing regardless of physiological factors at play. In short, bass have an advantage over prey under low lighting. Under high visibility conditions, prey (bluegills at least, by research and my own observations) can see bass coming from a distance and avoid them. Under low lighting bass gain the upper hand. Bass are also safer from predators themselves -especially avian predators- under attenuated lighting and thus more able to turn their attention to hunting rather than watching out for predators. Bass tend to move to safer areas such as getting closer to bottom, into dense cover, or into deeper water if available. Attenuated lighting also obscures angler’s lures, making it easier for bass to mistake them for actual prey.
Temperature
Temperature is critical to cold-blooded creatures. Biologists consider it “the master factor”. But it doesn’t stand alone. And bass in particular are known to be “labile” in their abilities to operate across temperature ranges and changes. Still bass, and apparently all LMB (including floridanus), hit their a metabolic peak (in terms of basic energy-in < > energy-out) in the low to mid 80sF. The bass’s engines are essentially hitting redline at these temperatures. This means that energy-out is peaked, which must be balanced by energy-in: Food! If they can get enough food they can show peak growth at these temperatures. If they can’t get enough food they will begin to lose body weight. In response to high heat and low food, bass will begin to limit their active periods (activity, i.e. swimming, chasing) to the most opportune hunting times: low light of night, dawn/dusk, and deep overcast; and cooler temps of night and, especially, early morning. In larger water bodies, with deep water scenarios available, many bass will drop to deeper, cooler and dimmer waters, or to areas with more food. Which makes a great segue to prey availability/vulnerability…
Prey Availability
If bass are going to afford to remain active hunters they will need a lot of food to keep their ramped up Summer engines stoked. Thus they will seek out the best food resources. If they can find a motherload of prey they will stay put. If not, they are apt to keep searching. However not all bass find the best places; Many will find what biologists call “false peaks” -areas that may not be the best in the lake but that are enough to attract and hold some bass. Some bass will find inadequate resources and must reduce activity commensurate with food resources. And some bass may find the motherload and remain active, and grow, despite high heat.
Prey vulnerability is another piece of the puzzle. Prey is not easy to catch, the result of the evolutionary arms race over time that has resulted in the body forms and capabilities of predators and their prey, alike. Each prey type and species has it’s defensive strategies that shine under certain habitats and conditions. Bass are both pre-adapted to these and can fine tune their hunting behavior to that prey, habitat, and conditions (i.e. learn). However, although bass have been described (and by those who should know -fish behavioral scientists) as “perfect piscivores”, they too have limitations.
Bass are known to hunt best in broken cover, where they can use the element of surprise to get close enough to prey to realize efficient capture rates. Not that bass can’t hunt in denser cover, or more open water, but conditions and individuals must be more "disciplined", if you will, and require more learning, and luck, for sufficient success. Bluegills and other sunfishes are particularly adept at evading bass in dense cover.
My Waters in Summer
So, with that background in place, in my mostly shallow heavily vegetated waters, lighting, temperature, prey vulnerability/vegetation density appear to be the primary factors. I fish at least a dozen water bodies and each vary in their make-up of course, so not every one reacts in the exact same way. But those parameters above are pretty basic to all waters.
Hopefully this helps you home in on what's important in your waters, or at least gives you some gristle to chew on toward that end.
Great, great post - and thanks for sharing.
I knew you were divulging some absolutely amazing information.
Thanks again.
Paul Roberts reply :
Edited above post.
colbass reply :
I am from the Pueblo area and fish the rez and Valco ponds.The other day I was killing LM on a Neko rig with a YUM blue stick bait and have been all summer....could be the time of day you choose to fish...try between 6-8 PM thats when I've had my best luck.Turkey Creek is a good area to find them
Paul Roberts reply :
On 8/23/2017 at 7:57 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Can you PM me? There's a small vegetated pond I like to fish. I have success there every time, but would like more information as well. The hogs only come out to play once in awhile.
No need. Glenn has OK'd my sharing them. Will post links soon.
BCline reply :
On 8/23/2017 at 8:07 AM, Sam said:I think in Colorado they are smoking pot.
OK, just kidding.
They need cover and if there is no structure they will use the water as cover and go down to the thermocline.
You need to consider a Carolina rig. If the bottom has very little structure, try the Ned rig.
The farther out you can go you will find them in deeper water.
Also, can you get to the pond before sunrise? If so, hit it with topwaters as they wake up and have breakfast.
Let us know how you do.
I would love to find a pond full of bass with the munchies. Good Times!
Paul Roberts reply :
OK... here's one of my Summer videos. I have three Summer videos up, all shot last year during a string of back-to-back cold fronts following a very hot early summer. My above post will provide more background as to what I believe is going on with the bass during those conditions. The audio and visuals are not up to snuff in my book as these were my very first videos -since rectified with proper microphones. Very watchable though. Feedback appreciated.
Sword of the Lord reply :
On 8/24/2017 at 10:19 PM, Paul Roberts said:OK... here's one of my Summer videos. I have three Summer videos up, all shot last year during a string of back-to-back cold fronts following a very hot early summer. My above post will provide more background as to what I believe is going on with the bass during those conditions. The audio and visuals are not up to snuff in my book as these were my very first videos -since rectified with proper microphones. Very watchable though. Feedback appreciated.
Nice video! I could watch you all day. Some good information. Random, I love the way you treat the fish. I wish all anglers were like that.
Why didn't you throw worms or stick baits? Wheneven the sun is giving me hell, Senkos right into weedbeds and weedlines always does me well, and twitching and popping some trick worms or power worms off the bottom work too.
senile1 reply :
On 8/25/2017 at 5:08 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Why didn't you throw worms or stick baits? Wheneven the sun is giving me hell, Senkos right into weedbeds and weedlines always does me well, and twitching and popping some trick worms or power worms off the bottom work too.
Paul explains the use of horizontal retrieves in his long post above. I assume this applies to these videos as well. See below.
QuoteAs an attempt at a "control", I used horizontal retrieves in my recent videos not bc they're always the best tack, but bc they provide a rough measure of the bass' "willingness to chase" -how much energy they have to spare for activity.
Paul Roberts reply :
On 8/25/2017 at 5:08 AM, Sword of the Lord said:Nice video! I could watch you all day. Some good information. Random, I love the way you treat the fish. I wish all anglers were like that.
Why didn't you throw worms or stick baits? Wheneven the sun is giving me hell, Senkos right into weedbeds and weedlines always does me well, and twitching and popping some trick worms or power worms off the bottom work too.
Thanks, Sword. Yeah, I like fish. And... all critters. People too. I was a veterinary technician, as well as a wildlife researcher, for quite a few years, and have handled a lot of animals. I'd like to do a video on fish handling. Thanks so much for the feedback.
And, yes, there were better ways to catch that day. But senile1 has answered for me, and in the process he has won the reading comprehension award -again! That's why I call him "lucid1". He also just goes by Ed. No small task considering how much verbage I can spew. 
Lotsa good ways to catch bass, yet I suppose there are even more ways to NOT catch them at any given moment. Keeps us busy out there, and buying tackle. In my fishing I do a lot of experimentation, and in my fishing video journals I try to highlight some key aspect of fish behavior usually related to conditions. Often I'm trying to expose certain behaviors elicited by environmental factors. Which may mean if I realize a good catch rate, I may then pursue the flip-side, to show the difference. Like I may catch really well, then come back under different conditions (sometimes the very next day) and try the same thing, and show that it fails. Love to do that kind of thing. Even better, I like to uncover something new that works under certain conditions. Which... can keep us buying tackle.
Anyway, thanks again for the feedback. Much appreciated.
papajoe222 reply :
One thing that many anglers forget is that during the peak of summer, the forage base of almost all bodies of water is at its peak. You are competing with the buffet that the fish have to choose from. They will more easily ignore a sloppy presentation or an offering that looks out of place, unlike during their spring or fall movements. The other behavior that is often overlooked is that during those peak summer months, a good majority of the fish will have set feeding periods (not by a human's clock, but by theirs) and they know where to feed and what to feed on at those times.
That's the downside. The upside is they also tend to group together more during the summer, whether feeding or not. Did you ever have a summer outing when you caught 20-30 bass in a relatively short period? Yes, to many of the fish that use the shallows as their home this doesn't apply, but I'm talking the majority.
Now take just those few facts and apply them to a small body of water like a pond and you can see why it can be very frustrating when fishing them during the summer. The odds are stacked against you, but then again, there's always that one memorable outing that awaits you too.
OperationEagle reply :
Hey Paul those are some great vids. If YOU are not officially allowed to link maybe a fellow BR member can if we deem it worthy?
Either way go to YT and search for "the nature of fishing" and you will find the vids. Or even easier here it is...
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCata79WFUPYPDG33LrC57Wg
Nicely done Paul!
Paul Roberts reply :
On 8/26/2017 at 10:48 PM, OperationEagle said:Hey Paul those are some great vids. If YOU are not officially allowed to link maybe a fellow BR member can if we deem it worthy?
Either way go to YT and search for "the nature of fishing" and you will find the vids. Or even easier here it is...
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCata79WFUPYPDG33LrC57Wg
Nicely done Paul!
Thanks for the kudos, Operation Eagle. Just to clarify.... Glenn saw my initial post and PM'd me about his YT share policy. AOK to share videos but not if the YT'er is simply here to advertise their site -spam control. I think he'll be OK with me quoting him here:
"I'm all for sharing information or fishing trips, even if the channel is monetized. Where I draw the line, is where people post on here soliciting for views/subs. We routinely delete posts like that every week, in fact."
I should really let Glenn say these things and I think you can see his policies in the site FAQs. He mentioned something about clarifying/updating his share policy.
Bottom line, I think he's trying to maintain quality content here. You can imagine all the spam we'd get if the mods weren't busy behind the scenes keeping the site easy to navigate for quality content. I think they do great job and is one of the main reasons I've been here so long. There also may be the issue of giving site sponsors their due -the opportunity to be seen and recognized here. After all, they pay the lion's share of the costs for running such a quality site.
Having fired up my first YT channel I've gotten a glimpse of the spam issue. Every time I post a video I get a run of "comments" that basically say, "Sub me and I'll sub you." I'm really looking for quality comments bc my interests lie in the subject itself -the "invisibilia" that underlies our fishing; that fascination with nature- than in running a YT channel. YT is a means not the end. If it works for me great. If not, I'll find another venue.
On 8/26/2017 at 12:27 PM, papajoe222 said:One thing that many anglers forget is that during the peak of summer, the forage base of almost all bodies of water is at its peak. You are competing with the buffet that the fish have to choose from. They will more easily ignore a sloppy presentation or an offering that looks out of place, unlike during their spring or fall movements. The other behavior that is often overlooked is that during those peak summer months, a good majority of the fish will have set feeding periods (not by a human's clock, but by theirs) and they know where to feed and what to feed on at those times.
That's the downside. The upside is they also tend to group together more during the summer, whether feeding or not. Did you ever have a summer outing when you caught 20-30 bass in a relatively short period? Yes, to many of the fish that use the shallows as their home this doesn't apply, but I'm talking the majority.
Now take just those few facts and apply them to a small body of water like a pond and you can see why it can be very frustrating when fishing them during the summer. The odds are stacked against you, but then again, there's always that one memorable outing that awaits you too.
Great comments, papajoe222. Always appreciate your knowledge.
Yes, the forage base is burgeoning in summer. I've read a lot trying to get a handle on whether fish can get "too full to eat" -what's called "satiation". There is some research showing that this can happen, particularly in years with high prey numbers. But, even more research shows that satiation is rarely reached in the wild, esp in small unmanaged waters. The fact that most of the bass cannot reach their growth potential is almost incontrovertible evidence that satiation is pretty rare. There are waters where this is more likely to happen -probably in the south, and in shad based waters perhaps- but... not in my waters, sadly.
But I think your description is really good, and much more nuanced than saying the fish become "sated" in summer.
On 8/26/2017 at 12:27 PM, papajoe222 said:a good majority of the fish will have set feeding periods (not by a human's clock, but by theirs) and they know where to feed and what to feed on at those times.
This is on the money. Bass are good learners. And the survivors/growers know when to make their move. Its tough for us bc we just can't see what's going on. And each water body, section within water bodies, and groups of fish, are a bit different. At least we are focusing on one species here (mostly), but a very adaptable one. A real challenge. What fun. 
On 8/26/2017 at 12:27 PM, papajoe222 said:they also tend to group together more during the summer, whether feeding or not. Did you ever have a summer outing when you caught 20-30 bass in a relatively short period? Yes, to many of the fish that use the shallows as their home this doesn't apply, but I'm talking the majority.
Yes!, I see this too. However in the smaller waters I fish the groups are smaller, but the tendency is the same. I wanted to show that in my pre-summer/early summer videos this year -when it's especially pronounced- but things didn't set up well to show it, and the waters that have shown it best in the past for me were wiped clean in the big 2013 floods.
Small waters do have one big advantage for me in what I'm trying to do -illuminate behavior- in that the bass are right in front of me. I cannot "not find them", or, at least I don't have all that much water to eliminate. I just have to have them, or make them, biters.
On 8/26/2017 at 12:27 PM, papajoe222 said:...there's always that one memorable outing that awaits you too.
This is what I am after -not only the catch, but why??? And, I think, more telling is the why not? Why aren't they biters right now?
Thanks for the great comments.
FCPhil reply :
On 8/24/2017 at 10:19 PM, Paul Roberts said:OK... here's one of my Summer videos. I have three Summer videos up, all shot last year during a string of back-to-back cold fronts following a very hot early summer. My above post will provide more background as to what I believe is going on with the bass during those conditions.
Paul,
Thanks so much for your input and I have really enjoyed your videos. I have not been able to fish as much recently but I have have unfortunately been skunked for awhile now.
Today I got skunked at my normal pond and only saw one bass from the bank the entire time. I fished early morning and hit just about all the available access points to the water with a variety of presentations. I ran into a kayaker who confirmed what I had feared...they were biting great for him out in deeper water away from shore while there was no action by the bank.
I'm going to try a new strategy and I am curious what you all think. There are a few small ponds nearby that I don't fish much because they don't have the best bass population. On the upside, the entire pond can be reached from shore with a long cast. I'm going to try them next and at least I will know that the bass are not simply "out of reach" like they have been at my normal spot.
Paul Roberts reply :
On 8/27/2017 at 8:34 AM, FCPhil said:Paul,
Thanks so much for your input and I have really enjoyed your videos. I have not been able to fish as much recently but I have have unfortunately been skunked for awhile now.
Today I got skunked at my normal pond and only saw one bass from the bank the entire time. I fished early morning and hit just about all the available access points to the water with a variety of presentations. I ran into a kayaker who confirmed what I had feared...they were biting great for him out in deeper water away from shore while there was no action by the bank.
I'm going to try a new strategy and I am curious what you all think. There are a few small ponds nearby that I don't fish much because they don't have the best bass population. On the upside, the entire pond can be reached from shore with a long cast. I'm going to try them next and at least I will know that the bass are not simply "out of reach" like they have been at my normal spot.
Hmmmm... Worth a shot, always. In fact, I'll share a quick story. I was invited to fish a pond. Got there and it turned out to be tiny -I mean I could throw a rock across with ease. The owner told me he'd put five bass in it the previous year. I was there so I walked back to it, and counted four 12-14inch bass in the shallows. There was a deep dark pocket at one end however, where I couldn't see bottom. I made a single cast with a grub and found the fifth bass, an 18-incher.
I looked at satellite images of your ponds (from your profile) and found this little pond. Maybe this is where you are headed. The whereabouts of the bass is pretty obvious, and reachable, here. Great laboratory to test and hone your approach and presentation skills.
All that said, unless the habitat is extremely limited -as in the tiny pond in my story- it may be most important to find the best concentrations of bluegills, even on a small pond. I'll touch on this below.
Rarely are there no fish on the shoreline in our small waters here. They're just too small for the shorelines to be entirely ignored by bass. But not all shorelines -even most, by mid-Summer. It's not the shoreline exactly but what shorelines provide, and that's complex cover which promotes the food chain. The worst circumstance might be flat tapering shorelines that exclude fish the size of mature bass, and with little substantial cover. This is nursery water that supports YOY fishes and yearling predators. If much of this exists in your waters, you'll want to find steeper shorelines that offer at least 18" of depth right at the bank. I know a pond that has slow shallow tapered shorelines all the way around except one 100ft stretch of bank bounded by willows where wave erosion has cut the bank. That's a place bass can pin bluegills right against that bank. And they do! It's a great spot. It also helps that there is some small wood (hard cover) -just willow stumps and snags- mixed in with the veges in there too.
The other part I think can be the heat and sun. Tough to separate the two in terms of effect on behavior but I think heat plays a role from some things I've seen. Regardless, the bass just seem to disappear under high heat and sun. Usually the two come together, esp here in CO with our 5000ft elevation "thin" air in which heating (and cooling) of the air are rapid. The bass must bury into cover, or drop closer to bottom, making shoreline and upper water column fishing pretty much dead.
You'd asked about the topwaters in waist deep water. In my experience, I've found bass unwilling to approach the surface under such bright hot conditions. I think they are too concerned about aerial predators (and the list of them on our CO waters is long), and that the heat/prey vulnerability ratio is not conducive to aggressive hunting activity. These are my best educated guesses at explaining why under such conditions I have all too often wound up “beating a dead horse”. Basically, it seems they won’t move. They won’t chase. They won’t come up 2ft (!) to take a topwater, spinnerbait or swim jig.
What to do?
-Head for deeper water. Mature bass appreciate deeper water and expanses of it. So a lot of bass wind up away from shore in summer as you suspect. But not all bluegills do so not all bass do. There are almost always shoreline areas that attract bass. If hoof’n, look for reachable deeper water, or get a float tube! I saw a good one at a used sporting goods place here for $50. I have also done well trolling a shallow crankbait through main basins. Hit a fish then stop and cast. Summer bass are rarely alone. Just got to find them. I’ve done this from a float tube and from shore if shoreline that will allow it.
-Pray for rain. That is, fish under the darkest coolest conditions if possible. Timing is always key, but especially so in Summer, as papajoe222 wrote about above. (He’s someone to follow, btw.)
-Hit dense overhead cover areas. These may or may not be near deep water. (Cover and food can trump everything.) The more complex the cover (wood, rock, depth changes, substrate changes, vegetation changes) the more attractive it will be to bass. Complex cover promotes diversity and surface area for food chain development, creating micro-habitat space for a variety of critters. It also gives bass tactical advantage on hard to catch prey (bluegills) and room to chase. I say “overhead” cover bc solid dense weeds, although may allow bass to sleep, does not provide the best hunting. They need space to move underneath. Dense veggies may or may not be canopied -have a mat on top with some open water beneath. So do some exploring and be choosy about where you spend your time in dense cover.
-One important thing I do -before I start flinging lures- is to actively look for concentrations of bluegills. I talk about this a bit in my video “Crankbaits for Fall Bass Fishing in Milfoil”. The bass are where the bluegills are. This almost always pans out. Several spots may look alike, but only one has bluegills, and bass.
You’d PM’d me about lures and I’ll respond here (I hope that’s OK) as I don’t have any secrets. I use two presentation types: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal asks bass to chase. Vertical stays in place and catches (or tempts) the non-chasers.
If I have a standard GoTo horizontal bait on our weedy waters it’s a swim jig. You’ll see them in many of my vids and I talk about them a bit in my upcoming Late Summer video -uploaded next week I think. I also like crank baits (also in the Late Summer vid) and in Summer, especially, triggering is important, such as crashing and ripping off cover. Spinnerbaits are great bass catchers. I always said, give a kid a spinnerbait and you’d better teach him some good conservation ethics along with it. Many other great baits too… Pick some and learn how to get the bass to bite them.
For vertical presentations I tend to use soft plastics, although jigs (killed, shaken,..) are good, and lipless cranks can be fished somewhat vertical (from a boat) when ripping weed edges. I like two soft plastics the most bc they spell FOOD to bass and are unobtrusive and not off-putting. They are stick-worms (Senko types) and smallish slim straight-tail worms. They can be T-rigged, drop-shotted, or jig-wormed (“Shaky”). Another good option is the Ned Rig, which is more horizontal but can work well anyway as it's subtle and unobtrusive
Then there's topwaters which tend to work best under dark, light-attenuating conditions. An exception can be weedless "frogs" over dense canopied vegetation. Buzzbaits and wind rippled surfaces go together like...PB&J...in my mind.
Summer tackle, since we’re talking lures: With vegetation up you’ll need some power. I shift up to 12 to 20lb lines by midsummer. I also have a finesse rig handy for bright sun. I use 8lb unless there are more veges, (esp Chara), when I go to 10lb. Although in ultra-clear water with little cover I may use 6lb or even 4lb.
Hope this helps. This is some of what I do, and it’s always interesting to talk with other fishers to see what they’ve come up with. Let me know how you make out.
FCPhil reply :
So I tested my strategy of fishing smaller ponds where I can reach the entire pond from the bank and was successful! But not the way I thought. I caught two bass at two separate ponds:
The first bass I caught was 2 pounds and 17 inches. A great bass for me. I caught it slowly shaking a wacky rigged finesse worm along the bottom. It was early morning and I caught it on a heavily shaded bank near a small inlet and a small log.
The second bass was also by the shore. It was later in the morning with calm water and clear blue skies. The bass was clearly foraging on baitfish near a fallen tree. I caught it on a shallow running jerkbait. This bass was 1 pound 15 ounces but only 15 inches long. It was the fattest, football shaped bass I have ever caught. The picture is attached but it doesn't do it justice. 
Here is what I gleaned from this trip and I'm curious what others think. The larger pond that I have been unsuccessful at for the past few weeks is practically a forest of milfoil. A kayaker reported good fishing in the deeper center of the pond while I got skunked on the bank. It seems like the bass are heading out for the cooler, deeper water and hiding in the plentiful vegetation. This pond offers other cover and structure far from the shore as well so the visible cover near the bank is not the only option for the bass.
The ponds I had success in today are very different in that there is hardly any submerged vegetation. My guess is the bass are still hanging around the visible cover on the bank because there is no other option for cover. I want to fish the deeper center of these ponds more thoroughly but I ran out of patience this morning (which is usually my problem when fishing open water with no targets to aim at and entertain myself). The bass are clearly have no trouble feeding themselves judging by their fat appearance.
Between the heavy fishing pressure and hot temperatures, the bass head out to cover further from shore if they can find it. Finding water that doesn't offer the bass this option seems to keep them closer to the bank and looks to be key for me this time of year.
Thoughts?
Paul Roberts reply :
Nicely done! The skunk is off. And you are definitely "on to something".
I fish a pond that lacks cover in the main basin. ALL the cover is along the shorelines. In fact, that pond is in my video journal "Bluebird Blue" where I describe how to fish coverless "swimming pool" ponds, and under brilliant blue skies.
I don't spend much time talking about it but the key there is shoreline cover. In fact, the CO Warmwater Fisheries Unit sampled that pond earlier this summer, and I was there while they pulled the gill net they'd placed the previous day. They ran it right down the center of that barren basin, and the net was empty except for one crappie. As they pulled the boat out I told them there are indeed a good number of bass in that little 2 acre pond, but that they are glued to the shorelines. I've counted up to 50 mature bass walking the shoreline. And they are there all year round, except in the very dead of winter.
One interesting thing that telemetry has shown us about bass behavior is how commonly cover can trump any supposed "preferred" temperature. Bass are known to sit in high temperature water, even though cooler water exists, because the good cover is in hot water. And, usually there is prey associated with such cover too. This last is definitely the case in my little "swimming pool" pond.
Those bass you caught are doing well -the second one in particular. Tough to tell by the photo (lens distortion) but it appears to have a small head which can be an indicator of good growth, that bass able to put on some frame length at a relatively young age.
Good presentation choices you made too. And the "heavily shaded bank near a small inlet and a small log", and the "fallen tree", are both "complex cover". Such places exist in the larger pond too, but they would require more time to find, especially under all that milfoil. And, very likely a lot of bass are using the main basin, and the cover edges surrounding and throughout it. The best time to really get to know such waters is in early spring after the vegetation has died back. Water clarity is highest then too so you'll have a better chance at figuring out the details of the bottom make-up and any complex cover elements. But I wouldn't write off the big pond, from shore, yet. Be observant, and patient. There are opportunities there you've most likely simply walked past. Some pithy advice: Don't ask the fish to come to you. Take it to them, like you did in the little pond. Don't worry about all the water you can't cover. Focus in on spots with potential and fish them patiently. Running and gunning too often results in a good skunking, unless the bass are running and gunning too, and that tends to require an alignment of conditions and circumstances.
Again, well done. Those little ponds will teach you a lot. The same needs, behaviors, conditions and circumstances exist on the little waters too, but in an easier and quicker to discern package.
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