HOW TO BEAT THE HEAT!

LAUGHS-n-LURES
Blog Vol. 1

HOW TO BEAT THE HEAT!
Fishing in the summer time can be challenging at best. With air temperatures in the 90’s and lake water temperatures in the mid to high 80’s, fish are often just like us. Sluggish and not as active as they normally are when temps are more comfortable. But fear not my angling friends, for they are still catch-able! In this very first blog from LAUGHS-n-LURES, I am going to give you some tips on three ways you can have a great day in the water fishing! Notice I said “In” the water and not “On” the water. No boat…No problem! That’s right! Today we are focusing on one of my true fishing passions and that is fishing from the bank. I, like most of us, didn’t always have a bass boat. As a matter of fact, I have only had my boat for a few years now and even though I spend 99% of my time fishing from my boat, I still will always love and remember my time bank fishing! During this miserably hot time of the year, I can be found on the water doing my thing, but if you plan to catch me, you had better be out there very early to get a glimpse of me. I typically get to the boat ramp between 4:45 and 5:00 in the early hours before dawn and in the water heading to our first spot ready to go when the lights come on! Since the top water schooling bite is usually the best in the first minutes of daylight, I like to get a jump on the day and try and get a few good fish early as the rest of the day is going to be a grind. For the remainder of the day you might look for a brush pile pattern or a dock pattern and more than likely, it will be with something finesse like a drop shot or shakey head. By 11:00, we are done and putting her on the trailer! That is a typical summer time day of fishing for me. But, this blog is about beating the heat by beating the banks! So, let’s get to it!
My home water is Lake Sidney Lanier, where I will discuss my bass fishing tips and techniques from the bank. Lake Lanier is a reservoir that encompasses 38,000 acres or 59 square miles of water and 692 miles of shoreline which is plenty of shore to find some fish! Our target species of bass we will be discussing are the Spotted or as some folks call it, the Kentucky Bass, which is the predominant bass along with Striped Bass in the lake. The other species is the Large Mouth Bass which is generally larger and in our case, thankfully usually lives closer to shore. All bass in my experiences are ferocious predators and will attack almost anything! As a general rule, if it fits in their mouth it’s on the menu! The Spots are more nomadic and pelagic in nature choosing to roam in schools following the Blueback Herring, which is the dominant forage for predatory fish in Lake Lanier. However, this fact is not favorable for bank bashers if the Spots are swimming all over the main lake far from shore. Bass can be fairly predictable as to where they are at certain times of the seasons and, since we are talking about beating the summer time heat by beating the banks, we’ll stick with talking about that. In the summer, bass will generally pull back out into the main lake basins and structures like points and humps, to live out the summer before moving back into the backs of creeks in the fall to gorge themselves in preparation for the long winter. That can pose a problem for the uninformed bank fisherman as he/she may not be able to reach the area that the bass are holding out. But, here is where you can not only beat the heat, but you can do it while catching fish! Remember those 692 miles of shoreline? And also remember I said they can be found on main lake points? Well, that is what we are looking for! However, we are looking for specific types of points. We want to find the long tapering points with deep water nearby. A point that you can wade way out into in order to be able to cast to where the fish are! Disclaimer: IF YOU CAN NOT SWIM OR YOU ARE NOT A STRONG SWIMMER, DO NOT GO INTO THE WATER WITHOUT A PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICE! This is how I beat the summer heat! Put on a swimsuit, a ratty old shirt and some water shoes, wade out as far as I can and get to fishing! My approach for this is the same as if I were going to be on the boat. I get out super early looking for actively feeding bass and I generally use two techniques for this. The first is top water. Get a top water Popper, a Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 or Heddon Zara Spook. All of these are great choices. I use two colors and they are bone white for in the morning or when it is cloudy and chrome for when the sun comes out. Learn how to walk the dog to make the bait go left - right - left - right and so on. You do this by simply popping the slack in your line. Just look up walking the dog on You Tube for tips on this technique. But if you want, just get a Popper and simply pop the bait along the surface until you can get the time to practice walking the dog. Since you will be standing waist deep in the water, you will want a rod that is not too long such as a 6’6” to 7’medium or medium heavy action and it should have a fast action tip. I use a 7’ St Croix medium action composite cranking rod because you do not want to rip the lure out of the fish’s mouth when it strikes. Here is a huge tip! When you see the fish blow up on your bait, don NOT do anything different until you feel the fish tugging on your rod! Only when you feel the fish set the hook! We will be doing some top water videos on our LAUGHS-n-LURES You Tube channel as a part of our instructional videos very soon. It is a must that you use either mono-filament or braided line when fishing top water and the simple reason is that they both float.14-17 lb mono should be fine but I prefer Suffix 832 braid in black because braid has zero stretch and mono has a lot of stretch. It helps my hook up to landed fish ratios when a fish bites early on a long cast far from the boat. Fluorocarbon sinks and therefore is not a good choice.

After the top water bite with early morning schooling fish dies down, I walk back to the bank and pick up my worm rod and wade right back out to my spot. I use a 7’ medium heavy with 12-15 lb fluorocarbon line. I recommend a Texas rig using a Gamakatsu 3/0 or 4/0 EWG (extra wide gap) hook and the lightest bullet slip sinker you can get away with. If it is calm, 1/8 – 1/4 oz. should be fine. If the wind is up, 3/8-1/2 oz. is what you will probably have to go with to get your bait to the bottom. Wind always makes for better fishing but, if it is blowing hard enough to where it takes something bigger than ½ oz. weight, you should probably pack it in and go to the pool!

Let’s keep moving on. The third technique is a little bit different because it would be tough performing it actually standing waist deep in the water. However, it is an extremely effective way to catch fish, especially from the bank! Even though the book says that the fish will move out deep in the summer, I have never caught a fish with a library card! And trust me, I’ve caught thousands of fish in my lifetime. I am a firm believer that there are some fish that live out their years shallow in the same area. They are what we refer to in fishing as resident fish. If you are not a fan of getting into the water, then run, not walk, to the nearest place where you can buy a Zoom Super Fluke in pearl white! If your goal is to catch a bass from the bank, this is a must have tool in your arsenal. I throw it on a 6’6” Shimano medium heavy action with a fast tip. I prefer 12 lb fluorocarbon at the least as the hook sets are violent. Tip: You must have as barrel swivel with a 12”-18” leader because of all of the line twist you will incur while working the bait. I use a Gamakatsu 3/0 or 4/0 skip gap hook to keep the fluke up in the proper position while snapping and popping the slack in my line. This technique is like the walking the dog technique under the water surface, and it will cause the fluke the act like a dying shad which will drive a bass crazy! If he sees the bait, chances are very good that he will eat the bait! I have walked up to the water several times amidst other fishermen who have not had a bite in hours. Within the first few casts, bang…fish on! The reason is a simple one. All bass are wired the same way with the same predatory instincts. While they could see the offerings from the other fishermen, it didn’t trigger the same predatory reaction that the fluke invokes as it mimics an easy meal. A fluttering and dying shad on its last leg is virtually ringing the dinner bell for a predatory fish whether it is actively feeding or not. "I’m a bass and eating that is what I do!". Nature at its finest!

So, let’s recap. The way I became a successful bank bass’n bandit is with three rods and three techniques. Top water early in the morning and keep in mind that you may be sitting there soaking a worm later in the day and suddenly see schooling fish breaking the surface. Immediately pick up your top water rig and fire that baby right in the middle of the commotion and hang on! Second, is the worm rod I mentioned earlier. Use a Texas rig technique and make the worm weedless as to not get hung up. This way, when you find or rather feel that brush pile on the point that you are fishing, you can work your bait right through the middle of it which is where the fish live and therefore, where you want your bait. Third and lastly, is the fluke rod. Texpose the hook, which is the proper terminology, meaning to skin hook the fluke in order to again, make it weedless and less likely to snag on anything. While standing on the bank, make a long cast and let the slack fall onto the water surface. Point your rod tip at about 4:00 and pop the slack in a cadence like: pop…pop…pause…pop…pop…pop…pause etc. Most strikes are going to come on the pause. With all that slack in the water, it is really important to use at least 12 lb test for the vicious hook sets as mentioned before.

With these three techniques, you are more than equipped to have success from the bank and you can beat the heat by getting right in there with the fish! Look for some instructional videos coming soon from LAUGHS-n-LURES on these techniques where we will dive further into the details! Until then, get out IN the water and Set the Hook and Set Things Right!