PRO TIP

FINDING THE HOT-WATER BASS OF SUMMER

By David Fritts

July and August is usually when we end up having the Classic and, yeah, August is a little bit tougher, not matter what you’re doing or where you’re at. But August is still a good month to fish.

A lot of times the fish aren’t as aggressive. Sometimes the oxygen levels are low in some of the lakes. But all in all, I would take August over a lot of other months just because of the style that I like to fish.

Obviously, with crankbait fishing June is going to be the best month. The first part of July is going to be real close to it. And then probably September and October is good. But August is right there.

I think August is better than October, for deep fishing especially and crankbait fishing. I’ve won a lot of tournaments in August. That’s the time they get on the real out of the way subtle stuff and they’re not on the real big drop-offs. They’re really hard to find. It’s just a matter of bearing down to find those fish.

If you can stand the heat there are bass to be caught. In all honesty, August is hot, but it’s not as hard as the middle part of June when that first really, really hot air appears. I know in North Carolina, the first part of June until about the second week of July is the hottest, most humid weather we have all year.

Usually in August we get the dogdays. And they get dry. We get some thunderstorms and we get a little wind. Anywhere from June to September they’re all hot. But you get used to it. It’s no big deal.

When it gets dogdays, the fish actually move up. Fish on most reservoirs aren’t as deep as everybody thinks they are. It’s just like when I won the Classic on Logan Martin or this past year on Lake Wylie, the fish move up. Especially in years that you don’t have a lot of rain. Because you lose that flow of oxygen and the fish have no choice. They have to move.

Even though you can always catch some fish deep, a lot of times the better ones are half as deep as the other fish are. That’s what I look for and try to concentrate on. Now in September they usually go back deep again, but in August I think 80 or 90 percent of the fishermen are fishing too deep.

August in the South from 7 to 10 feet is going to be magic depth. If oxygen levels are low, especially. Actually you can probably stretch that zone to 5 to 10 feet.

Where am I going to find them? I’m going to find them out on the main lake mostly. Mouths of the creeks. Anywhere there’s a little bit of current. Anywhere they’re an eddy in the current. Anything that has any kind of water flow is where I’m going to be looking.

Current is very, very crucial, especially in August.

Really, a good choice in baits during this time is a crankbait, even though I might have to end up throwing a big Zoom Monster worm.

August is sort of the time when color really starts being important, too.

The yellow with a brown back is a super-duper color, especially in August. And the blue backs and brown back baits become effective, as well as a blue worm.

Nobody ever talks about a blue worm much any more, but I’m going to tell you that August is the month to throw an emerald big blue worm like either a Big Dead Zinger or a Zoom Monster worm. It’s a killer.

I’m going to be fishing contour breaks, small breaks. I’m not going to be out on the channels. I’m going to be fishing little ditches. And I’m going to be fishing anything off the main lake like little cuts. Anywhere that’s accessible to deep water that’s fairly shallow.

A lot of times, the bluff walls and bluff banks get good in August. And they’re really overlooked. But a lot of times they can be real good.

A lot of times you also have fish schooling. And that That’s fish that I have a hard time dealing with because they’re out there and they’re hear today and 10 miles from there tomorrow. They’re really hard to pattern.

I’m going to be throwing a Rapala DT 10. That would be my ultimate choice just because I can fish 6 to 12 feet of water really effectively with it by the way I hold my rod.

I’ve actually got a few DT14s that are not available yet that would be a good choice to fish out on the deeper ends.

There will always be some fish that are deeper regardless. But with all of my dealings in August, including winning the Classic, that 5- to 10-foot range isn’t off very much. You may stretch it to 5 to 12, but that would be the complete range that I would really concentrate on to catch those real good fish.

The bass are going to be fairly aggressive. Sometime during the game they’re going to be real aggressive and be able to figure out what time of day that is, that’s all part of crankbait fishing. In August, the dead zone where they’re not biting is a little bit longer than it is in some of the other months.

But then you’re going to have an hour or two when they’re really biting. And it doesn’t make a lot of difference. A lot of times they want the bait wound at a good medium-fast pace.

I throw the plastics in the same places and I’m going to use a big weight — at least 1/2-ounce or 5/8 or heavier. I’m going to rig it Texas style and instead of fishing it real slow, I’m going to hop it. I have had very, very good success doing that.