It’s August and it’s hot! No matter where you are, whether you’re in California, Maine, Texas, or Ohio, August means the hottest month of the year, the hottest extremes of weather, and the hottest water temperatures. You’ve got to think about not just fish location but also your bait selection based on those hot conditions. You’ve heard me say it before, and I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but summertime patterns are all about deeper, thicker, and current. Fish go to deep water to escape the heat, get oxygen, and find food. Fish go under thick cover […]
Tag: Hit Worm
Rigging a Drop Shot
I’ve been catching bass on a drop shot rig for years, and until a couple of years ago I always rigged it the same way. I tied a fluorocarbon leader to a braid main line and tied the hook somewhere down the leader. Then, I nose hooked my bait, or maybe hooded it in the middle, and went fishing. It worked. I caught my share but I was dissatisfied with my hooking percentage. I just felt like I could do better. And, at the same time, I was having trouble with line twist. Even my braid started giving me trouble […]
Smallmouth and Scent
All bass use a wide variety of their senses to find their prey, but smallmouth primarily use two — sight and smell. We’re going to save the sight part for another day. Right now I want to talk about scent. I’ll start by telling you that I never fish with a plastic bait that isn’t scented or to which I haven’t added scent. That’s an absolute rule of mine. Never means never, not ever. It wouldn’t make sense. I want the smallies to smell something attractive and I never want them to smell me or anything I might have on […]