Best Strategies for Summertime Bass

Origin Story

I’ve had an issue with bass since I was a little kid.  When I first saw one swimming by, I wanted to get my hands on one.  When I finally did, it almost killed me. My bass fishing origin story occurred at Camp Warren on Half Moon Lake near Virginia Minnesota.

Every afternoon before dinner, we had some free time.  I always used that time to go fishing.  I’d dash down to the dock at the end of camp.  The dock extended out into a bed of reeds.  I’d spotted bass in those reeds and I really wanted to catch one.  One day, I flung out a hula popper on my Zebco 202 and the biggest bass I’d ever seen exploded on it.  The struggle was on. There was lots of plastic drag screeching, splashing, and fiberglass rod bending, but somehow the line held, and I got the fish up to the edge of the dock.  Unfortunately, I could not reach it.

There was a rowboat tied off to the dock.  I was not supposed to be in it, but these were special circumstances and I had to reach my fish! I jumped into the boat and managed to reach and lip the bass.  Then I tried to jump back up to the dock.  I failed.

The boat shifted, and my jump was short.  My chest hit the dock and the bass went bouncing and flopping along. I could not breathe.  Neither could the bass.  I thought I was dying. We both flopped around on the dock for a while.  Eventually, he fell into the water and I got my air back.  My legs were all cut up and bleeding as I dashed back to the lodge for dinner and to tell my fish story.  No one believed me.

The next morning, there was a group of kids gathered by the shore.  A big bass had floated onto the edge of the swimming beach.  I claimed it was my fish. They still would not believe me. I’ve since traded my Zebco 202 for an arsenal of fly rods, but I still have a thing for bass. Fortunately, my arms have grown long enough to reach them and now I have pictures to prove that I’ve actually landed some.

Key takeaway:  Some fish are not to be trifled with.

Need to fill your fly rod arsenal? Check these out.

Developing a Fly Fishing Bass Strategy

A typical bass fisherman who uses conventional gear has an arsenal of spinning and casting rods rigged and ready for differing situations.  As a fly angler, I approach my fishing day much the same way.  In a perfect scenario, I like to have at least three rods set up to cover my needs from the surface to mid-water and into the deep water.  I also like to fish flies that cover the categories of topwater, crankbaits, jigs, swimbaits, and soft plastics.

Top Water

Getting up before the sunrise and heading out to a favored location is the best way to start a fishing day.  It’s even better when you see a few swirls from feeding bass in the pale pre-dawn light.  It’s popper time.

What are the do's and Don'ts of bass fishing with poppers? Read more here.

Who does not love the explosive eat of a bass on a popper?  Popper fishing is about as fun as it gets.  It takes me back to chugging that old hula popper plug on Half Moon Lake. I love being on the water before sunrise or after sunset, working a popper over shallow flats or tight to the banks along steep structure laden shorelines.  There are times when bass will take topwater presentations during the day, but the low light periods of pre-dawn and just after sunset are almost always good.

Rigging - Floating line with a heavy tapered nylon leader generally 10# or better with 6-8-weight rods.

Retrieval - Give your popper a snap to make it chug, push, or spit water and then pause it.  Selling the popper is all about the cadence of your retrieve.   Sometimes the fish like lots of movement and water throwing.  Sometimes a subtle twitch with a long pause is required to bring them up for the kill.  I generally start with a couple of strips/pops with a good pause and a couple more strips.  One of the best things about poppers is you can keep them in the strike zone for a long time.  A couple of pops with a long pause adjacent to a piece of structure can call bass up from the structure.

Location - As mentioned, poppers generally work best in low light.  Cloudy days can provide good action all day long.  Steep banks can provide shaded pockets later in the morning or in the afternoon well before sunset.  In general, the best water to work poppers in is where you are covering the tops or edges of structure such as rocks, weeds, or timber.

Key takeaway:  Fish poppers early, late, or in the shade.

Mid-Water

As the sun climbs the sky, bass will generally settle deeper.  Once they no longer take a popper, I like to switch to a streamer and work the water from three to six-feet deep.

Rigging - If fish are in the shallows but won’t take the popper, you can still fish a floating line with a weighted streamer.  My first choice, however, is to use an intermediate line.  Intermediate lines cast really well and can get unweighted flies below the surface and weighted flies surprisingly deep.  They also help the angler stay in better contact with the fly as they angle down in the water column.  With a floating line, you will need a longer leader to achieve depth.  With the intermediate, I generally run about six feet of 12 to 20-pound fluorocarbon and an 8-weight rod.

Retrieval - While a steady strip, strip, strip retrieve can work, it’s not really lively or exciting. Remember, your goal is always to sell your fly as food.   Make it vulnerable, wounded, or fleeing if you want to incite the bite.  One retrieve that works well is to give the fly a long strip with an accelerated pop before the stop.  This will cause the fly to dart like a minnow.

Location - Bass are ambush predators and they hold near structure almost all of the time.  They also push bait up near shorelines and ambush any bold enough to move back to deeper water.  Fish your flies tight to shorelines and to the edges of or over the tops of vegetation, rocks, and submerged timber or fallen trees.

Key takeaway: For most fly anglers, fishing streamers in mid-depth zones will be your go-to presentation once the sun gets up.

The Deep

Many successful bass anglers specialize in fishing worms and lizards.  They target deep humps and flats, often with flooded trees if they are fishing reservoirs.  This is often where the true hogs reside.  Once the sun is high and fish are no longer active in the shallows, going deep may be your best bet for larger fish.

How does a fly angler compete in this realm?  Well, we can tie flies to look like anything and there are some patterns that look like plastic worms that work pretty darn well.  Coupled with a sinking line, we can get them really deep too.  This approach may not find favor with all fly fishers, but I’ve found that it can be really fun and really productive.

Rigging - I like to use a heavy sink tip or graduated density line with four to five feet of 12 to 20-pound fluorocarbon and 8, 9 or even 10-weight rods.

Retrieval - The goal is to get the tip of the line to sink quickly along with the fly.  A little belly is inevitable with a fly line and sometimes I think that can work to a fly angler’s advantage.  When the fly is retrieved, it moves forward along the bottom before slowly lifting.  This provides a different look than when soft plastics are fished with a tight straight line.

It’s important to understand that as the fly sinks, the belly will draw the fly toward the angler as it sinks.  This pendulum effect means that when fishing to structure, it’s important to cast beyond the target zone.  As the fly swings or sinks through the zone where the fish are holding, they will have a good look at it.

Location - With a weed guard, flies can be fished through deep cover such as submerged trees or drug along the bottom on deep mounds where bass often school up.  When bass are suspended on bait adjacent to steep bluffs, the sinking line can get your streamer down where they live.

Key takeaway: If you want to target larger fish, especially when the sun is high in the afternoon and fish in shallower water are hiding in structure and hard to reach, you may need to plumb the depths.

Strategic Bass Fly Patterns

Top Water - There are lots of popper bodies to choose from.  I like to focus on two styles: the Flymen double barrel baitfish and a howitzer articulated popper are perfect when I want to move water and imitate a dying critter.  The crease minnow or the not-your-average popper are ideal when a fleeing baitfish imitation is the goal.

Crankbait or Jig - The Clouser needs no introduction.  It’s become an indispensable baitfish pattern that can be customized in size and color to cover many needs.  With a floating line, it is ideal for covering water from three to five feet deep.  With a sinking line, it can be fished much deeper.

Crankbait or Jig - The jawbreaker from Solitude Fly Company is our number one selling bass fly.  It’s pretty good for other species too.  The added fly tail seems to be the perfect touch to triggering fish.  The jig style platform makes it ideal to work over and near structure and it hooks fish very well.

Crankbait or Jig - A Rainy’s jiggy worm produced a 12-pound bass on a recent trip to Lake Picachos in central Mexico.  We like it in the Northwest too.

Where's the world's best bass fishing? Lake Picachos. Read more.

Soft Plastic - The fly fisher’s version of the Senko or the good old rubber worm is Rich’s ultimate worm.  I like to customize mine with the addition of a Wapsi fly tail.

Swimbaits - The game changer is the fly fisher’s version of a swimbait.  The great thing about the game changer platform is that it can be sized and colored to fit any baitfish.  It can also be fished from the surface to deep water, depending on line choice.  I especially like to fish game changers with an intermediate line.  From shore, I’ll give it some quick strips and then let the line slowly pull it down as I work it out over deeper water.

Swimbaits - Bass like big food items and articulated streamers like Kelly Galloup’s bangtail and Tommy Lynch’s drunk & disorderly are good examples of crossover streamers that work as well for bass as they do for large predatory trout.

Key takeaway: Developing a fly fishing strategy to cover topwater, mid-water and deep water with fly patterns that fill in each niche is the key to success.