July, August and September can be brutally tough for fishing, especially when the temperature sizzles in the middle part of the country and the South. I brave the heat and continue to catch bass with three baits that shine for me throughout the dog days.
Walking bait
Number one on my list is a walking stickbait like the venerable Zara Spook. I make hay with this topwater bait during the first two hours of daylight and the last hour before dark.
I stay on the move and cover as much water as I can by casting to points, steeper banks, channel swings, windblown banks and wherever I see baitfish congregated. I pair the bait with a 7-foot, medium-fast casting rod and an 8.5:1 gear ratio Daiwa Steez reel spooled with 30-pound braided line.
I like 30-pound braid with any topwater bait. I can sling a lure much farther with it than with monofilament, fluorocarbon or a heavier braid. Since braided line floats, it lets the bait strut its stuff on the surface.
Braid’s no-stretch ability makes it easier to impart the dog-walking retrieve on long casts, because the bait responds to the slightest rod twitch. A stretchy line makes you work the rod harder, and the bait isn’t as responsive.
When a bass explodes on a topwater bait, I want to feel the rod load up before I set the hook. I can sense this better with braid, which helps me avoid jerking my bait away from a bass.
In early July this year, my dad, Stephen, and I, along with two of our good buddies, camped in the mountains of southeastern Oklahoma and fished Broken Bow Lake, a highland reservoir. On the first morning, dad and I took advantage of the early bite window and caught 15 to 20 bass on walking baits. They included largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. A few of them were in the 3- to 4-pound class, which are good bass for that body of water.
Drop shot
When the morning bite window closed at Broken Bow, we resorted to drop-shot rigs, another of my top three baits for the dog days. Bass get lethargic when the summer sun beats down. You need a finesse approach to coax bites, and there’s nothing more finesse than a drop shot.
My go-to drop-shot bait is Z-Man’s 3.5-inch Trick Shotz in Twilight. That color is a variation of morning dawn and pink-purple. I throw it almost solely through the summertime in the South for largemouth and spotted bass.
I fish the Trick Shotz on a light 6-foot, 10-inch fast-action drop-shot rod and a 2500 size spinning reel filled with 10-pound braid. The business end of the line consists of an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader, a No. 2 drop-shot hook for nose hooking and a 1/4-ounce drop-shot weight.
At Broken Bow we slowed down and fished our drop-shot rigs on humps and points 15 to 25 feet deep. We concentrated on high percentage spots because we couldn’t cover a ton of water fishing that way.
Every 45 to 90 minutes, we’d have a short bite window, or maybe run into a group of bass, and quickly catch three or four fish. We let the bass tell us how to work the bait. Sometimes we had to let it sit for a long time. When they were more active, you could almost drag the drop-shot weight over the bottom.
We switched back to walking baits during the last hour of the day to get in some final topwater action.
Big worm
We didn’t use big worms at Broken Bow, but they’ve long been a staple for summertime bass. Had we been fishing Kentucky Lake or another reservoir where ledge fishing holds sway, we would have had rods rigged with big worms. Big worms are also great for fishing offshore brush, grass and rocks.
Zoom’s Ol’ Monster and Magnum Trick Worm are popular big worms for summertime bass. I prefer Z-Man’s 7.25-inch Mag FattyZ. It doesn’t tear up on me, so I catch a lot more bass on one bait.
I rig the Mag FattyZ on a 1/2-ounce shaky head and fish it with a 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy casting rod, an 8.5:1 gear ratio reel and 16-pound Gamma Fluorocarbon. A lot of guys Texas rig big worms and match them with a 1/4- or 3/8-ounce weight. I prefer the shaky head because I get a better hookup ratio with it than with a Texas rig.
My triple-threat arsenal for the dog days is simple, effective and keeps me in touch with bass during the dog days. I just might work for you as well.
