The Story of Summer
The summer season's not the same for the Deep
South sportsmen or the Canadian outdoorsmen far north. For some
of us, it is already a bit too hot. Others remain a shade too
cool.
Still, it is undeniably early summer
everywhere! No matter where you are, this coming weekend will be
"just right" to get out on the water. Don't deny it!
Summer is the season of
"just right" for bass. Their biological
systems operate more effectively in summer. There is a period
when water temperatures range from the upper seventies to
mid-eighties when bass thrive best and achieve maximum growth
rates for the year. Not only bass but most everything else in
their world grows rapidly in the warmth of summer. Young fish of
all species spawned in spring are growing as fast as corn in the
field now. Postage stamp-sized bluegills, crappies, shad, and
minnows swarm in dense schools, dimpling the surface in big
sheets of life as evening twilight bathes the waters. Free from
their doting, overprotective dads, schools of rambunctious bass
fry flash and streak recklessly through the shallows each early
daybreak. On the high summer moons, crayfish and other
crustaceans split and shed shells much too tight to contain their
growing summer bodies. Water weed beds bloom thicker and grow
lusher each day. They top out on the surface to provide the cover
required to house the growing population of the summer's
young-of-year of every species.
It's the growing season. Everything
grows in summer. The new young-of-year grow to be big enough to
survive winter (if they can survive the gamefish gauntlet of
fall). The mature adults that have learned the ways to survive
from one year to the next, they also grow in summer.
There's a thing called the
"biomass" and a concept about it says
biomass (barring any calamity) remains relatively the same within
any given body of water. That is, the total lump sum of every
living critter within a certain lake, river or sea - the
"biomass" of life there - will remain the same
regardless of the fluctuations of any particular species. For
example, one year there could be more of species A and B, less of
species C. The next year, there could be a majority of C and less
of species A and B. From year to year, however, the lump sum of
the biomass (adding up all As, Bs, and Cs) remains the same. It
always adds up to a "full house". Without having a much
larger conversation about it, that's the notion of biomass in a
nutshell.
 Now I do think biomass outwardly appears
to vary with the seasons, and biomass visibly expands to look a
whole lot bigger in summer when there are so many young around.
Compare this to winter and spring when a whole lot of the biomass
is carried within the gravid bellies of female fish of every
species. The biomass is not lower then, just a lot's not born
until spring and not swimming around on their own until early
summer. In autumn, thick aquatic vegetation beds die off and
shrink back, exposing the vast populations of young-of-year that
had hidden in the plant growth all summer. Coverless and
vulnerable to heavy predation now, these junior members of the
biomass go back into the bellies of fish again - as food during
voracious fall feeding frenzies. The biomass has not shrunk, just
a good chunk of it is now being locked away into fat stores, much
of which will be converted over winter into eggs for next spring
and next summer's hatch. It is the way the story goes, and who
can say if next spring there will be more of species A, B, or C
but the biomass remains relatively the same "full
house", especially in summer. So that's one chapter in the
story of summer, and it highlights the abundance and importance
of young-of-year in summer.
Let's touch upon another
chapter in this story. In summer, I say there are no
distractions for adult bass like they face in spring and fall.
Bass are quite vulnerable and easy to catch in spring and fall.
In spring, their hormones are raging. They literally "see
red" and ravage everything that falls within striking
distance of their young fry or nests. Even in prespawn, their
blind compulsion is to eradicate any varmint (including your
lure) from their soon-to-be nursery grounds. In autumn, bass
become preoccupied once again. This time they become intent on
instinctively stockpiling stores of fat within their own bodies
to survive the rigors of winter and renewal of next spring. So I
say bass are blinded by their instincts and easily strike out at
our lures in spring and fall. We catch more then. Not so in
summer! Summer bass live well. With so many young-of-year of
every species, food is good and plenty. The weather is stable.
Water temperatures put them at their metabolic peak. All their
sensory systems are heightened and more alert in summer. They
have no distractions like in spring and fall. What they eat is
rapidly converted not into fat as in fall, not into reproductive
systems for spring, but summer's bounty provides for annual
increase in body growth of bones, organs, etc.
Summer. It is a good
time to enjoy being a bass. It's a good time to enjoy being an
angler too! It is a good time to fish brief moments of dawn and
dusk when bass look to waylay young-of-year that become briefly
exposed as they shift from daytime hiding places to nighttime
hiding places. It is a good time to have fun fishing lighter
lines and summer's time to "match the hatch" more
closely than in any other season. |
