Summery Fishing Summary

By Russ Bassdozer

Hi. It's Russ Bassdozer here. Let me ask you, has your fishing been in a dog daze lately? The August doldrums are here, what we call the "dog days" of summer. If your fishing's fallen off, try some of these hot weather tips and tactics. Please enjoy!

In spring, bass protecting their progeny will swipe at any lure that intrudes onto their nursery grounds. In autumn, bass are impulsive eaters, layering on lard to last them the winter. In between spring and fall, are these the:

• Best or Worst of Times? It's Summer

Young of year (the mini me's) of every species, abound during summer. It may be time for you to try mini lures to match the hatch this summer. Indeed, smaller baits than during any other season is chapter one in:

• The Story of Summer

Yet another chapter in our summer story may be speeding up a bait to match a fish's heightened metabolism in summer. Make no mistake, bass will chase the fastest-moving lures in the hottest water. I've long held a theory that color can be a trigger in cool water, but haste in hot water does not make waste:

• Hot and Cool Aggressive Baits

Use aggressive colors (bubblegum, chartreuse are examples) in cool water, but when the long hot days of summer are in season, it's time to dress your baits in:

• Summer Greens and Browns

I call a spinnerbait the Swiss army blade bait because it's such a multi-purpose tool. You can fish it from top to bottom, fast to slow, in tight cover and in open water, day or night. You can alter it instantly by changing the blades and the skirt. Six cool tips for using spinnerbaits on hot summer days are yours in this:

• Hot Summer Six Pack

A solid summer spinnerbait pattern is fishing the windward shoreline in a breeze. While on your way to the fridge to grab another cool one, could you:

• Fetch Me a Breeze Please

On August days when there just isn't any wind or any relief from the sweltering sun, it's time to head for:

• Deep Summer Points with Jigs

Of course, there's always night time. Instead of snoozing, why not get out there? I'd say in my life that I have fished more hours at night than by day, and I have caught more bigger bass at night. But before you go, George and Scott Welcome, fishing guides on Florida's fabled Stick Marsh, have a primer on night fishing safety for you at:

• Night Fishing Safety

One of my most effective night strategies is to plow buzzbaits and spinnerbaits in grass at night. Ply the lush  fringe edge of the green weed beds after dark. Let me teach you how to:

• Plow the Grass Prairies at Night

In calm open water areas, whether shallow or deep, surface swimmers can be devastating at night. This is a type of bait that bass rarely see, wooden or plastic baits with metal or plastic lips, fished on the surface. They roll or waddle, leaving a wake. Learn all about:

• Waking Surface Swimmers at Night

An Arbogast Jitterbug is a unique form of topwater lure, really in a class unto itself. Whereas a daytime angler can find success with so many topwaters (poppers, chuggers, Sammy, Spook, etc.), all these fly-by-day topwaters lose much of their effectiveness at night. Only the Jitterbug reigns supreme as the late night topwater king:

• Give Night Bass the Jitters

If fishing at night isn't for you, then the two twilight times are "second best" in summer, especially those specific dates when sunrise/sunset coincides with moonrise/moonset. In 2003, on August 10th to 14th and again from the 25th to 29th. It couldn't hurt you to be on the water fishing good cover or structure with baitfish present for the twilight hour before sunrise and hour after sunset. You know I will surely be there then. Check the key:

• Solar / Lunar Times for Any State

Now, if you tell me you can't catch a dog day bass during August on any of the tactics above? Well, just like in that little song they wrote, don't worry, be happy because the start of the fall feeding frenzy is only a few short weeks away!