Florida Largemouth Bass Summer Fishing
During the peak of summer when the heat is strongest, the bass move to cooler, shady water close to the bottom. The only time they feed on the surface is on windy, overcast days or under low-light conditions.
Depending on the geographic location, summer Florida Largemouth bass fishing conditions last between 2 and 6 months. The fish and lakes have established warm-water patterns, spawning is complete, plant growth has matured and the lake ecosystem is at its growing peak.
Summer is the easiest time to catch the Florida Largemouth.
Most bass are found in the same waters as the fodder fish and recently hatched schools of forage fry. Best conditions have varying bottom compositions of mud to rock and ranging from 4 to 20 feet deep.
Where You’ll Find Them Feeding
- The bass will be hunting on the deep side of weed beds. Bass frequent feeding areas surrounded with pockets of plant growth that offer shade, protection, and excellent hunting.
- Underwater structures provide bass with cover and are the best spots for catching the Florida Largemouth.
- Think about the angle of the sun and the shadows cast from the weed beds to determine where to work your lures. Your best bet is to fish in the outer edges of weed beds, moving with the shadows as the sun changes position throughout the day. Bass don’t spend their time in the sunny areas.
- They spend most of their time in the shady areas of structures.
Fishing Techniques
- In muddy water, present your bait in quick jumps along the deep side of the structure
- In clear water, slowly crawl it through open pockets in the weeds.
- With floating weed beds, hook a 6 or 8 inch golden shiner at the base of its tale and coax it to swim under the weed bed. This technique hooks big bass that like the cooler shallow waters. However, it can also land you Northern Pike.
Copy the pattern of a wounded baitfish using a minnow and a bobber.
Florida Largemouth are very quick to pick up on these sonic signatures. The best way to do this is to lightly hook the minnow under its back fin. Place the bobber above the minnow with enough line in between to allow the minnow to reach inches from the bottom. Add enough weight to let the minnow swim to the surface and drift downwards and therefore imitate a wounded bait fish.
On hot summer afternoons, use dead shiners with spinnerbaits. Hook a large dead shiner through both lips on a mid to large treble hook with a tail.
Best lures to use for hot summer days
On these hot summer days, fish the bottom areas with plastic worms, jig-and-minnow combinations or slow-moving spinnerbaits. However in muddy water use crankbaits. But only use these in muddy water or you risk startling the fish.
In clear conditions fish feed predominantly by sight. Avoid using rattle-type lures in these conditions.
How to Fish with Spinnerbaits
- Bass approach spinnerbaits from the side. And as such, the hits feel soft.
- Any movement on spinnerbaits should be answered with a quick pull to set the hook.
- To enhance the action of the spinnerbait, add a stinger, a trailer hook – a No. 2/0 or larger, with a large eye over the point and barb of the hook on the lure.
Bass prefer lures that are still-fished and barely moved. When the lure is moved, drag it very slowly and cover barely an inch at a time. It’s likely that a bass has struck the lure when a change in pressure and line tension occurs, or when the line is lightly twitched and tapped.
Some anglers choose weighted worm lures to easily set the hook after a strike, and use stronger 17 lb test line in obstruction filled waters.
Topwater lures are the most popular and easy to fish. They can be used in all depths, thrown into pockets of weeds, twitched, or left unmoving.
Larger bass may quietly strike a lure, while smaller bass cause explosive surface strikes. A large bass will swim beneath the sitting lure, and pull the lure into its mouth with the movement of its gills. These strikes are easy to miss because the fish leaves behind only a small surface whirlpool in its wake.
Anglers fishing with topwater lures require a lot of patience. Many bass strike a lure left sitting unmoved for more than 2 or 3 minutes.
