Summer fishing tips for panfish, walleye, and bass

Ah, the summer duldrums. Heat. Humidity. Mosquitoes. Warm water. These conditions all make for tough…well, fill-in-the-blank. But if you’re an angler, this time of year is especially challenging. The fish aren’t here. They’re not there. The hot bite on Mother’s Day has gone the way of 98-cent gasoline, meaning it’s nowhere to be found. “Well,” your buddy tells you over day-end beers, “they have to be somewhere. They sure didn’t get up and walk cross-country to better water.” Or, maybe they did. According to your livewell, something happened.

So when the going gets tough during the summer months, do you just forget about fishing and start working on all those garage sale jigsaw puzzles you have stored away? While it might be true the fishing has gotten less-than-easy, there’s no need to pull out those puzzles just yet. Here are some species-by-species tips designed to help you take at least some of the frustration out of what can admittedly be a very frustrating time to try and fool a fish.

In most parts of the U.S., June finds crappie in a post-spawn period. This is when your electronics and the ability to read and decipher the screen truly comes into its own. Immediately after the spawn, what you’re looking for are transition areas, the point where shallow water and deeper water met. Creek channels and the edges of old sunken roads meet this criterium well. Note the transition, that is the change in water depth, needn’t be dramatic; a drop of a foot or two is often enough to concentrate some of these post-spawn fish, especially if structure, e.g. sunken trees or man-made attractors such as pallet beds, is part of the equation.

So, let’s say you’ve found a couple of these shallow-to-deeper transition areas. Your electronics show fish, but, mid-day, you’re having a tough time getting anything interested. Now what?

• Go dawn and dusk. At daybreak and come twilight, the water may be just a degree or two cooler, and the fish a ‘degree or two’ more willing. With crappie, as is often the case with walleye, low or lower light can make a world of difference.
• Downsize everything. This includes your lure, say 1/16  ^th  or 1/32  ^nd  ounce jigs, as well as your line, e.g. #4, rod, and reel.
• Go LIVE. If permissible by regulation, use lively shiners or minnows on light wire Aberdeen style hooks. Though some may disagree, I’m of a mind that nothing catches crappie like live minnows.
• Go artificial (and small). Artificial, yes, but natural in appearance. Minnow imitations get the nod here, but non-minnow plastics, per se, can be hot. Marabou jigs, Freaky Frank’s worms, and smaller (1-1/2” to 2”) twister tail grub, either tightlined or fished under a light slip bobber, can be effective.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Try a variety of soft plastic colors. Throw a tiny crankbait. Work a Mepps ‘Aglia’ inline spinner along the transition line. Tip your marabou jig with a Berkley Crappie Nibble for extra attraction.

Many of the same tactics used for warmer weather crappie will work quite well for big bluegill; however, to me, there’s nothing more enjoyable than targeting slab ‘gills with a fly rod. That said, there are several strategies with which to target summer bluegills, along with a host of helpful tips and tactics such as these.

• Get up early. Like summer crappie, June post-spawn bluegill are often more active and aggressive during the cooler times of the day, i.e. first light and sunset. That’s not to say they can’t be caught mid-day; however, there’s a good chance the fishing will be better and the day much more comfortable for you prior to a rise in the mercury.
• (Repeat) Downsize. Ultralight rods such as the Carbon R1 from Piscifun at 6’6” and rated at a ‘fast action’ for baits and lures down to 1/16  ^th  ounce are tailormade for these warm water often finicky panfish. Matched to a 1000 series reel spooled with #2 fluorocarbon line, such an outfit can allow for the ultimate in natural presentations.
• On the fly. Whether it’s an early morning surface ‘hopper imitation, or a mid-morning mid-depth ant, hellgrammite, or minnow, fly tackle and the appropriate fly gear can prove just what the doctor ordered when it comes to fooling big summer ‘gills. True, there’s a bit of a learning curve should one be new to fly tackle; however, the benefits more than outweigh the time spent educating yourself.
• Don’t forget about natural bait. Crickets. Grasshoppers. Garden ‘wigglers’ or redworms. Small minnows. Mealworms. For panfish, natural baits never go out of style, and most can be fished as simply as one wishes, whether that be under a sensitive quill style bobber or worked throughout the water column on a drop-shot rig.

But don’t forget about artificials. Inline spinners, tiny crankbaits, marabou jigs, or Beetle Spin-esque twister tail/blade combinations can all be parts of an effective bluegill ‘tool box’ at times. One benefit of these and other artificials is the amount of water that can be covered, both vertically as well as horizontally. Remember to go small.

A nomadic species, walleye can be notoriously tough to track down, especially as water temperatures rise throughout the summer months. And even when they’re found, ‘eyes can prove challenging in terms of what they will or won’t strike; however, these words of advice can help take some of the frustration out of the process.

• Find the structure. Find the forage. Find the fish. Learn and then trust in your electronics to help you find critical fish-holding structure such as creek channels, rock piles, humps, and defined weedlines, especially those adjacent to deeper cooler water. Forage, too, e.g. gizzard shad or alewives, can be located electronically; often, walleye will be hovering nearby taking advantage of the convenient food source.
• Go nocturnal. Fire up the Coleman lanterns, make certain all your batteries are fully charged, and hit the water after sunset. A light-sensitive species, walleye will often become more active after dark, and will often move into shallower water on their nightly hunting forays. Now’s the time to target them with swimbaits and stealth in five to eight feet of water.
• Jigging up summer ‘eyes. There’s an art to working a jig correctly, but once you’ve mastered it, there’s few better ways to fool summer walleye. Adjust the weight to the water conditions, with 1/8  ^th  to 5/8  ^th  ounce being move common. Plastics, i.e. swimbaits or grubs, are durable and deadly; however, it’s sometimes best to adorn a stinger hook-rigged jig with a lively minnow, ‘crawlers, or leech. Fish jigs slowly, probing any variation in bottom structure thoroughly before moving on.

Dragging spinners and plugs. To find fish, it’s often necessary to cover large areas of potential holding water. Trolling spinners, e.g. bladed ‘crawler harnesses, and diving plugs like Berkley’s Flicker Minnow in sizes #7-9-11, can provide that coverage and help located schools of roaming ‘eyes. Need to get a little deeper into those cooler waters? Now’s the time to experiment with old school leadcore line and fluorocarbon leaders. Hint Hint!

To me, largemouth bass are a summer fish, so catching them during June and moving forward really shouldn’t – NOTE: Shouldn’t – pose a problem; however, you can improve your odds of success by following a relatively simple game plan.

• Mornings are for topwater. Not only are mornings typically cooler for all involved, fish and fisherman like, they’re the perfect opportunity to give topwater a try. Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, frogs, or good old-fashioned hard plugs like Hula Poppers, Jitterbugs, and Heddon ‘Torpedoes’ can also be effective. And that topwater strike? Just explosive.
• Fish in the shade. Shaded water is cooler water, and overhead structure provides bass some protection from avian predators such as ospreys and eagles. Skipping plastics under docks. Flipping spider jigs under shoreline trees. Drop-shotting short rubber ‘crawlers at the edge of visible weedlines. Target the shade, especially mid-day, and you’ll find your fish.