"From Weeds to Wood"

Summers Transition

Heavy Spring rains and winter run off bring our nations rivers, lakes and reservoirs to above normal levels every year. As Summer sets in the rainfall switches from massive fronts with torrential downpours to squalls that have little or no affect on the water table and it settles to normal pool levels by July or August.

When the water table and temperature go up vegetation starts it's annual process of growth and the fish rely heavily on these areas of grass for food and cover before they spawn and they return to these areas after the spawn to recuperate and feed up for the dog days of summer. But what happens in the months of July and August is the water returns to normal levels and the vegetation dies or becomes so shallow underneath that fish vacate most or some of these areas.

For example in my last article we talked about swimming a tube over main river vegetation for big bass, well since then the water has dropped about 1 to 2 feet and most of my grass is high and dry or dead.  When this happens I make Summers transition with the fish and go to the wood. This type of structure and presentation also happens to be my favorite way to fish.

Now the super heavy braided line and jigs or creature baits come out and I concentrate on fishing 3 to 5 feet of water on wood in the main river. Believe it or not the fish you were catching a month ago are pretty easy to locate if you find the nearest wood with deep water near by.

My records also indicate that by staying a bit deeper the quality of fish certainly increases. I can fish 1 to 2 feet deep around wood and catch plenty of keeper fish but when I back out and get into the current they grow a lot. To increase your chances even more see if you can locate wood in the area's of vegetation you normally fish. This goes back to article one when the water is low you find new pieces of cover.

As you can see everything with fishing kind of cycles or coincides with one another. Bass roam….but in my opinion they do not move very far. They spend as little energy as possible and move to the nearest type of cover that suits their needs. Wood may not be the only type of cover present for your fish to move to…it may be rocks or docks or a submerged ditch that swings close to your favorite area of vegetation.

So the next time you are out on the water and a pattern has dried up don't move all over the lake in search of new fish rather take the time to find out where the fish you had been catching have moved to. I would be willing to bet you they have not gone far at all. Remember to keep only what you can use and release the big ones so their genetics can infect you body of water for years to come. God Bless and Tight Lines!!