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How does extreme heat affect bass behavior?
Extreme heat can significantly impact the behavior of bass, and understanding these changes can help you adjust your fishing strategies effectively. Based on the video context from "THIS Is What Hot Weather Does To A Bass" by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat, here's a detailed breakdown:
Thermocline and Deep Water Behavior
- Thermocline Formation: During the hottest part of the summer, many lakes develop a thermocline, which is a distinct layer in the water column where the temperature changes rapidly with depth. This usually occurs between 15 to 30 feet deep.
- Oxygen Levels: Bass generally prefer to stay above the thermocline because the oxygen levels are higher. While they can go below it, the oxygen-depleted water makes it less favorable.
- Deep Water Fishing: In lakes with a strong thermocline, bass may suspend just above it. If the thermocline is weak or breaking up, bass might be found on the bottom in 15 to 30 feet of water.
Shallow Water Behavior
- Shallow Water Feeding: Interestingly, during extreme heat, some bass move to very shallow waters. This is often because they are following their food sources, such as spawning bluegills and perch, which inhabit these areas.
- Super Shallow Hot Water: Even when water temperatures approach 90 degrees, bass can be found in extremely shallow water. This is contrary to the common belief that bass avoid shallow waters during the hottest parts of the summer.
- Targeting Shallow Bass: Fishing in shallow, hot water can be productive. Techniques like pitching and flipping jigs or using small crankbaits around shallow rocks or wood can yield good results. Clear water visibility is less of a concern in these conditions.
Misconceptions
- Dog Days of Summer: There's a myth that bass are less active and harder to catch during the peak heat of summer, and that you need to fish early in the morning. However, bass can be caught throughout the day, even in the hottest conditions, by targeting the right areas and using appropriate techniques.
Practical Tips
- Adjust Your Strategy: Depending on the lake and the presence of a thermocline, you might need to choose between deep water and super shallow water fishing.
- Observe Water Clarity and Temperature: Pay attention to water clarity and temperature, as these factors influence where bass are likely to be found.
- Follow the Food: Bass often follow their prey, so understanding the behavior of bluegills and perch can help you locate bass.
If you have more specific conditions or a particular lake in mind, feel free to provide more details, and I can offer more tailored advice. Happy fishing!
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Transcript
Video01:07
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THIS Is What Hot Weather Does To A Bass by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → affects bass and heat when we're talking about heat specifically we're talking about water temperatures in the middle of the summer when it gets really hot now a lot of it has to do with weather patterns because you know certain summers you just are just hotter than others there's other factors that play into that like with water levels in correlation with the with the water temperatures but here's basically what happens uh for the most part you know as far as in the summertime when you're dealing with heat there's two different elements to it you've got some lakes that stratify and develop thermoclines some lakes do have a real definitive thermocline some lakes sort of have a weak thermocline some lakes don't have a thermocline but what usually happens and for the most part this is around july somewhere when that surface temperature starts getting you know really warm you have different you know variations and in layers of water temperature you develop a thermocline usually anywhere between 15 to 30 feet deep depending upon a lot of different variables that occurs during the hottest part of the summer now not that bass can't go below that thermocline but for the most part they like to sort of stay above it because oxygen levels a little bit better that's one of the primary things that how heat affects bass in the summer on the deeper fish but the point of this video here is
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Video02:26
05:02
THIS Is What Hot Weather Does To A Bass by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → i wanted to talk about how heat affects shallow water bass shallow water target oriented bass because in my opinion that plays more of an impact as far as what happens when you're dealing with hot water hot temperatures hot water is there it's sort of like a a paradox a little bit you know you've got some some of those bass that are out deep suspended out of deeper water but at the same time in the hottest part of the summer when it's the air temperature is the hottest and it's just stagnant and sticky and super hot those water temperatures sometimes approach 90 degrees that guys is when i catch some of the shallowest bass of the year that's when they get super super shallow and it doesn't really matter what the water clarity is when that water temperature gets 90 degrees there's something about those of the bass the the portion of the bass the percentage of the bass in the lake will live in that super shallow water all summer long and they do that but for food because most of the time a lot of those bass are feeding on spawning bluegills spawning perch those perks are spawning in that shallow water all summer long usually from about june until you know into september so a lot of these fish that live in that super shallow hot water are bluegill feeders and with the variations as far as you know how the
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Video04:58
07:34
How Unseasonably Warm Winter Days Affect Bass Behavior by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → give you guys is if you go fishing during one of these super warm days like this just pretend it's not warm continue to fish the same type of winter areas that you traditionally fish in and we're talking about deeper point ins and sides bluff banks fishing for suspended fish fishing deeper docks that type of stuff those fish are still going to be there they're not going to react to the increased temperature because it's not really going to increase the water surface temperature up that much because normally even though you have a warm day like we have today it still cools off in the night it may warm up a little bit more than what you think in the daytime but it's not like it stays warm at night too and another factor with that to consider is that in the winter time of the year you know bass have seasonal movements and seasonal personalities that they have and in my opinion the water temperature is not as important many times of the year as the daylight hours when you have decreasing daylight hours like we're coming up on the winter solstice in about three weeks we're gonna have some of the shortest days of the year over the next two or three weeks here and bass react to that and they they react more to the daylight hours than they do to the water temperatures and they're a complex creature i mean
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Video06:02
08:22
THIS Is What Hot Weather Does To A Bass by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → bass is in the heat of the day it was brighter than brighter the better in my opinion i've just got tons of fish like that so the point of the video is um when you're dealing with the hottest part of summer which has come will be coming up within the next month or so next three weeks next month you've got two options you've got an option of either fishing in and around that thermocline usually for suspended fish sometimes if you have lakes that don't have a real definitive thermocline or the thermocline starting to break up those same fish will get on the bottom 15 to 30 foot water that's one option and then you have another option of fishing that's super skinny shallow water and in my opinion most of the lakes across the country you have about probably a 60 40 mix i think about 60 of the bass in the summer time live out in that deeper water regardless of the water clarity and i think about 40 percent of the bass will live shallow regardless of the water clarity so um anyway i hope that sort of gave you guys a little bit of insight to what hot weather or hot water does to the bass so anyway guys thanks for tuning in we'll be with you guys all week long we're gonna be heading back to missouri on monday but i'll be putting out a couple
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06:02
The Disturbing Thing I Saw At Lake Of The Ozarks Yesterday by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → understand because when you're talking about abnormally warm Waters you're talking about something that affects the entire food chain and the entire life cycle it's not just the bass it's not just the bass reacting to the warmer water it's everything it's the algae it's the Plankton it's the zooplankton it's the it's the minnows it's the you know just the microscopic you know plan and animal life in the water every single aspect has affected to some extent as far as their biorhythm so from that point you know I think a lot of it is speculation on how it exactly influences them but one thing that I do know is how it affects fish movement fish behavior and how the fish bite now there's a couple different factors to consider here first of all water temperature and air temperature is only one factor when you're determining bass moving through their seasonal patterns the other factors sometimes just as important are like the decreasing daylight hours you know the daylight hours are getting shorter by you know a minute and a half or so almost two minutes a day so when you have those type of those cycles that occur throughout different seasons I think a lot of that the bass react to that instinctually and eternally and the water temperature may affect them in in ways that are not quite as as severe as those things like the shorter daylight hours or the the different sunlight angles
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Video04:53
07:09
THIS Is What Hot Weather Does To A Bass by Intuitive Angling With Randy Blaukat → as far up the river as i can i'm pitching and flipping that jig or throwing a small crank bait like that mega bass z2 or even a square bill around any shallow rock or wood in that super shallow water and it it doesn't it doesn't matter if it's like not a breath of air and bright sun if you've got water visibility of like four to six inches and you've got water temperatures of 90 degrees you can still catch a bunch of fish i can't tell you guys how many fish that i caught on the upper reaches like at the nyosha river grand lake in the middle of the summer when it's so hot you got sweat pouring down off you that water temperature is close to 90 degrees and these good fish will be on that shallow dirty water around those lay downs in a foot or two water so um i think a lot of there's a misconception that occurred for many many years that people say oh you got the dog days of summer and you know the bass just they don't bite very good when it's get real hot and that you've got to get out early in the morning to catch them that is a huge myth right there guys that was one of the biggest myths in fishing is that you had to get out early in the morning to catch summertime bass my favorite time to catch summertime
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