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What areas of a lake are best to target with swimbaits in summer?

During the summer, bass often retreat to deeper, cooler waters, especially during the hottest parts of the day. When casting swimbaits, you'll want to target areas where bass are likely to be holding or actively feeding. Here are some prime locations to consider:

Deep Water: Look for areas where the depth transitions from shallow to deep, such as drop-offs, ledges, or underwater channels. Bass may suspend in these areas or stay close to the bottom, so a swimbait that can be slow-rolled near the bottom or through the suspended depth where bass are holding is effective.
Main Lake Points: These are great starting points in the morning or during low-light conditions. Bass will often move up to these shallower structures to feed before heading back to deeper water as the sun rises and the water heats up.
Submerged Structures: Features like sunken timber, rock piles, and brush piles in deeper water can be hotspots for summer bass. A swimbait worked around these structures can entice strikes from bass using the cover to ambush prey.
Schooling Bass: If you notice bass chasing baitfish near the surface, especially in open water, casting a swimbait into the fray can yield explosive results. Keep an eye out for surface activity indicating feeding bass.
Offshore Humps and Islands: Bass may relate to these structures in deeper water, so swimbaits that can be counted down to the right depth or worked along the bottom contours can be very effective.

When using swimbaits, consider the clarity of the water and the size of the forage bass are feeding on. In clearer water, more natural presentations are often necessary, and matching the size of the local baitfish can increase your chances of success. For example, as mentioned in the video by BassResource, using a smaller paddle tail swimbait on a 3/8 ounce jighead can mimic the smaller shad that bass are targeting in summer.

Remember to adjust your retrieve based on the activity level of the bass. Sometimes a slow, steady retrieve works best, while other times, varying the speed or incorporating pauses can trigger strikes. Use your electronics to locate schools of bass in deeper water, as this can be crucial for finding those summer hotspots.

Keep these tips in mind, and you'll be well on your way to successful swimbait fishing in the summer. Happy casting!

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Bass Fishing in Extreme Summer Heat! (Best Baits & Locations) by LakeForkGuy → throw that at all depths and kind of hit that same thing with the swim bait really I've got a deep diving jig head in here I've got a three quarter ounce right now but you know a swim bait like this you can you can slow roll it deep you can cast it out if they're kind of busting near the surface and just reel it this is typically for a little better water Clarity but these are some moving bait options that I like to have tied on the spinner bait can be good but I like that more like early morning or if there's a Shad spawn happening or if I'm gotta fish that around some cover some brush and things like that then then I'll pick up this better bait but typically this time of year fish are more out in those deeper spots more open water and these selections right here are pretty good for your moving baits but there's a million moving baits and there's a thousand different ways you can catch fish so this is just my personal preferences on things for most of the Lakes I fish the other thing you must have must have in your selections is some sort of soft plastic dragger baby you gotta have something to crawl around down there with your Plastics whether that be a Shaky Head on a spinning setup or a big worm setup like I have here

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Swimbaits For Summer Bass Fishing | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → At the summertime, I'm using that kind of paddle tail bait. Do you know why? It's they go in deep water, and chasing shad a lot. Also, they are make a schooling especially summertime. So, before fishing deep water, we gotta using the electronics, to found the school. That's most important. Then you gotta choose a little bit compact, small heavyweight swimbait I'm using. I'm using the 3/8 jighead right here with Keitech single impact 3.3. It's a little bit smaller, but they are looking for the little bitty shad. They sometime eating big shad, but I recommend to the 3.3 because it's easy to eat for them. So, that's why I'm using the little bitty swimbait with the tiny, tiny 3/8th jig head. But basically, in the summertime the fish going, it's pretty close to the 20-foot range, so it's okay the quarter ounce, but it take a time... Also, I want to make a kind of reaction bite. So, the heavy-weight jig head make a reaction bite, and make a slow retrieve, and sometimes faster retrieve, and it depends on where the fish are. Then also I'm using the Shimano Zodias 7'2" medium heavy and 14-pound Fluorocarbon Line. But the line, it depends on where you fishing. If you fishing close to the timber, I recommend the 16, yeah, 14, 16. Then if we don't have anything around your fish, I chose the 10, 12-pound fishing line for the baitcasting reel. Then I'm using the Shimano Metanium HG, which is a little high gear ratio.

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Summer Bass Fishing Tips | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → Now where do I target, I target deep water. In the springtime I talked about fishing shallow 12 foot or less. In the summertime I'll do shallow stuff in the mornings and then move straight out to the deep stuff. Because in the morning time those fish will again will be up this main lake points, up on docks and pockets but towards on the main lake. Those fish wanna be relating close to that deep water or those river channels that are in the lake. Some of the baits I like to throw in the morning again a buzz bait, I use it in the spring I also use in the summer. Your first hour or so in the morning in the summer time a bass bait can be deadly. A walking bait again is very awesome. Those are the type baits that you wanna fish in the summertime. Then once the sun gets up water temperature starts to rise I like to go a little bit deeper. And what I like to do with that is go with the shaky head like we have here and get out a little bit deeper with the shaky head or even a big football jig like you have here. A big football jig works great. And another thing deep diving crankbaits, deep diving crankbaits in the summer is way to catch a lot of fish. Because those fish will get out there in that open water and they will school up.

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Where Do Bass Go During Summer? (And How To Catch Them) by TacticalBassin → on what you want or what you're fishing but some kind of of four and a half to five inch swim bait rigged on a swim bait head is money you know these fish are actively feeding they're they're schooled up they're chasing bait they're trying to trying to eat right and they are machines so some kind another blow up getting distracted some kind of swim bait now all of these techniques that i'm talking about here in the near near future matt and i will do completely in-depth uh videos on the swim baits the crank baits the square bills the deep cranks the swing the pivot point football heads all of it we'll do in-depth videos but just wanted to get you guys kind of a a video kind of thinking about summertime out here we're kind of in that transition but get get yourself thinking about summertime get the baits ahead of time the gear you're gonna need because it is coming so deep bait kind of kind of going off track here um if i'm gonna slow down and finesse fish i i keep it fairly simple like i said before these fish are all about grass but more importantly they're all about cover so if you're fishing a highland reservoir or a lowland reservoir that has semi-clear water there's not a lot of offshore structure look at your marinas your houseboats your floating campsites that sort of stuff

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Easy Swimbait Tricks To Catch Big Bass All Summer! by TacticalBassin → and you're in business this bait will fish deeper effectively it's got more weight than the six inch mag draft so this is fishing high in the column this is fishing low in the column that's the difference just depends where you're fishing but again swim bait fishing in the summertime is very simple it is also very effective the three places that I really see it Shine for me is shallow around cover offshore on the color line and then offshore deep on structure be that lead fishing be that fishing tips of main Lake points crawling it over Island tops out in open water but those are the three places where I throw them these are the baits that I throw I keep it very very simple and again you don't need all those I gave you a couple baits in each category so you had a choice it's something you could try but you can just go out there and blast them I mean I A lot of times I've got our awake tied on I've got a burrito tied on I've got the Loose Caboose tied on and I go period and then if I get into a situation where I need to be skipping up under a quick tie a MAG draft on but I I don't complicate it I'm not carrying 50 different baits I'm not carrying 14 kinds of Glide baits this time of year I

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5 Best Lures For Summer Bass Fishing | How To | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → Maybe after a cold front comes through, they're a little bit hesitant to bite. This is a great bait to use during that time. But don't limit yourself to shallow water. This is why this is really good during the summer because you can put it behind a split-shot rig or in a Carolina rig, for example, or even on a jighead. And then you can fish deeper than 10 feet out there on the offshore structure where a lot of bass hang out during the summertime. Those are points, humps, rock piles, channels, even submerged road beds and old sunken houses, foundations, things like that that are out in some of the reservoirs out and around. So great bait to use during the summertime. That's number one. Number two on my list. Number two on my list is a crankbait. Now there are basically four different types of crankbaits. You've got your lipless crankbaits. Those work really well in the summertime. I know they're great in the spring. But in the summer, what I like to do with those is actually throw them out in deeper water and jig them off of the bottom. Throw them out, let them...they vibrate when they fall so a lot of times, the bite is in the fall. But then when they hit the bottom, I pop it off of the bottom, let it sink back down. Pop it up off the bottom. Great way to fish those deeper structure that I just mentioned.

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