Summertime Kayak Bassin’
By Justin Largin
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Spring has arrived for much of the country, and in some southern states, summertime is right around the corner. Summer is one of my favorite times to get out on the water in a kayak. The weather is beautiful. No more heavy winter jackets, frozen guides, or cold fingers and toes. Stable summer weather also makes the fish relatively predictable. Sure, there are still fronts, but they don’t seem to negatively impact the fishing like in springtime. Also, warmer water temps speed up a fish’s metabolism, meaning that they need to feed more frequently. Summer is just a great time to fish.
Before jumping into some ideas for catching big summertime bass, I want to address some important safety considerations. It goes without saying that you should always wear a PFD when kayak fishing. Sure, it can be uncomfortable in the heat, but it is a necessity. According to a US Coast Guard report, there were over 500 boating-related drownings in 2020, and 450 of the victims were not wearing a lifejacket. Don’t risk becoming a statistic. Stohlquist and NRS make great PFDs designed for fishing, but there are plenty of other USCG-approved options on the market. Also, make sure your PFD fits correctly and is properly fastened or zipped. It won’t help you if it comes off. Attaching a safety flag to your kayak is another no brainer. Summertime brings out an armada of jet skiers and other recreational boaters, and the flag will help them see you.
Hydration is extremely important in the summer months. I recommend bringing a gallon of water for full day trips. You also need to force yourself to drink the water throughout the day, even if you don’t feel thirsty. If you’ve ever experienced heat exhaustion or seen someone else pass out in the heat, you know it’s a scary deal. One of the best investments I made a few years ago were two 64 oz. tumblers. I take both with me in the summer and enjoy ice cold water all day, regardless of the air temp. Some companies even make gallon-sized tumblers. Trust me, a tumbler is infinitely better than drinking hot water from a plastic jug.
Another often-overlooked consideration for the summer is your skin. Prolonged exposure to the sun can result in nasty sunburn or, even worse, skin cancer. There are two ways to combat this, sunscreen and lightweight clothing. For me sunscreen is annoying. It makes a greasy mess, and you have to reapply throughout the day. I don’t like the smell or the residue left on my hands. Instead, I opt for long sleeves, long pants, sun gloves, buffs, hats and hoods. It looks uncomfortable and unbearably hot to wear long sleeves and pants, but it can actually be cooler than having direct sun on your skin. Also, there are a lot of companies offering lightweight fabrics, some that even cool when you sweat. I recommend buying several pairs of gloves and buffs. After one or two wears, they can start to stink. It’s nice to have a second pair for those multi-day trips.
Now for the fun part, how to catch summertime bass. A lot of people like to fish deep in the summer. They’re not wrong; a significant portion of the population will move to cooler, deeper water. You can find big schools on deep structure, and it can be very productive. That said, you can still catch bass shallow throughout the summertime if you know what to look for. I’m more comfortable close to the bank, and since most of the other fisherman will be out deep, the shallows are where I start.
You might already know that one of your best options is to fish early or late in the day. Temps are more pleasant, and the fish are more likely to be active. You can catch fish on topwater lures or other moving baits and cover lots of water. Once the sun gets up, many fish will head back deep, but not all. One of my favorite things to do in the middle of the day is target shade. Just like us, on a hot day the fish will gravitate toward the shade because the temperature is significantly cooler. Fish will use shade from docks, overhanging trees, or even the shady side of a big rock. By targeting the shadiest section of whatever cover is available, you can be extremely efficient. You might make one or two casts to a dock instead of five to ten. Then it’s on to the next target.
Another option for shallow water success, look for spawning sunfish. Bluegill and other sunfish will typically start to spawn in early summer, not long after bass fry hatch and disperse. Bass love to eat sunfish, and big bass will target them when they are spawning. Sunfish beds are pretty easy to spot if you have moderately clear water. They are circular craters, similar to bass beds, but a little smaller. Typically, there will be several beds in a cluster, just inches apart. This bedding area can be the size of a coffee table or stretch twenty yards long. I’ve seen as many as fifty bluegill in a nesting area.
You won’t find bass near every bedding area, but the ones you do find will typically be in the three to five pound range. They often sit on the deeper side of the beds, sometimes on a drop off and out of sight. Other times they’ll be in a shade patch or holding by a piece of cover near the bluegill nests. One of my favorite ways to catch them is with a prop bait. Just cast over the beds and let it sit. There are times when they’ll eat it while it’s floating motionless. Other times you’ll have to trigger them with a twitch or two. I’ve also caught some big bass on a swimbait, like a Jackall Gantarel. I typically work the bait very slowly around the nest. I’ll stop it al let it float to the surface, then swim it a few feet and let it float again. You want it to look like an easy meal.
If they won’t commit to the topwater or the swimbait, I’ll follow up with a wacky rigged worm. The Missile 48 is my go-to. I’ll throw it weightless or on a 1/16 oz weighted wacky hook. It has a seductive fall, and the plastic is more durable than some other stickbaits. Don’t be discouraged if the bass are tight-lipped after your initial presentations. I’ll come back to a big fish multiple times throughout the day. It’s hard to know what triggers them, but those fish will sometimes bite the same baits they snubbed earlier in the day.
Something else to consider for summertime bassin’, spend some time on river systems. Places like the Tidal Potomac River can be phenomenal in summer. I like to take my Hobie Outback to the very backs of the tributaries. Some of these creeks are fed by free-flowing streams that have cooler water. Those cooler areas can be magnets for the bass. Focus on typical tidal habitat in these backwaters. Wood cover, pads, milfoil and other grasses are all good targets. Swim jigs can be a great lure choice for higher tides, when the grass is below the surface. You want the bait to contact the grass without bogging down in it. I typically start with a 5/16 oz Missile Mini Swim Jig and go lighter or heavier depending on the water depth or grass height. You can also use different trailers to vary the running depth of the jig. A swimbait style trailer like the Missile Shockwave (3.5) has less drag than a twin tail grub like the Missile Twin Turbo, so it will run a little deeper. Switching to the Twin Turbo or D-Chunk will make the same jig run closer to the surface. Speaking of the surface, when you find vegetation laying over on the surface, it’s time to break out the frogs. Fish will sit under the canopy and blast through it to eat a floating frog or toad-style bait. These can be some of the best visual strikes of the year. A word of caution, be mindful of the tides when navigating backwaters so that you don’t get stuck. Dragging your kayak across a sandbar is no fun.
Lastly, don’t overlook free-flowing rivers this summer. They can be fantastic for smallmouth and largemouth bass. Smallmouth can typically be caught in faster moving water where the oxygen levels are high. Cast to slack pockets or current breaks along riffles. Willow grass and springs feeding into the river can be other good areas to try in summer. You can draw explosive strikes on walking baits like a Zara Spook Jr. Swimming grubs or swimbaits at mid-depths and working small jigs or worms along the bottom can result in dozens of hard-fighting smallmouth. Largemouth will sometimes hold in the same areas as smallmouth, but I like to target them in slower moving sections of the river around laydowns. You won’t get as many bites chasing the largemouth, but there are some bruisers in Virginia rivers.
Don’t let the heat keep you off the water this summer. Drink lots of water, wear the proper sun protection, and don’t be afraid to chase bass in the shallows. The long summer days bring some fantastic fishing opportunities.