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Not Always By The Book

Fishing early and late in the day for summertime bass is the standard advise given to anglers who don't enjoy fishing deep with Carolina and Texas-rigged plastic baits, deep-diving crankbaits, or drop-shot rigs.

If you fish during the heat and bright sun of a summer day, conditions are supposed to drive bass into deep water for the majority of the day, or at least cause them to suspend over deep water.

This Banner Marsh bass hit a crankbait while taking advantage of a shallow feeding situation during a bright summer day.

Conventional wisdom dictates that summer brings hot water temperatures that cause bass to locate in deeper water, but anglers need to check the temperature instead of assuming that 90 degree air temperatures have increased water temperature to that level.

Water levels are often low by mid-summer, as has been the case during the last two years of drought in Illinois. Much of the shoreline cover is inaccessible to bass and this is another factor in bass moving to deeper water.

Summer water color is often clearer after springtime rains have subsided, provided that algae blooms haven't been severe, and clear water causes bass to often seek a deep-water home.

August 16, I headed to Banner West for some daytime, summer bass fishing, fully expecting to be fishing deep water during most of the day. The day was bright and cloudless, air temperatures were in the low to mid-80's, and winds were less than 5 mph from the south. These conditions and my mid-morning start seemed to point to bass being in deep water.

The sun was well up in the sky when I launched at 9:30 and I found that the water temperature was a surprisingly low 82 degrees. Placing a white lure underwater revealed that the water color was murky since the lure was only visible one to two feet deep.

I headed for a long ridge that juts far into the lake near the south end, wondering why one angler that I passed was flipping such shallow water.

I had rods rigged with crankbaits, Carolina and Texas rigs, and a jig and trailer combination, but upon arriving at the ridge I soon saw schools off baitfish swimming just under the service. After a few cast with a crankbait I realized that there was plenty of weed cover on top of the ridge.

Banner lakes contain a variety of shallow cover, including lily pads, stumps, laydowns, weeds, beaver dams, rip rap, and standing timber. However, below 10-12 feet, there are huge areas of relatively barren rock due to strip mining. The vast majority of cover is located in shallow water.

Bass hit a 10-inch worm but wouldn't bite the smaller 7-inch size. A shallow-diving crankbait and jig and trailer combination also caught bass.

I decided to start with a shallow crankbait because of the reasonable water temperature, murky water color, and presence of weed cover and baitfish on the ridge. I couldn't imagine why bass would have to be in deep water, despite the time of year, bright sky, and lack of wind.

The bass had good water temperature and color, cover, and baitfish present. What else could they need?

Before long I hooked up with a 16 1/2-inch bass on a shallow-running parrot-colored (yellow/blue back) Bomber Square A crankbait. The fish was 25 yards from shore, but in less than five feet of water.

I caught a couple more small fish before the angler that I had passed came around the point and began fishing a buzzbait near the shoreline edge of the ridge, causing me to chuckle at his super-shallow presentation. My humor subsided after seeing him boat several nice bass near the shallow, matted weeds.

The conclusion was obvious and not "by the book," but the fish were shallow and they were feeding.

When the shallow crankbait bites stopped, I drifted to the deeper edges of the ridge and fished a Berkley 7-inch, tequila sunrise Power worm and various colors of Carolina-rigged lizards, but had no bites.

I went farther south to another smaller ridge that extends from the opposite shore and fished around the deeper edges with the soft plastic baits and cast shallower with the Bomber crankbait. Neither presentation got any bites, but a 17-inch bass hit a black jig with black/blue trailer against a stump in two feet of water at the shoreline.

I spent the next two hours fishing shoreline wood with the Power worm and jig, but had no hits so I headed back to the shallow, weedy ridge with baitfish present.

I caught three 14 to 16-inch fish on the shallow crankbait and switched my Texas rig to a 10-inch black-grape Berkley Sqwormer worm with red and green fleck. I wanted to see if the larger bait would get bit in the murky water and soon a 16 1/2-inch bass hit after a cast into a pod of baitfish located near the surface in three feet of water.

After a couple more fish on the 10-inch worm from beaver dams on the way back to the ramp, I called it a day at 2:30. I had caught bass on a shallow crankbait, 10-inch plastic worm, and jig and trailer, but all had come from less than eight feet of water on a sunny August day.

The bass had moderate water temperatures, murky water color, weedy cover, and baitfish to keep them shallow. The day had been another lesson in not making assumptions about bass location, not taking water temperatures and water color for granted, and not doing everything "by the book."