Technically summer just started about a week ago, but it already feels like the middle of summer and so I thought I’d take a minute and go over a few of my favorite lures at the moment. None of the lures I’m going to mention are new and you can find them all in my lures page if you would like more information about any of them.
Lure #1 – The Drop Shot
The first lure I’m going to mention is the drop shot. In terms of numbers the drop shot has been one of my top rigs and while it’s effective all year, it’s especially useful in the middle of the summer when it gets hot and a lot of the fish end up hanging out near the bottom of the pond or lake you are at. Most of the spots I fish at have a good amount of cover around and as a result I prefer to use a weedless drop shot. For lures I typically go with a 6″ worm in the warmer months, however I still like to keep a 4″ shad type of lure available as a backup and here’s a pic of a redbug sensei which is what I’ve got tied on my drop shot rod right now:
Tying a drop shot can be time consuming and so I’ll also keep a shakey head handy as a backup since it will work with the same rod and reel setup and doesn’t take as long to tie on. You could even use the same worm for the shakey head, although I personally like to use different worms when I’m throwing one.
Lure #2 – The Jig
Another lure that I like in the summer is a jig. You typically won’t catch as many fish with a jig, but when you do get a fish it will usually be bigger and so this is a great lure to bring along and then switch to after you’ve caught a couple with the drop shot. You can also pitch and flip a jig around shallow cover which makes it useful if you end up finding fish that are near a bank or a boat dock or anything like that. There are a ton of different types of jigs out there but I usually keep it simple and go with a 3/8oz jig if I’m at a pond and a 1/2oz jig if I’m at a lake with deeper water.
Lure #3 – The Crankbait
In this case when I say a crankbait I’m referring to a deep diving crankbait that gets down to the 15′ – 20′ range. My favorite right now in this category is the Strike King 6XD, however there are several others that I’m trying out as this is one of my favorite ways to catch fish and I’ve found there are days when a crankbait just seems to outproduce everything else. The fish aren’t as active in the middle of the summer so most moving lures don’t seem to do as well for me, however for some reason the fish just seem to continue to want a crankbait and you can either try to fish it so it hits the bottom every once in a while or you can just reel it and then mix in short pauses periodically. This lure is especially effective in larger bodies of water when you have a fish finder or forward facing sonar or anything like that with you and know where the fish are at and how deep they are in the water column.
Lure #4 – The Frog
If you are at a pond or lake where there’s a lot of grass in it and it’s early in the morning or late in the day and starting to get dark (or if it’s just cloudy outside) then chances are this is a good time to throw a topwater frog. In my case some of the ponds around here get so much grass in them that there aren’t many other options so I actually started throwing this lure out of necessity, but I’m glad I found it since catching fish on a frog is a lot of fun. My personal favorite right now is the Berkley Swamp Lord, and you can go with the popping version if the grass isn’t too bad and there’s still some open water around, or if it’s mostly or completely covered then you can go with the regular version. You can also use one any time of day and still catch fish, but I’ve personally had the best results in the early morning right around sunrise or if it’s cloudy and the visibility is lower.
Lure #5 – The Big Worm
The last lure that I like to use a lot during the summer is a big worm, which is really just a large texas rig with a worm like a Zoom Ol’ Monster on it. The beauty of this lure is you can use it just about anywhere. If they are out deep you can throw it at them and then hop or just drag it along the bottom. If they are up shallow it’s fairly weedless so you can just throw it around cover or right into the cover if it isn’t too thick. You can also toss it out there and then swim it back to you and cover any part of the water column. In terms of colors I keep it simple and usually just go with redbug or junebug if the visibility is lower. You could also go down to a regular size texas rig worm if they don’t seem to be interested in a bigger profile, but I’ve personally found that a larger worm like the Ol’ Monster does well in the warmer months.
Lure #6 – The Lipless Crankbait
The last lure I’ve got tied on right now is a lipless crankbait. A lot of people seem to prefer this lure in the spring, but I’ve found it can be very effective in the summer months since you can hop it along the bottom in deeper water, but you can also use a stop and go retrieve higher up in the water column and that approach can do very well…especially if you are around grass as this lure seems to perform a little better for me when I’m around grass than a regular crankbait with a bill on it. Notice I said ‘around grass’…what I mean by that is I might hit the grass with it occasionally, but I’m not throwing one right into the middle of it. Having said that I usually end up hopping one along the bottom in deeper water this time of year. You could also throw something like a flutter spoon and do that, but I’m in a kayak and a flutter spoon isn’t as versatile so I prefer to use a lipless crankbait to do this since I usually just take three or four rods with me.
There are plenty of other lures that you can throw during the summer and ultimately the lures I will go with depend on several different factors. Having said that these specific lures usually do well for me in the warmer months and they seem to be what I’m going with the most right now so I figured I’d mention them.
