Finese with high water temps?

Was out fishing Monday night from 8-9:45. Went to pond thinkin warmer water at 80, I should start with top water pop r & buzzbait, nothin. Then spinnerbait & chatter bait, nothin. The sun had just set, time to pull out the jitterbug! But still no action. There were some kids fishin with plastic worms & were catchin some fish.
Well, I'll give it a try. Tied on a senko threw it next to some pads, first cast WHAM! nice 1 1/2 lber. Got a few more bites but didn't land them.

Is a finesse approach the way to fish if the water temps are up over 80? Or maybe just slowing down your presentation?

I know that you should fish the conditions, the fish will tell you what they want, blah, blah, blah. I'm just saying in general is slower better when it this hot?

I'm not an authority on the matter, but generally warm water means that the fish want to spend the least amount of energy to feed. That means slower presentation and larger lures. This of course is subject to other conditions (high fishing pressure, post-frontal weather, all that fun.)

However, as a general rule of thumb start fast and slow down until you start getting fish. The fish will tell you what (if anything!) they want.

Its Hot they party at nite or early Am thats how i look at it water temp @ my pond was 81 my transducer is in about 2 ft of water so thats pretty hot .their not goin to react unless its worth it

in my experience, the hotter it gets, the slower you have to fish. seems like they also become finnicky and very picky. for me, summer = plastics unless its very early or very late. if big baits don't work, it sometimes pays off to use something smaller. one tip i recommend for the senko is using a smaller hook than you would normally go with. this reduces the fall rate and keeps the bait in the strike zone longer. i usually use a 4/0 but now go with a 3/0 when it's hot.

of course, there are no 'rules', but in the summer heat fish will often do 1 and/or 2 things... alot go deeper(cooler temps) and some bury up in cover(shade = cooler temps).

You said you got the Senko fish in the pads... is this the same area where you were throwing the other baits? Did your Senko go in the thick stuff, while the other lures went along the edges? If so, the heavier cover may have been the answer... the pads might be thick, but underneath, it's much more open than on the surface. On the surface it goes like this: -------- but underneath, it goes like this: | | | | | |

People would also be amazed at how shallow fish can sometimes be, especially when thick cover is present... I'd fish the edges of pads/weeds first, but also check farther in, even in the back almost near the bank. That's where flipping really comes into its own, because it's too thick in there for horizontal retrieves.

I personally think that the warmer the temps - short of physiologically stressing the fish - the higher their metabolism is running(as cold-blooded animals), so the more calories they actually require... and vice-versa in the winter. When it's cold, they eat less because they can. In summer, I think they eat more often, because the have to.

go deeper - or go thicker

- my 2 cents

Hey thanks everyone for all the input!
I had read that high water temps can make Bass sluggish & finicky. Almost the same as cold water temps. But wasn't sure at what temp that might be?

I went out Wednesday night again. Since i had the senko already tied on stared with it. Got nothin. Then threw crankbait caught a small LMB. Stuck around till 9:30, this time threw a black spinnerbait dbl colorado blade. Hooked a nice fish but, lost him (I was to busy swatting mosquitoes !!).

I guess this again proves, "fish the moment & the conditions"!

yeah they do get sluggish. i think the temperature might vary from place to place based on oxygen levels and other factors but if the water is 80 degrees that seems like it's pretty hot. how deep were you with the senko? sometimes it's hard to get down in the strike zone with a slow fall rate if you're deep. a lot of people were saying that this heat wave has come really soon this summer at a meeting for the bass club i'm in.

I was fishin from shore so, about 3-5' deep. I haven't been seeing alot of surface action when I'm fishin in evening. I'm going tomorrow morning to see if the a.m. bite is better? I would think that the water temp would be lower first thing in the morning & maybe this would make the bass more active?

yeah who knows...definitely could be out deeper since it's so hot still. not sure about top water being better at morning but definitely worth a shot. if you keep going there you'll definitely figure out the seasonal patterns and where they're going and what they'll go after.

I never and i mean never fish at night sorry, i'm to busy banging my wife at night to fish, lol yeah right

just never went

LOL. that's funny.

Been struggling in this summer heat. Alot of good info here thanks everyone.

I've been out a few times in the last couple of weeks and had a hard time getting bites. Of all the fish I've caught 1 was in under 5 feet of water. All the others were in 12+ feet of water with no size to the fish. I can't wait till it cools a bit.

I caught two bass this week on the same lure in the same kind of habitat in two different ponds. I used a tiny torpedo dropped just shy of lily pads, where I figure the bass go to cool off when it gets hot. Both strikes were at about 11 am on hot days. They seem to love a jigging motion on the lure rather than a steady retrieve. I always try to present so that the lure would be silhouetted by the sun from the bass's presumed location. Good luck!

had good luck with senkos around stumps up in NH last weekend. Shallow water with cover. Black buzzbaits or single colorado bladed spinnerbaits at night have been working well too.