Just like people, bass don’t want to move much during Mississippi summer swelter. Many bass drop deeper to find more comfortable temperatures, but some bass stay shallow all year long. In places like Ross Barnett Reservoir, bass won’t find much deep water.
“Ross Barnett is a shallow impoundment with a tremendous amount of vegetation,” said Pete Ponds, a professional bass angler and guide from Madison. “It can produce some giant bass. I’ve personally caught bass over 10 pounds on that reservoir.”
In the shallows, matted grass, lily pads and other thick vegetation shield bass from blistering sunshine. In these dense salads, bass find abundant prey. Aquatic vegetation also produces oxygen, a commodity frequently lacking in hot, shallow waters. Even on the most scorching days, many bass stay in extremely shallow, weedy waters.
On broiling days, bass don’t want to work too hard to catch food. They want something they can easily snatch without expending too much energy. With a hook inserted into the body, unweighted soft-plastic worms, lizards, jerkbaits and similar temptations slither across matted grass tops. They look and act like natural prey.
These baits combine the attributes of exciting topwater action with the weedless advantages of worms. Hold the rod tip high and drag a bait over matted grass in slow, short spurts. Stop periodically. At small pockets, let the enticement sink a few feet before resuming the retrieve.
Buzz frogs
When fish want slightly more dynamic action, buzz a frog over the vegetation tops in a steady retrieve. The kicking legs sputter across the surface like a buzzbait, but with much less snagging. Buzz frogs make fantastic search baits. Often, lunker largemouth explode up through the weeds to engulf the bait and vegetation all at once.
“A frog is a good bait to use around vegetation,” Ponds said. “I caught a 10-pound bass on Ross Barnett that hit a hollow-bodied frog. Anybody can work it. A frog can go over lily pads and grass mats without snagging. It’s exciting to see a bass blow up on it.”
Over pads and splotchy grass, work a frog almost like a conventional topwater bait with a “hop, stop and pop” method. Pull the frog a short distance and stop. Let it sit a few moments before resuming the retrieve. At open pockets, let a floating frog sit on the surface for a while. Pull sinking frogs over the pads or mat edges and let them sink a couple feet. Bass regularly attack a frog as it sinks.
“The eastern side of Ross Barnett is shallower, but it typically holds more fish,” Ponds said. “Early in the morning in the summer, I like to throw topwaters such as a Zara Spook. I also like to fish crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps or Senkos around submerged stumps.”
A wacky worm
Another great bait for shallow summer fishing, try a wacky worm rigged finesse style with a weedless hook inserted through the plastic body. Working a wacky worm requires very little effort, but excruciating patience.
Simply drop it next to cover and let it sink. It quivers as it descends. With nearly neutral buoyancy, wacky worms take forever to sink, but that makes them deadly effective in shallow waters. After it sinks to the bottom or several seconds pass without a bite, pull it back up to the surface. Drag it a couple feet across the water and let it sink again.
During summer heat, also look for shady places, like overhanging trees or docks. To beat the heat, bass go where they can find the coolest waters. In the right spot, any cast could yield the lunker of a lifetime.
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