The summer doldrums have set in and fishing changes quite a bit on the lakes as you get into the middle of summer. We’re often faced with less current, extremely high water temps. And fish are chasing bait more in various places that can make pinpointing them a little harder. There is, however, great fishing to be had if you adapt your tactics and locations to the changing conditions.
July Conditions For Fishing
When we hit July, the temps can make fishing a little uncomfortable during the day. This is often the time of year when we see a lot less rain and wind meaning the sun can be a bit more oppressive this time of year. And the reduced currents can mean fishing gets tough at times as the lower flows tend to scatter bait fish and predator fish like bass, stripers and even crappie.
However you can learn to adapt to the conditions as well if you have a little background knowledge about our lakes that we can help you with. First thing you will note about our lakes is that we have winter and summer pool water levels. But many folks don’t know that our winter draw down actually starts in July. It’s a much slower draw down to winter pool compared to the 1 month rise to summer pool in April. The winter draw down stars July 1 and ends October 1. So it’s a gradual draw down about a foot and half a month compared to the 5 foot rise in one month in April.
This slow draw down does have an effect on the game fish but not as much as water temps and depleting oxygen levels do. Around July we often see more fish like bass moving from deep ledges to shallower ledges and points where the shallower waters tend to be more oxygenated. Where the fish are often as deep as you will find them in late May and June. They start moving back shallower with the draw down. It’s not uncommon to have incredible days in 4-5 feet of water in July and August focusing on fish feeding on shallow bait. This can be anything from largemouth bass to white bass to crappie.
The other thing that becomes incredibly important in July and August is light. The fishing can get much better at lowlight and especially at night. You will find some of the best night fishing of the year in the middle of summer and it’s also a lot more comfortable to fish. The better crappie fishermen know to be on the water at daylight so they can be done by around 10 am when the bite gets progressively more difficult. Until it picks back up just about an hour before dark.
Best Bite in July: Nighttime Bass Fishing
July fishing can be hot and difficult during the day, but the night fishing for big largemouth and smallmouth can be some of the best fun you can have this time of year. And while you can catch some fish right at dark, it usually gets better as the night progresses, especially around a full moon. The best bite often happens between 10 pm and 2 am, but you can still catch good fish from 9 pm until midnight if you don’t want to stay out there all night.
Your best bet is to move shallow without moving back into the bays. By that, we mean focus on main lake flats with the shallowest water. If those flats have rocks or stumps or other cover on them, they can be even better. Shallow main lake banks can also be good as well as shallow bars in the mouths of bays.
The best baits for fishing at night would definitely be a single blade spinnerbait in dark colors, a jig and a worm in that order. Black silhouettes better at night against the light from the moon or other ambient light around. So dark colors with less transparency often do much better. Scent can help as can things like rattles added to your baits. And the more steady you can keep your retrieves the better off you will be as you give the fish something to hone in on with their lateral lines.
Using black lights can make fishing a little easier. We advise wearing long sleeve sun shirts and thin sun pants to keep the bugs off you and keeping your light usage to a minimum. And hooking that first big smallmouth after dark is quite the rodeo.
Other Good Options for July
The fish still bite in July and we often see fish blowing up on bait throughout the day on calm days. You will start seeing the white bass jumps more and more this time of year on calm days and a small topwater, lipless crankbait and inline spinner can wreak havoc on these fish hoarding schools of small sized shad.
Crappie and bass fishing can still be good in July during the day as well. Crappie fishing is often much better very early in the morning until about 10am. And then again late in the evening until dark. You will be focusing on mid depth to deep cover and often the shadiest cover is best.
The best bets for bass fishing during the day can still be ledges although we often start moving to shallower river flats this time of year as the big deeps schools start breaking up and wolf packing on bait in smaller groups on the main lake flats and high spots. The top water bite on the river gets going in July and can get quite good on the hottest calmest days you might be surprised to find. And often going in the afternoons yields more success as current will tick up often in the evenings when people get home and crank down their AC and consume more electricity that can cause the current to tick up more.
Catfish are wrapping up their spawn this time of year and moving to deep main lake flats where they will be in very large schools by August.
Don’t miss out on some fine fishing in the dog days of summer.
