Bass and trout are the best ‘dog days’ targets

August is normally the month that outdoor activities lean toward the more laid-back approach and primarily consist of less strenuous and less serious endeavors. It’s the month that sees the most barbecues and clambakes scheduled. Lakeside camp owners are enjoying what is traditionally the winding down of their properties’ peak annual usage. With the return to school looming nearer, it’s the month many youngsters spend more time fishing for eager-to-cooperate sunfish with their parents or grandparents. But there are a couple other activities for those in the know that can get as hot as an August day.

Because of their tolerance for warmer water temperatures, largemouth bass remain active right through the hottest weeks of the summer. While other gamefish species tend to spend the bulk of the daylight hours being inactive, largemouths will continue to be opportunistic when it comes to feeding and will attack any unfortunate prey that comes too close to the bass’ shaded cover structure.

The surprising thing about largemouths during the peak summer water temperatures is where they’ll often be located. They’re as apt to be found in a foot of water close to shore as in the ten-foot depths farther out. For this reason, surface lures cast within a foot of the shore can often produce excellent results. And few experiences in angling are more exciting than having a large bass explode on a surface lure in ultra shallow water. For fishing in the deeper waters, plastic worms and jig-and-pigs, worked very slowly along bottom are usually effective.

Another heat-of-summer angling opportunity involves one of the more unlikely gamefish candidates – trout. Specifically, rainbow trout living in lakes. This is nighttime fishing and the most successful technique also involves a very unlikely approach, seemingly more applicable to bullheads than trout. It consists of fishing from an anchored boat in the deeper portions of the lake where the trout retreat to during the heat of summer. Normally the depth being fished will be one of the deepest sections, at least 30 feet, and a sonar unit is very helpful in locating the prime trout concentrations.

Usually within an hour or two after full darkness sets in, the trout, normally swimming in schools, will begin to rise from the bottom and suspend somewhere between bottom and the surface, where they’ll begin to feed. The angler simply lowers his bait, the most popular being a hooked worm with a few kernels of whole corn added, down to the same level as the school of trout are holding, and then waits for one to bite.