August can be a challenging month for bass anglers. In some regions of the country, the heat index can still ride high, while in the Upper Midwest and East, weather patterns begin to change, especially toward the end of the month with cooler pre-autumn weather emerging and anglers watching significantly decreasing and increasing surface water temps changes day-to-day. It’s not uncommon to experience anything from the high 80s to the low 70s within days and the movement of cold and heat fronts in and out. But what are the best ways to catch late-summer bass?
Northeast U.S.-based Whitewater staffer and professional MLF and NPFL tournament bass angler, Cole Harris, has dialed in systems allowing him to pivot quickly when one pattern falls apart, for both green fish and brownies right now that we should all consider.
“During August, largies stay pretty much positioned where there’s food and cover, so I’m rarely fishing more than 15 feet deep—and fishing shallow most of the time,” offers Harris.
“But smallmouths are all over the board. You could find them on a 25 foot hump one day and go out to your tournament the next day and they’re completely gone. They could be in 4 feet of water or 60 feet of water. They’re just moody, and I feel like it has a lot to do with night temperatures. Recently, for us the nights have been in the mid 50s and it’s like someone flipped the light switch, so the smallies have been on the move.”
He points out that while smallmouth bass have reigned supreme on his home waters of Lake Champlain, at the recent B.A.S.S. Elite tournament largemouths won the event, which was surprising. But it just goes to show that the lake has not only solid populations and year classes of smallmouths, but some excellent largemouth opportunities, too.
LARGEMOUTH BASS: FLIP A JIG
As such, in lakes from North Carolina to Lake Champlain in Vermont, Harris has been chasing largemouths, targeting milfoil and hydrilla with a jig.
“I’m a huge jig fisherman, I really love to flip,” says Harris. “Right now, I’m fishing anything from 8 inches of water to 15 feet. It really depends how they’re set up, but lately the largemouth bite has been great flipping a jig. Really, until we get into fall, these fish aren’t really in transition yet. Right now, you can find largemouths around weeds, docks, structure, and they’re not moving too far.”
When it comes to specific baits for this bite, Harris is fond of Team Ark Randall Tharp Flippin’ Jigs, nine times out of 10 using a perch pattern to mimic predominant forage on a lot of his favorite lakes.
LARGEMOUTH BASS: TOPWATERS
“This time of year, the other thing I throw are topwaters, either a spook-style bait or buzzbait as fish are feeding up, whether that’s baitfish or panfish in a lot of these central or northeastern waters.”
Other baits that should be considered are Whopper Ploppers and any pencil- or cigar-shaped topwater, even old-school baits like Jitter Bugs and prop- or wake-style baits. Anybody who has fished these baits with confidence knows the bites are often spectacular.
HARRIS ON LATE-SUMMER SMALLMOUTH BASS
For Harris, smallies can be a bit tougher to pattern, sending him searching everything from 3- or 4-feet to depths reaching 60 feet, depending on the day—as the fish can migrate back and forth daily, even hour-to-hour, given weather, temperature, sun, barometric pressure, all on the chase for their preferred forage.
“When it’s sunny out, I’m targeting August smallies in 6 feet or less. They get shallow in the sun and hunt,” notes Harris. “Cloudy days I’ll be working anything from 15 to 60 feet.”
SMALLMOUTH BAITS: DRAG A JIG DEEP
Typically associated with deep largemouths situated over hard bottom or on ledges, one of Harris’ favorite smallmouth baits is a football jig, typically dressed with a creature/craw trailer trimmed down a bit to eliminate tail-biters and poor hooksets.
Plus, he says, fish on Lake Champlain are conditioned given tournament fishing pressure and are hip to a lot of the commonly used trailers, shying from overly long and bulky baits this time of year.
“You can use pretty much any football jig, but I use the same Ark Flippin’ Jig I use for largemouths. With its head design, it’s good for flipping, dock skipping, even dragging. The big thing is getting the right size for the depth; I’ll throw anything from a 1/2- to 5/8-ounce most of the time,” notes Harris.
In terms of location, Harris says while most anglers—especially on Lake Champlain—will concentrate their smallmouth efforts on rock, he fishes “everything.”
“I like to find the boulders, the hard bottom, and then I like the grassy and harder-sand bottoms in between. When it comes to bottom type, I try to cover all the bases and don’t overlook grassy transition areas, either.”
SMALLMOUTH BAITS: TOPWATERS
Like largies, Harris says the August smallie bite can be epic on topwaters.
“Especially when it’s cloudy, I fish them in 40 feet, sometimes deeper. On forward-facing sonar, watching fish come up from 40 feet at full speed to hit a topwater bait is incredible. It’s the best thing in the world.”
On sunny days, Harris probes skinny water when smallies are on the hunt, just tail-walking topwater baits and covering water.
DRESS FOR THE COOL AND HEA
Harris is quick to point out that lately the nights have been cool—and the mornings, too, when he cranks up his motor to begin the bass chase—temps around 50 degrees.
“The Whitewater Torque Heated Vest lives in my boat year ‘round. I might not wear it all day, but it keeps my core warm with nothing more than a Whitewater Rays Performance Hoodie or Lightweight Tech Hoodie underneath.”
As the sun climbs higher and the day heats up into the 70s, Harris puts the Whitewater vest back in a boat storage compartment and fishes in the same hoodies, which provide UV sun protection and are breathable/moisture-wicking.
And, he says, even when it gets hot, he’s still wearing Whitewater Prevail Pants, which he recently wore on the water in North Carolina in the high 90s and “didn’t get hot in the least bit.” Designed as the ultimate in fishing pants with UPF 50+ sun protection rating, they’re comfortable, cool, and have an athletic design.
“They keep you just as cool as if you were wearing shorts with the side seam vent zippers but with no leg sunburn and fly/mosquito protection.”
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