Jul 14, 2014 - The dog days of summer don’t have to mean that your fishing has to retreat under the porch. On the contrary, a little effort and a few adjustments for the heat can lead to summer success on the water.

Here's some summer fishing tips from the River Cities Daily Tribune in central Texas:

With a few adjustments, anglers can continue fishing right through the Texas summer and manage to land some fish.

“I’m a deep (water) guy myself,” said Austin Ellis, a Faith Academy graduate who is headed to Bethune College in Tennessee on a fishing scholarship. Ellis, who competed as a high school angler and still makes some area tournaments, contends that summer doesn’t mean the end of fishing, even successful fishing. He pointed out you just need to know where the fish are and what to do to entice them into biting.

As a bass angler, Ellis haunts Lake LBJ most of the time but ventures to other bodies of water both locally and across the state. His first advice is start hunting bass in the deeper water, particularly in the thermocline, an area of water separating the warmer water near the surface and colder water near the bottom.

“During the summer, you’ll find the bass will suspend in that thermocline area, usually the upper part of it,” he said. Identifying the thermocline can be accomplished through the use of a fish finder or taking temperatures at various depths. And it’s not just a matter of identifying the thermocline, you need to locate it near some likely structure or cover. While it’s hot out, structure and cover still play a vital role in fish behavior. Marcos De Jesus, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department freshwater fishery biologist, whose area includes the Highland Lakes, explained that structure and cover provide fish with protection, shade and, particularly in regard to gamefish such as largemouth bass, a food source. 


There you have it. A little effort and a little luck can lead to a large summer haul. Read the full story here.