You’re not the only one sweating this time of year; the bass are just as warm and seeking refuge in cooler oases, namely, deeper water. Speaking of hot things, Elite Series pro Jason Christie is darn near on fire. With two major wins under his belt for 2013, he’s made the biggest splash in bass fishing since the Alabama Rig. He says that during these months, most fish will be offshore in deeper water, likely in the 15- to 20-foot range. “The key to finding fish now is using your electronics and covering water,” the Oklahoma pro says. “With Lowrance’s StructureScan and the like, it’s easy to look at a lot of stuff, and I don’t typically cast until I see fish on the graph.”
Heddon One Knocker Spook:
“This is one of the best baits to use the first thing in the morning to cover lots of water. Plus, it gets big ones,” Christie says. “Chuck it around shallow cover and see what they show you. Also, if you’re fishing offshore, you never know when they’ll come up schooling, and this is one of the best baits for that situation.” Christie keeps a pearl shad Spook on deck all day.
Bomber Fat Free Shad:
Christie likes the BD7 Fat Free Shad to really cover some ground. “A lot of your fish are going to be offshore on ledges, and I throw this 90 percent of the time in practice,” he says. “When you’ve found a school, this will fire ’em up. The key is to reel it as fast as you can. A lot of people just reel it, but it’ll be work if you’re doing it right.” Foxy shad is his go-to color.
Yum Money Minnow:
Once he’s found a school of fish on his electronics and the Fat Free Shad has quit working, Christie goes into “cleanup” mode with a swimbait. “If you’ve got that school fired up, you can catch 10 fish in 10 casts,” he says. “But once that dies, you need something more subtle to roll through ’em, and this is it.” He likes a 5-inch shad color (such as foxy shad) on a 3/4-ounce jighead.
Yum Wooly Bug:
Not every fish in the lake is going to be deep, so Christie prepares for a shallow bite with a soft plastic tailor-made for flipping. He rigs the Wooly Bug on a 5/0 TroKar flipping hook and pegs the getup to a 1/2-ounce sinker. “This is my go-to in river systems and in and around shallow stuff,” he says. “It’s good for hydrilla, laydowns, pads – whatever’s there and fishy-looking.”
