Published: July 06, 2008 01:01 pm            

Bass fishing is good on Lake Jacksonville

Bass fishing on Lake Jacksonville has been good since the bass have now set up on summer patterns.

The best mornings have been where we have haze or some clouds to deflect the sun’s rays.

Also most of our southerly wind speeds have been about 5 to 10 mph. The wind is your friend in the summer.

It helps break up light and causes current. The very worst days are the high pressure, no wind days. I almost always fish the shady side of the lake as long as possible.

The key to catching these summertime bass is to locate brush piles or ledges that offer good drops into deep water.

The very best technique right now is to fish a Carolina rig with a two to three foot leader. I like to use a 30-pound test Power Pro braided line with a 12 to 15 pound Fluorocarbon leader. Tip that off with a Zoom five to six-inch Finesse worm and get ready for action.

My best trip so far was when I went with Mike Smith about two weeks ago. Together we caught 26 up to three pounds. Smith hung a good size bass but was unable to land it.

We started off fishing out in front of a deep pier where there was scattered brush. Next we fished a clay point near the dam. Smith caught about 10 bass out of these two areas earlier in the day.

I was trying to catch bass on a Texas rig, but it was not producing. When I switched to the Carolina rig, I started catching bass. We ran into some decent size schoolers in the cove by the dam. When they came up busting shad in 8 feet of water we used our Carolina rigs to catch a couple of bass.

One other good fishing spot is in the mouth of coves. For some reason bass seem to school up on shad in the mouth of coves, especially in the summer.

It was a great day to fish, with hazy skies and a cool morning breeze. We moved around a lot and fished seven or eight places.

Every spot produced fish. Some areas only produced one or two bass, but bass were in a biting mood that day.

One other key to success was bait fish. There were plenty of shad showing up in these areas. I’m starting to see bass schooling up more and more out in the middle of the lake.

On some mornings I catch some good size schoolers on the southeast corner of the Island. They are there usually at dawn and feed good for about 10 minutes and disappear. I’ve caught some good size schoolers on a Spook Jr in a gray ghost color. The Yellow Magic bait is almost always good to use.

Brush piles can be found all over the lake from 10 feet deep out to about 18 feet. Some are big brush piles, others are small. Most hold fish.

I’ve also done well on overcast days with a Nichols 1?2 oz. black and blue jig with a matching Nichols Craw. Often the largest bass in the brush pile will hit this lure on your first cast.

At nighttime be sure to try out the Nichols 3?4 oz. black and blue Football jig. This bait can be deadly at night on big bass.

I sure do miss the hydrilla, but like other fishermen, “I’m adjusting to fishing the only cover available – brush piles.

Yes, boat houses will still produce some good bass, but you need really good casting abilities to catch many of these bass.

A lot of fishermen have switched over to night fishing. July and night fishing go together like bread and butter. It can be really good at times.

Summer fishing can be tough at times. I recommend going early and late. Fish a Carolina rig for more bites.

Look for areas with lots of shad. The bass won’t be far away.

Jerry Miller can be contacted at: gonefishing@suddenlink.net

        

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