Summertime Blues

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy - Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high . . . George Gershwin may be one of the world’s greatest lyricists but the words to his summertime song indicate he was not a bass angler. There is no easy livin’ when it comes to catching mid-summer bass. George Gershwin may be one of the world’s greatest lyricists but the words to his summertime song indicate he was not a bass angler. There is no easy livin’ when it comes to catching mid-summer bass. Just ask Andre Van Staden from Phalaborwa, a great bass angler with pockets full of tournament experience and founder of the Phalaborwa Bass Bandits. Andre ventured to Cramer Dam on Letaba Estates in Letsitele this summer and by 8am was swimming in sweat. The morning temperature had reached 33 degrees. The tortuous sun, heat and humidity ran him off the lake by 11:30am, drained and defeated. “I managed only one fish of 1.7kg. It seemed like all the other fish were in hiding,” said Andre as he bemoaned the large number of high pressure systems passing through the area and the unrelenting heat. Andre acknowledges that fishing can be tough in the heat of summer but said lack of catching is not always related to bass behavior. Severe heat and humidity are not uncommon in his part of the country and the feverish temperatures often create conditions more unfavorable to the angler than to the bass. Heat and humidity can make anglers less proficient, Andre says. He attributes severe headaches, dehydration, mid-day breaks that deduct from fishing time, fogged and sweaty glass lenses, lack of focus and general uncomfortable conditions to the heat. However, Andre said on some hot summer days bass are cooperative and the angler must find ways to defeat the discomfort. He suggests using a towel to wipe away sweat, constant hydration with water, anti-fog spray for glasses and an early start with mid-day breaks out of the sun. Andre said on the hottest days he probes thick, broad surface cover, deep water, shadows and dark holes with smaller, natural baits and a slower presentation. He also prefers to fish a jig in shadowed pockets by “dead sticking” it in the strike zone and allowing the skirt to flutter. Believe it or not, summer conditions in our American home region are much the same as in Limpopo. Yes, we have ice and snow and sub-zero Fahrenheit temperatures in the winter, but we also have extreme heat in the summer months. When heat and humidity descend on the American Midwest we employ two options, neither of which include a bass boat. Float tubing is a tremendous way to beat sultriness and catch acceptable numbers of bass. Summer heat is not as intense when half the body is submerged in water. Additionally, float tubing plays into the hands of smart summer tactics. There is no better way to quietly approach shaded shoreline cover and fish slowly. We slip silently against reeds and fish shaded pockets or creep atop brush piles and fish them thoroughly. We propel our tubes under overhanging trees to reach the coolest, darkest holes. The favourite lure for slow, stealthy summer success, without question, remains a weightless stick bait, like a Senko or Salty Sling Worm. Second choice for defeating the scorching American heat is wading or canoeing clear streams for native smallmouth bass. We reserve this for the most extreme part of the season. Stream wading and canoeing is part fishing and part swimming. We walk upstream, cast diminutive inline spinners or fly cast nymphs into slack current and eddies. After fishing one pool, we take a refreshing dip and move to the next. Whether in the heartland of America or the Lowveldt of South Africa we all pine for the easy livin’ of summertime. Sometimes though it takes effort and ingenuity to make those dreams come true and that is what great fishing is all about . . .