To find summer bass, follow baitfish

Early morning or cloudy-day topwater fishing is one way to defeat the summer heat that usually drives bass deep.

The topwater bite sometimes doesn’t occur, plus, if it’s windy, bass may be feeding on shallow shad, but fishermen wont be able to see them because of waves on the surface.

The answer to that puzzle is a return to the tried-and-true deep bite. Largemouths will be deep — “Bigger bass almost always will be deep in summer at Harris,” said guide Jeff Thomas — but that means a new attack plan.

“You’ve got to find the baitfish, in that case,” Thomas said. “Fish at Harris relate so much to bait. (Bass) are so nomadic; they move around to wherever baits are, as opposed to a place like Jordan (Lake) where deep bass almost always are on structure.”

Best places at Harris to find 2- to 4-inch threadfin shad — as opposed to the tiny baitfish bass attack on the surface — are long, sloping points, often featuring rocks and/or stumps.

“They’re the traditional spots,” Thomas said.

His best lures for deep fish are Custom Lures’ Unlimited Zero Gravity football jigs.

“You have to fish them deep,” he said. “Harris has what people call ‘snot grass’ down to 10 feet that’ll get on jigs. The stuff doesn’t seem to grow deeper than 10 feet though.”

Thomas also likes to use deep-diving crankbaits, especially the big-lipped Custom Lures Unlimited Prey 18.

“I like the Prey 18 crankbait in Homer (chartreuse/green) that runs 16-feet deep,” he said.