Find air-conditioned water

Air-conditioned water is the key to summertime fishing

One of the primary considerations when picking an August fishing spot is whether fish are present. The second is, can you tolerate being there long enough to catch those fish.

Finding cooler water to escape the heat is desirable for both the fish AND the angler. Here’s a few places to look for that air-conditioned water.

Rivers

Flowing water often attracts fish in the summer because the mixing of the moving water increases the oxygen content. Moving water also doesn’t retain the heat from the sun to the same capacity as a large body of static water. So flowing water is cooler than non-flowing water.

Flowing water is more productive when it’s combined with fish-holding cover, providing shade and security for the fish, as well as a good place to look for food.

To be successful, look for expanses of shaded water and/or concentrate your fishing efforts on the upper and lower reaches of deeper pools.

Docks

Boat docks, piers, and wharves provide relief from the sun.

When fishing this man-made cover from a kayak, look for the deepest, darkest areas that stay shaded the longest part of the day. The distance between the dock and the water may be minimal on a good fishing dock, and will require some advanced casting or pitching skills in order to get your bait or lure back to where the fish are.

Tailraces

Both sides of a dam can offer great fishing during the heat of the summer, essentially for the same reason. The deep, cool water in front of a dam can be hit-or-miss due to low oxygen content created by separating water layers. When that water is released through the spillway or gate, however, the water retains its cool temperature and is re-oxygenated, creating both cooler and higher oxygen content water.

Patterning fish in a tailrace is similar to patterning fish in a river. Old, smart fish will hold directly behind or directly in front of a large rock, stump, or other current break, usually pretty close to the bottom, and see what the current has to offer.

Dam operations rarely release the same flow of water all the time. Some power companies provide at least 24-hour notice on when and how much water will be released, and you can make your game plan based on that time table.

Bridges

Man-made bridges that span a section of either salt or freshwater can be a summer fishing hotspot while also providing some air conditioning for the kayak angler.

Bridge fishing is frequently vertical fishing. Unless the columns or supports are just too large to get a hold of, bridges also offer better boat control by simply tying off to the structure and fishing straight, or relatively straight down.

The down side to bridge fishing is that they often receive a lot of fishing pressure. Bridges are a great place to experiment with new baits and new techniques that fish may not have seen before. In the summer, fish are typically lethargic, so finesse type presentations of smaller baits often work better than average, oversized, or aggressive baits.

Backwater Areas

The biggest benefit of backwater areas is shade and cover. When kayak fishing underneath a canopy of trees, look for areas of deeper water to hold fish. Smaller tributaries that dump into a deep, shaded pool in a swamp or heavy growth area are often fish magnets, both for better water quality and food sources.

Deep Water

Deep, open water will attract a lot of fish during the heat of summer, particularly in freshwater. As mentioned, just because water is deep does not mean it’s uniformly desirable to fish at all levels. The lowest levels, although cooler, will be devoid of oxygen due to decomposition of organic materials. The upper layers will be too hot and too low in oxygen to hold fish.

Locating the middle layer, known as the thermocline layer, is the best way to locate fish in deep water. Once you know the depth, the next factor is to look for cover, usually standing timber or man-made structures, that will hold fish.

Herring lakes are common in both Carolinas. When kayak fishing a herring lake and targeting deep water predator fish, be they bass, stripers, catfish, or even crappie, target the top of the thermocline. Gamefish will hold in and around standing timber and feed on herring as they swim through. In primarily shad-forage lakes, look for gamefish to rush upward from the thermocline to the surface or try to pin shad around humps or points.

In the dark

All of the above locations can be fished at night when air temperatures may drop as much as 15 to 20 degrees. Look for a bright moonlit night to make visibility easier to fish, and come prepared with pre-rigged rods so you don’t have to fumble in the dark or under a headlamp to tie on new baits.

If you have access to freshwater farm ponds or saltwater marsh ponds, night time is a great time to fish these locations. Fish that generally hunker down during daylight hours tend to come more out in the open after dark. Just be sure to pack your bug spray.