Lee Bailey Fishing Factors™

Baby Buzzbait Midsummer Bassing

December 6, 2023 by lbailey

Baby Buzzbait midsummer bassing begins after the hot weather has set in, bass fishing can be fantastic. Warm waters mean an increase in the metabolism of bass, which can lead to more frequent feeding activity. Additionally, Warm waters allow anglers to move faster and burn lures. The Baby Buzzbait™, not only works retrieving it directly by a bass. But also through the edges of their larger strike zones.

It’s smaller size, especially the 1/4 oz size allows the bait to be sucked in the bass’ mouth deeper.

When bass are aggressive, anglers can choose between lots of different lure options. Methods and can often use their favorites to score. Still, the most efficient method is usually going to be a faster approach. Smaller -sized offerings are usually best, the water has an abundance of small prey at this time. Picking a lure that can be fished fast, such as a Baby Buzzbait™, spinnerbait, lipless crankbait, is a top option. Swim jigs paired with paddle-tail swimbaits and some blade baits can be good choices as well.

Buzzbaits may all look the same on the shelf, but each has its own special features

While standard-sized offerings can produce, be ready to quickly switch to smaller sized lures if the bite doesn’t pick up. Likewise, while a slower Baby Buzzbait™ midsummer bassing retrieve speed is best, if the standard and slow speeds don’t produce, be ready to radically increase the speed, even faster than the higher-speed approach common when summer bass are active. Burning lures at high speeds can play on the instincts of bass and cause them to attack lures when they normally wouldn’t with slower retrieves.

Baby Buzzbait midsummer bassing may all look the same on the shelf, but each has its own special features that will work better in different places. A basic buzzbait will simply spin the blade on the top of the water making a slight trail behind it and a slight noise as it moves. The Baby Buzzbait™ is the most compact size on the market today. It’s smaller size, especially the 1/4 oz size allows the bait to be sucked in the bass’ mouth deeper. This produces more bass in the boat, resulting in bigger creels and a lot of fun.

Posted in Lure Specific, Summer, Tips | No Comments

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Summer Glide Bait Fishing

December 6, 2023 by lbailey

Summer Glide Bait Fishing is best when bass are in their main summer patterns, understanding what the fish want helps you plan your big-bite strategy. Here’s the skinny on proven giant-finding prowess.

One of those innovations over the past 10 years is the emergence of Glide baits. These oversized, hard-bodied fish imitators originally were created to mimic trout in California lakes, but have transformed into replicating large bass prey across the country. Glide baits can resemble trout/ gizzard shad/ perch and other types of fish that bass feed on.

Summer Glide Bait Fishing brings in the giants.

Summer is a prime time to fish Glide baits. For the most part, anglers have learned that these lures produce best in the late pre-spawn, and summer to late fall.

Summer Glide Bait Fishing requires a shift in perspective and expectations. The most important thing to remember is that the number of strikes you can expect go WAY down, especially as the size of the bait increases. For the most part, the most productive and popular sizes are 6-9 inches. Most of them will weigh between 2 and 6 ounces.

Glide bait areas are dependent of the type of cover and clarity available

Casting distance is critical. It is especially important to cast Glide baits as far as you can. Most of the time they are fished in cleaner water scenarios. As well, this gives the bass more time to find and tract your bait. While tracking the big ones in Summer Glide Bait Fishing . Most Glide baits have a built-in, wide side to side action when reeled straight in. Most experts with this technique prefer to work the bait almost like a jerkbait…twitching the bait to make it dart harder side to side.

Glide bait areas are dependent of the type of cover and clarity available on the lake you are fishing. Since you are targeting big bass, you must fish big bass areas. Some of the better Glide bait locations are bluff banks, steep channel banks, points, and over deeper grass beds. When approaching these areas, wind is your friend. Getting a Glide bait bite under calm conditions in the summer is exceedingly difficult.

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Binsky In Late Summer

December 6, 2023 by lbailey

Binsky In Late Summer works so well when those bass move offshore and begin to school in deeper water, that’s when you can get your money’s worth out of this blade bait.

It’s a good bait for pressured or schooling fish. Bass don’t stop eating bait fish when the water gets warm, so continue to use a Binsky blade bait no matter what time of year it is. When it’s in the dead of summer, you might not be able to just pull up and drop-shot on a school of fish. But, if you use a Binsky, they eat it at first sight.”

A Binsky has the kind of versatility that you simply can’t get from a drop-shot.

A blade Bait is great to use in summer because it can sink like a rock to whatever depth you need it to/ You can get the reaction bite with it because it’s so fast and moves so quickly. It’s also a good casting bait to use when you’re waiting for topwater fish to blow up because it’s so heavy and you can throw it far.

A Binsky blade Bait is great to use in summer

Binsky In Late Summer is more effective than a suspending stickbait during this time because it can probe deeper and catch fish in the 30 to 40 foot range. Steep drop-offs along main and secondary points or creek channels in the major coves are the prime spots to introduce the metal Binsky to bass.

The best sizes to use for this blade bait are 1/2-ounce for depths under 20 feet and 3/4-ounce for probing deeper than 20 feet. After making a long cast, allow the bait to sink to the bottom on a slack line before starting your retrieve. You want to lift that bait just enough to where you actually feel it vibrate. Once you feel it vibrate then kind of let the lure pull back down on a more tight line to where it will pendulum out a little bit. You don’t want it to go straight up and down during your retrieve.

Make sure you work the lure all the way back to the boat because bass will frequently hit the lure right under the boat. Match the lure with a medium-heavy rod and baitcast reel filled with 15-pound fluorocarbon line.

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Lees Spring Seasonal Approach

December 6, 2023 by lbailey

Lees Spring Seasonal Approach Guide is a system I’ve adapted to help find bass on unfamiliar waters. With spring arriving in most of the northern waters. The spawn completing in the south. I thought a spring time article from my book (Strategies For Bass) would be appropriate. As a retired touring pro, I fished all kinds of lakes and rivers in many regions throughout the year.

Fishing Factors Lees Spring Seasonal Approach

Obviously, I didn’t have time to become intimately familiar with each of these venues prior to tournament competition. When you only have three practice days. Unlocking the secrets of a large river system. You need some guidance. Helping you to quickly get on a viable fish catching pattern. Lees Spring Seasonal Approach provides that information, regardless of where or what part of spring I’m fishing. It helps me make educated guesses about where bass are most likely to be. You need to understand all stages of spring bass migration. It’s a system that quickly eliminates unproductive water and helps me home in on areas holding the most bass.

Lees Spring Seasonal Approach Pre-spawn: (48 to 55 degrees)

Some diehard early season fishermen know to head for the waters with current. Rivers and river system lakes will most often offer you some of the best early season bass fishing (especially smallmouths). There are things that are beginning to happen on these bodies of water in the spring that trigger the fish to begin this early season feed. The water temperature and the water level in river systems are on the rise. And we can all feel the suns rays are becoming stronger and more direct. All this is leading to an increased activity level for bait and bass.

Temperatures reaching into the mid to upper 50 degree mark will begin to trigger bass activity. Few however, acknowledge the fact that river smallmouths thrive in SPRING cold water (low 40’s) and will begin the spawn ritual before the water reaches the low 50’s. As mentioned earlier, even a slight increase in temperature is all that is needed to trigger the bites in a river system. A temperature rise from 38-43 degrees is a great temperature change for an early season river basser, especially if it happens over a period of only a few days. Bass will become extremely active during the first water temperature increase they encounter after a long cold winter.

Mid to upper 50 degree mark will begin to trigger bass activity.

Some of my best smallmouth catches on the Connecticut River happen in the early season. “One trip in particular was with a great friend of mine Don Sanzo. We were fishing an early season tournament. The river water temperature was hovering at a whopping 46 degrees. I had found these really big smallmouths holding on a shallow ledge in some of the shallowest and fastest water in the river. We ran 40 plus miles to get to those fish through rapids and some pretty nasty ledge only 18” deep to get there. When we arrived at this ledge we preceded to catch smallmouths from 3-4 pounds. As a matter of fact we hooked up on big smallmouths on the first 12 consecutive casts”. Not only did we have a great day of fishing but we won the tournament and set a standing record for the Connecticut River. A record setting 10 fish limit of smallmouth bass that weighed in at 31.14 pounds.

During this real cold water I prefer to use jigs

Some of the greatest early season smallmouth locations are shallow ledges of shale, gravel or hard packed sand adjacent to drop-offs with scattered rocks, brush and weeds that might have survived the winter. The rocky shore adds warmth to the water and awakens food (crawfish, insects and minnows). This hard bottom also has acted as a current break for these fish to stage near all winter. One thing is for certain rock ledges and shelves stay the same for the bass through-out the winter and high water periods. It is this consistency that makes ledges and rocks the best choice in the spring.

I will usually begin my fishing on these current waters with the water temperature being as low as 42 degrees. During this real cold water I prefer to use jigs, and tubes to entice these early pre-spawn smallies. Fishing however, becomes far better as the water temperatures reaches the mid 40’s, with the action reaching phenomenal proportions when the water temperature reaches the low 50’s. The smallmouths will bunch up in the above mentioned areas; these places will give you action all day. Some of the biggest smallmouths of the year are caught during the rivers early pre-spawn period.

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Fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth

December 6, 2023 by lbailey

A trophy-sized Fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth is what drives us to spend so much time, energy and money on our passion.

“I find that Fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth always leads me to the upper part of rivers”.

Nearly 30 years ago, I was able to first connect the dots to my favorite river system and its tributaries. Without much known data to support my own theories, I sought out to understand why my favorite areas of the river system were loaded in May and June and mostly devoid of smallmouth thereafter. I struggled to understand why my river smallmouths were in abundance for 4 weeks out of the year, and then no longer present. For me I found the high water time in may and early June led me to the upper rive in the fastest water. It dwelled on me how highly migratory river smallmouth bass can be. If free to navigate without obstructions, they’ll migrate long-distance like all other river fish species are capable of.

I find that Fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth always leads me to the upper part of rivers. I mean the fastest and shallowest water with deeper pools adjacent to them. In pres-pawn they will bunch up in the 2 to 4 foot range. In rivers they are primarily feeding on crawfish. This is because the crawfish at this time are very lethargic. They are actually being sucked out of their holes in the banks. I can duplicate this fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth pattern on any headwaters

Fast Water Pre-Spawn Smallmouth

Without river rat intuition and an extensive history with the river system, I could have otherwise blown through the staging pools unbeknownst and without ever testing them. It’s easy to ignore staging sites on rivers. Most anglers wouldn’t know how to identify one. Good spots like this one get revisited and used annually by the same fish.

Learn more in my new book “Strategies for Bass“.

Water temperature must be optimal as well. It’ll single-handedly influence a river migration in spring. 40 degree range, it’s too cold. At 48 to 52, we’ll finally find some smallmouth success, but only from isolated staging sites. Good luck ever locating them as 99% of the river will be vacant. Middle 50’s and slowly climbing, we’re getting hot! River’s loaded, and we’ll have a bonanza through spawn’s conclusion in early June where 50 fish a trip is to be expected.

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Summer Bass Fishing Tips

December 6, 2023 by lbailey

Summer Bass Fishing Tips will show you that you need to get out early. Fish the shallows hard based on water temperatures and bait. Once it gets hot focus on deeper water where the water temperatures are lower and the bass have structure to ambush bait.

Bass behave in predictable ways based on temperature, food and available structure

I have mentioned this many times bass are a very predictable fish. In general, they will behave a certain way based on three main variables:

Water temperature
Available food supplies
Structure availability

Yes there are tons of other Fishing Factors™ that affect the way a bass or any fish will behave. These include barometric pressure, wind, rain,moon phases, water flow, etc. Almost year round, there’s a short window at the beginning and end of every day when the fish just bite better. The first hour is best quite often, because there are far fewer pleasure boaters on the water early compared to late in the evening,

Summer Bass Fishing Tips choices of preferred lures.

During these low-light hours both early and late, top-waters can be super productive. Choosing something like a buzzbait or a Whopper Plopper will allow you to cover as much water as possible,Maximize the number of bites you can get during these short windows of time.

But slower top-waters like walking lures, poppers and hollow body frogs also work well if you’re fishing targets. So you could choose to run around for that last hour and target laydowns with a Spook for instance. Or try to draw the fish up out of those laydowns that have been hunkered down all day.

BUT if you can figure out the three most important factors. Water temperature, available prey items and available structure, then you are 80% of the way to catching more bass.

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Summer Dog Days Pitching for Bass

December 6, 2023 by lbailey

During the Summer Dog Days Pitching for Bass is my preferred technique in the heat of the day. Depending on the type of water you are fishing. Bass are going to either go deep or relate to structure and shade in shallow areas. When I first started cutting my teeth on fishing bass tournaments. Pitching quickly became one of my favorite ways to catch largemouth bass.

When looking for the best places to find summertime bass on lakes in the heat. There are three key factors to consider are shade, deep water and flowing water. Here is a look at the three best places to find summertime bass based on those factors.

Summer Dog Days Pitching

Boat Docks

The approach to pitching a boat dock is crucial. I approach a dock and dissect it prior to my very first pitch.

First: be sure your shadow doesn’t cast to where you think the bass might be holding.
Second: analyze where your targets are going to be and pitch to the closet ones to you first
Third: after you have pitched around the outer edge of the dock. It is now time to hit the hardest and most shaded targets around you..

“In a Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament I fished on Table Rock Lake. The Summer Dog Days Pitching had me loaded with a reliable shakey head finesse worm. Then I headed for a couple of docks I knew held fish. While pitching into the shady wells of a dock, I immediately caught a 3-pound Largemouth Bass. This pattern of targeting shady areas of docks on sweltering summer afternoons has produced bass for me throughout my years of competing as a pro anger on the Bassmasters and FLW Tours”

Rivers

“Everyone knows I am a river fanatic. I grew up bass fishing on the CT river and built my tournament career winning tournaments and guiding. The rivers and streams feeding into a lake offer plenty of water flow and oxygenated water. This keep bass active even in the midsummer heat. Run up these creeks or rivers as far as you can to find the strongest flowing water. The most productive spots to try in the tributaries are the pockets near the river bends. This is where wind and current push baitfish towards the bank. I started fishing major tournaments in 1983, and turned full time in 1996. What a ride that was. It was some of the best years of my life. Since I am retired now in Florida I no longer compete. However I fish 3 to 4 days a week. What a great life this is!”

Tips for pitching summertime bass

Use heavy hooks, smaller hooks can bend out and cause you to lose fish when muscling them out of heavy cover.
Pick your targets out and try to establish a pattern. Are you catching fish on one side or the other (Shady side or sunny side, up current side or down side) At the bottom, in the middle, or near the surface as you are pulling out?
When you pitch to your target be ready for a bite at any moment, let your bait fall to the bottom, twitch a few times, pull the bait out and repeat. Depending on the how the fish are reacting you may need to try soaking a bait a little longer with more twitches, try dead sticking for a bit, or shake and bump the bait against cover at the surface.
Look for shallow structure/vegetation areas that are close to deep water, big fish like to sit in shallow haunts near deep water for an easy retreat.
Practice controlling the entry of the bait to make as little water disturbance as possible upon entry.
Ease the bait out of the cover so your weed guard or weedless Texas rigged bait doesn’t expose the hook and snag up on the structure.
Lock your drag down so that the fish can’t take any line. Then you will get good hook penetration and be able to clear the fish from cover as quickly as possible.
Only lighten the drag in areas where clearing the fish fast off the cover is not as crucial like soft grass or vertical poles. Loosen the drag some, while using your thumb to lock down the spool for the initial hook set.
using a high speed reel, this allows you to take up any slack line faster to set the hook, catch up to a fish running at you quicker, and also get your bait back to the boat faster for the next pitch.

“Last but not least, A lot of guys just don’t practice their pitching enough to be able to get it into that target zone. If they’ll practice their pitching and then really concentrate on where should that fish be, the darkest, baddest, hardest to get to area, then they’ll start catching a lot more fish.”

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Blade Baits in Summertime

December 6, 2023 by lbailey

Blade baits in Summertime work well for largemouth bass. They may not be a super popular bait for targeting largemouth bass. However you can definitely catch some nice bass on these baits. Some anglers will wind these baits in with a steady retrieve. However, one of the best ways to fish the Binsky blade bait is to vertical jig it. This works great in the summer and fall when big largemouth bass are suspended over schools of bait fish.

Lees Seasonal Approach Guide is a system I’ve adapted to help find bass on unfamiliar waters.

The best ways to fish the Binsky blade bait is to vertical jig it. This works great in the summer when big largemouth bass are suspended over schools of bait fish.

Fish blade baits in summertime Vertical

If you’re like most bass fishermen, you probably have a couple of blade baits you bought years ago. Probably fished once or twice with little or no success, and tossed them in a forgotten corner of the basement. Now is the time to dust them off!

When largemouth bass move into deeper water, a blade bait can be very effective for vertical jigging. It’s not a super common way to target largemouth bass. However, it works great when largemouth bass are feeding on bait fish in deeper water.

The trick to catching on blade baits in summertime is not to overwork them. An angler who is new to fishing The Binsky blades tends to fish them with big sweeps of the rod. This causes the bait to jump 4 to 6 feet off the bottom. The most successful blade fishermen lift their rods just enough to feel the blade kick a couple of times. Making this adjustment will improve your Binsky blade bait success ten-fold.

In lakes with alewives, use silver blades. In lakes without alewives, gold or perch-colored blades will be your best bet.

Keeping regular contact with the bottom is crucial. So when targeting deep bass, you’ll need Binsky blade baits from ½ to 1 ounce. By far the best on the market is the Binsky blade bait. In lakes with alewives, use silver blades. In lakes without alewives, gold or perch-colored blades will be your best bet.

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Getting good sponsors

December 5, 2023 by lbailey

Getting good sponsors is one of the most asked questions I receive when doing presentations and seminars. There is no precise answer to the question How do I get sponsors? However, there are some unwritten rules. Items you should consider if sponsorships are something that you are looking to obtain.

When thinking about how to get bass fishing sponsors. Many anglers hope that they will have enough money provided by sponsors. Hoping to be able to fish full time. The truth is, only a small group of professional anglers can do that.

…”bottom line is a sponsor needs to have someone who will successfully promote and sell their product or service”

The first and utmost concern and attitude you should have when approaching sponsors is pretty basic. It seems to be over looked by many new-comers to the bass fishing world. That is to ask yourself, not what the perspective sponsor can do for you. What you will do for them.

…”bottom line is a sponsor needs to have someone who will successfully promote and sell their product or service”. I know this sounds corny. The bottom line is a sponsor needs to have someone who will successfully promote and sell their product or service.

To start you need to consider where in the fishing industry you want to go

Most often a sponsor does not need someone who will just fish tournaments. A sponsor is looking for someone who will WIN tournaments. Develop a good image and following while promoting their products and or services. Remember there are thousands of tournament fishermen. But there are only a few who can promote well.

Getting good sponsors, in the past few years is getting tougher. I have seen these changes accelerate. Platforms like Instagram and YouTube have given anglers the ability to reach larger audiences. Inside and outside of a tournament finish, television appearance, print or other traditional media outlet. It is still a requisite to win or finish high in several tournaments to gain sponsorship with a brand. In some cases, you don’t need to be a fishing expert to influence and impact sales in today’s world. Long time touring pros are seeing their contracts being cut. As in some cases those funds are being re-directed to influences from social media.

To start you need to consider where in the fishing industry you want to go. Consider where your strong points are. That is, do you want to fish tournaments professionally? Do you want to be a major player in the marketing end of the industry? Do you want to do this nationally or regionally. This will help the sponsor know if there is a program or area already in place internally for you.

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Lees Seasonal Approach

December 5, 2023 by lbailey

Lees Seasonal Approach Guide is a system I’ve adapted to help find bass on unfamiliar waters. As a retired touring pro, I fished all kinds of lakes and rivers in many regions throughout the year. Obviously, I didn’t have time to become intimately familiar with each of these venues prior to tournament competition. You only have three practice days to unlock the secrets of a large river system. You will need some guidance to help you quickly get on a viable fish catching pattern. Lees Seasonal Approach provides that information, regardless of where or when I’m fishing. It helps me make educated guesses about where bass are most likely to be. Along with knowing where bass are at any given time of the year. It’s a system that quickly eliminates unproductive water and helps me home in on areas holding the most bass.

“I actually begin fishing a fall pattern when the water has cooled 10 degrees. Once below its hottest point of the summer it really begins”.

Lees Seasonal Approach for Fall: 75 to 55 degrees

The concept operates on the theory that at any given time bass in a given river current system will be on certain key types of structure. Of course, not all bass will adhere to this “rule.” I could probably catch some bass off flats or in shallow bays in winter. If I spent long enough trying. Yet in a tournament, I’m better off spending my limited fishing time in high percentage areas. The Seasonal Approach gives me the general direction I need to form a fish catching pattern quickly. How well I fine-tune this generalized pattern during competition determines how high I’ll finish in the standings.

I learned early in my fishing career that bass relate to the different seasons very predictably. Once you understand that the seasons are part of the foundation to a bass’s life. You too will be able to catch them more consistently.

A very important part to consistently catching bass. Understand what role the different seasons play in the lives of the elusive bass. Having a strategy to the seasonal developments will allow you to have an understanding of seasonal movements.

Lees Seasonal Approach Guide is a system

I actually begin fishing a fall pattern when the water has cooled 10 degrees. This can vary greatly from river to river. A rapid temperature drop is best. This can really put bass on the move from deep main river structure to shallow water. Bass react to cooling water by moving shallower to big flats, long points with a gradual taper, and tributary arms.

A rapid temperature drop is best. This can really put bass on the move from deep main river structure to shallow water.

As surely as the seasons change, the behavior and location of bass change. As summer passes into fall and fall into winter. Unfortunately, the exact changes the bass makes often seems as unpredictable as the fall weather.

From a fishing standpoint, “fall” starts when summer fishing patterns start to dissolve and ends when stable, winter patterns begin. It’s a period of constant adjustment, basically because it’s a period of nearly constant change.

I actually begin fishing a fall pattern when the water has cooled 10 degrees

Simply, river systems offer the most predictable option. The key to staying in contact with bass. Knowing they move through the fall cycles is having some idea where the bass are coming from. As Well as knowing where they are headed.

Bass are more baitfish – oriented now than in any other season. Look for large schools of shad, alewives, etc., on your graph. In most river reservoirs, cooling water causes vast numbers of shad to migrate. Their first stop is to move into tributary arms, and bass are close behind. Follow this migration by fishing the first third of creek arms in early fall. Then gradually pressing farther back into the tributary as the surface temperature drops. I’ll often idle my boat up a creek arm. Closely watch your graph for suspended shad schools or looking for bait flipping on the surface. Isolated wood cover or boat docks in the backs of creek arms are dependable fall bass patterns. In lakes that don’t have shad, bass feed heavily on bluegill and shiners, both grass-oriented species, so target weedy areas.

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