By Bob Jensen

There are times throughout the summer months when fishing can get a little tough. Baitfish populations are at their yearly high, and the baitfish that were spawned earlier in the year are now at a size where the predators will use them as food. This abundance of baitfish allows the predators to be more selective in what they eat.

Fishing pressure can also make fishing more difficult. The more lures and boat traffic that the fish are exposed to can make them a little spooky and tougher to fool.

However, the warmer waters of summer mean the fish must eat more often. If anglers keep a few things in mind, they can experience some very good fishing right in the middle of the summer.

Some of the best fishing will occur early and late in the day. When I was younger, I never thought I would believe it, but early morning really is a nice time of day, and it’s a great time to catch shallow water fish. Get out there before the boat traffic starts and before the bright sunlight pushes the fish into deeper water or tighter to cover and you can have some very good action.

On clear water lakes, the walleyes will bite very good after the sun goes down.

When fishing gets tough, live bait is hard to beat. Leeches and crawlers are considered to be the best choices for summertime, but the fish don’t quit eating minnows. There are times when minnows will be your best choice. However, minnows require some extra care in the summer. The aerated minnow containers that Frabill makes do a great job of keeping live minnows lively, and lively minnows are certainly more productive than dead ones. These aeration systems are quiet and trouble-free.

As noted earlier, baitfish populations are very high in the summer. The predator fish see baitfish all day. Sometimes it works well to show the fish a bait that resembles the baitfish, but other times something completely different works well. It’s kind of like people, if you’ve had cheeseburgers for supper several days in a row, a piece of pizza might look pretty good. When it comes to fish, they might get tired of eating baitfish and prefer something that looks completely different. If the fish aren’t eating what you’re showing them, show them something different.

If you’re fishing off-shore structure, keep a close eye on your sonar to make sure the structure you’re fishing has life. Sometimes you’ll see clouds of baitfish, sometimes marks that look like predator fish, and sometimes you’ll see nothing. If you see nothing, you should move. The Humminbird units that I use draw a color picture, which really enables an angler to differentiate between the bottom and fish hugging the bottom. This feature helps determine if fish are in the area.

Fish don’t quit eating in the summer: In fact, they probably eat more. If they’re not biting for you, you need to experiment and try different things to make them bite. Show the fish what they want and they will eat it.

For more fish-catching information, visit fishingthemidwest.com