For most of us, August is the hottest month on the calendar. This means the water temps have typically reached their peak, topping out north of 100 degrees in some places. In others, that “hot water” may not exceed 80 degrees, but it’s still the hottest water of the year. This also means fish across the U.S. are done spawning, and most — if not all — are full-blown post-spawn, the majority out as deep as they’ll get all year.
August is also when the fishing can get really tough. You can choose to go shallow for a shot at a few big bites, just like I like to. Or you can head out for open waters and try to unlock the pressured deep bite. We caught up with some other guys around the country to help you find a starting point for your area. Here are the lures we’re throwing in August, starting with what I’m using right here in the Southeast.
Urchins, Urchins, and More Urchins
Tired of hearing about urchins? Me too — but I’m not tired of fishing with them. And it’s a good thing, considering I’m testing a dozen different brands, various storage methods, and ever-emerging terminal tackle options for this new technique. So I’ll be fishing with lots of urchins in August, targeting largemouth under docks and bushes and lurking near bluegill beds. And I plan to sample the smaller ones on a dropshot for spotted bass.
I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be able to get my hands on this month. I have an eye on the new Chuker from Strike King and the Rapala CEO, but I believe it’ll be closer to October before samples are available. In the meantime, I’ll be heaving these around and a few more: Queen Tackle Porcupine Ball, 6th Sense Abstract, BassMooch Gumball, Gambler High Roller, Berkley Moeba, G-Ratt Webber, Skinny Bear Shake Em Up, Hags Prickly Pear, and Yamamoto Uni.
ClapTail
The Rapala ClapTail 110 came out last year and quickly became a favorite of mine. This Whopper Plopper-style topwater didn’t replace other favorites like the Plopper and Berkley Choppo. But it did give me more of a finesse bait with a unique clanking sound generated by the metal prop hitting a dangling metal blade.
Where the ClapTail 110 was already on the less aggressive side, the new 90 size is even easier on the ears. I think it’ll be a great addition to any angler’s arsenal when the fall fish get finicky relating to smaller shad, but also in August as bass school up on baitfish offshore. Traditionally, the bigger Ploppers and Choppos don’t really trigger these fish well. But I’ve already got on some schooling with the ClapTail 90 and had some luck with it. So, I’ll have it on deck this month in hopes of schoolers popping up nearby.
MISSILE Baits Buzzwagon
The MISSILE Baits Buzzwagon is a new “toad-toter” style buzzbait. It comes without a skirt and is, instead, designed to carry a soft plastic. In the heat of summer, Buzzbaits work well at triggering strikes from bass relating to bluegill beds, and bass that are just shallow in general. With the Buzzwagon and similar bait, you gain a lot more real estate for a topwater like this. Removing the skirt and adding a soft plastic makes this the easiest bait to skip of all topwaters.
The Buzzwagon in particular will be seeing some playing time this August. That’s partly because it’s new, and I like that it has a clacker collar molded around the arm. But I also really like the pink blade option — don’t judge me. I’ve caught a lot of fish on a bubble gum floating worm over the years, so I think it’s pretty cool that MISSILE Baits leaned into this little-used color for the blade.
Kingpin
Z-Man has accomplished the unthinkable by sinking the unsinkable. Thanks to a new formula, Z-Man now has the capability of creating a soft plastic bait with the same durability and stretchiness of ElaZtech, but it sinks. One of the only drawbacks to traditional ElaZtech is that it floats, making the material ill-suited for certain techniques, like wacky rigged stick baits. Enter the Kingpin. This soft plastic stick bait sinks like a Senko and others like it, but is still super durable — ensuring lots of fish catches on a single bait.
The Kingpin is fresh out of the mold. But if I can get my hands on these in August, I’ll definitely be trying them out. August is a great month to catch bass on a soft plastic stick bait rigged on a Texas rig shallow and deep, and in any water clarity. And it’s one of the most effective baits around bluegill beds when wacky rigged. I’m excited to see the Kingpin in action rigged both of these ways in August.
What Jay Prekurat is Throwing in Wisconsin
This is the month where the water is finally at its warmest, generally throughout the entire month. It’s when the fish are probably some of the deepest fish you’ll catch throughout the year, and also some of the hardest fish to catch throughout the year. These fish have been tampered with throughout the spawn, throughout the post-spawn when they just got off the beds, and now they’re finally getting out to their summertime haunts.
Deep weeds are a huge player. Any place that has grass around my house, I’ll always look for deep grass. The two primary ones that I like to look for are milfoil and cabbage. That’s kind of like the fish’s hideaway from all the pontooners and things like that. If you can, find anything deeper than 10 feet. Depending on the lake you’re in, some of the lakes fish shallower than others. And I’ll look for really hard transition lines. Just high percentage areas like that.
In recent years, a lot of guys have been throwing finesse-compact-jig-style baits, like the ones without the weed guard on them in a heavier size — like a 3/8 or a 1/2 ounce. And I’m putting some sort of a Ned rig trailer on the back of those. A dropshot’s hard to beat all year round, especially in August, and especially around the weeds. I like the weedless dropshot personally. The Strike King Filler Worm is probably the best bite-getter around me. Typically on the dropshot, I go with either a 1/4- or 3/8-ounce weight, and you can do everything you need to do with that bait. Generally, a five-inch Filler Worm is pretty much my favorite. Most of the time I’ll use your typical colors, like your bold bluegill, morning dawn, and green pumpkin.
Recently, the whole urchin craze has really come on strong. So there are two urchin baits that I’ll always have tied on in August, especially in the North. One is the Tumbleweed from Strike King. It gives you a finesse application that you can either Neko rig or put on a dropshot. I love to Neko rig that, especially if I’m in less than 15 feet of water. You can float that in front of those fish on Livescope, or you can do it with a bigger urchin, too.
What Pake South is Throwing in Texas
This time of year, with the water heating up, I tend to lean toward bigger profile baits. One of my favorites is a Berkley 10-inch Power Worm in the color blue fleck or red bug, or anything along those lines. Just throw it on a normal Texas rig, usually 1/2 ounce, but change that depending on how deep you’re fishing.
Then I like to have a couple baits to throw on scope fish and. The Berkley Moeba is still a big player this time of year — they are still biting it really good. That bigger sized 4.5-inch Moeba is always on the front deck. And then the Lab Series Minnow or any of the six-plus-inch minnows that have a bigger profile. This time of year it’s just about throwing something bigger. They’re feeding a whole lot, and a lot of times you have to throw something bigger to get a good reaction out of them.
On the Moeba, I’m putting that on a 1/0 treble hook. I’m just hooking it through there where I still have two points sticking out and just throwing that weightless. Usually I’m fishing it weightless anywhere from 15-foot shallower. Most of the time I’m throwing to 10- to 12-foot brushpiles and timber. Then on the minnow, 90 percent of the time I’m throwing that on an 1/8th-ounce jighead, usually with 3/0 hook in it for those bigger-sized minnows.
