Jordan Lee’s Five Best Bass Baits for Summer and Early Fall

From July – September, in most states, my first lure choice will be a Strike King 6-inch finesse worm in the green-pumpkin color fished on a drop shot rig. I’ll use a 1/4-ounce tungsten weight on the bottom end of my Seaguar Tatsu line. I’ll primarily be targeting boat docks and underwater ledges. The drop shot is a good rig to use any time you’re fishing heavily pressured lakes - something that’s generally happening by mid-July and August. 

Most bass fishermen don’t consider fishing a drop shot rig in hot weather, because they’re fishing crankbaits, deep-diving swimbaits, jigs and spoons then. Often getting a bass to bite a bait during those months is hard. So, a small worm that stays just up off the bottom and requires little or no effort for the bass to take will be hard for a bass to resist. 
 

I’ll always have a Strike King Sexy Dawg tied onto a rod, because you’ll see bass schooling on top, especially early in the morning, during the summer. Since the weather is so hot, the bass will feed heavily at night and early in the morning and attack schools of baitfish. I like to fish the green-gizzard color on 40-pound test Smackdown Braid line made by Seaguar. I prefer the braided line due to its very small diameter. But it’s really strong, and I can cast it a long ways. Oftentimes the bass will be breaking the surface a distance from my boat. I like a 7 foot medium-heavy Quantum Vapor rod to cast the Sexy Dawg a long way and also to fish the bait really fast on a bait-casting reel. 

This fairly large Thumper worm, made by Strike King, is 7 and 10-inches long. Often in the summer months, a bass will want a big bait that it doesn’t have to chase very far. I’ll Texas-rig the worm with a 1/4-ounce weight and a No. 5/0 hook. I’ll have the worm rigged on 15-17 pound test fluorocarbon line. 

I like to fish a 3/4-ounce Strike King Tour Edition football head jig in the peanut butter-and-jelly color. I’ll use a Strike King Rage Twin Tail Menace, a soft-plastic small crawfish imitation, as a trailer. I’ll fish that jig on 15-pound test Tatsu line. When the bass are very deep, you can cover a lot of water quickly with this jig. I like this heavier head because it allows me to cast a long ways. When you jump the head off the bottom, you may get a reaction strike as the head is falling back to the bottom. I’ll usually pop the jig off the bottom, and often the bass will grab the bait as it pops quickly up off the bottom, or when it falls back. 

My fifth pick will be the Rage Tail swimbait made by Strike King. At this time of the year, bass sometimes prefer small baits. So, I’ll fish the Rage Swimmer on a 3/4-ounce jighead. This bait is only 2.75 inches long. I like the Sexy Shad color. This bait mimics the smaller, yearling shad, which often are the easiest bait fish for the bass to catch and eat. You can fish this lure many different ways. But I’ll start off slow-rolling it near the bottom. I’ll also burn the bait just under the surface of the water, when I know the bass are up near the surface but won’t hit a top-water bait.