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Learn to locate summer bass on offshore structure and how to use deep-diving crankbaits to tap into hot fishing action throughout summer.

The heat of summer delivers a delightful thing to anglers. Bass schooled up on offshore structure. These fish will succumb to various lures, but nothing fires up a school quite like a crankbait! Master offshore bass fishing by learning to locate bass on deep structure and using deep diving crankbaits to tap into outstanding fishing action.

All About Location

The best deep diving crankbait fishing locations couple ideal structure with favorable cover. And, yes, there’s a difference.

Bass use cover wherever they can find it – shallow, deep or in between. Brushpiles, aquatic vegetation, trees, boulders, docks and even the occasional sunken automobile provide predator species like largemouth and smallmouth bass with concealment for ambushing baitfish and other forage, along with other advantages.

Paint Shop Spotlight: Bandit 100 in Bois Darc Beauty- Bait School Bite Spec

When: Early Winter

Where: Shallow water Rivers/Lakes (Ross Barnett, Caddo Lake, Coosa River)

The perfect crankbait for shallow, dirty river water!

Even with a common bill shape, different crankbaits have distinctive characteristics. We’ll look at six top square bill crankbaits and the best applications for each.

Not all square bill crankbaits are created equal.

That’s important to keep in mind when you are choosing a lure to tie on this time of year. We’re not talking about performance quality or durability (although those are important considerations). We’re talking about variances in shape, sound, size, swimming action and more that cause different lures in the same category to excel in different situations.

When we speak of square bills, we’re talking about shallow running crankbaits with diving bills that are flat in the front and that have corners, instead of being rounded in front and on the sides. As a category, square bills are considered the best crankbaits for working through shallow cover.

Late summer offers definite challenges for bass fishermen because the bass don’t like the heat any more than most fishermen do, so they tend to lay low. Fish still must eat, though, and they certainly can be caught.

Long-time Tennessee guide Jim Duckworth, who has techniques to work well for every season and virtually every situation, likes a couple of specific crankbait approaches for bass fishing through the dog days. Maybe we should say, “dog mornings.” Duckworth gets on the water while it’s still dark this time of year to be set up in a high-percentage spot at daylight, and he seldom fishes past mid-morning in order to maximize productive time on the water.

Duckworth has learned that late in the summer quality bass tend to stack up on deep, main-lake points that are at the mouths of significant coves or creeks. He works these points with Bandit 200s and 300s fished on 8-pound test for maximized depth reach and vibration.

Duckworth will crank a point very thoroughly from the tip of the point to about 50 yards away on each side. “Work both sides twice, just in case you have to aggravate the fish into biting,” he said.

Duckworth also finds a lot of late summer bass over the second drop out from banks, with depths in the 10-to 15-foot range. For these fish, he uses an aggressive stop-and-go presentation. He cranks the lure quickly to max depth before pausing, and each pause is just long enough to allow the bait to start rising.

“Then I crank it into high gear for about five second, stop it again and repeat,” he said.

Both cranking strategies can work under any condition, but Duckworth finds the best late summer success under overcast skies and with stable water conditions.

Jim Duckworth suggests trying these dog days strategies to #LandItWithBandit.