As temperatures climb, your fishing expectations don’t need to fall — you just need to adjust your approach.
Fish can get hot and lethargic in the summer just like us, but also like us, they still must eat.
One of the great blessings of living in Arkansas is that we can fish all year long, so don’t let the temperature or the season stop you! Here are some tips to improve your chances:
- Fish at the beginning or end of the day.
Fish are more active at dawn or dusk when the food chain activates, and your lure has a better chance of joining in the activity.
- Find deeper water.
It doesn’t have to be very deep to make a difference to a fish, but deeper water is cooler.
- Find shallower water. (“Wait, but your last tip just said …”)
Fish do their own thing like people do. Some like to go deep, others shallow. Some people like pineapple on pizza, others think it’s sacrilege. There are no guarantees in fishing, just percentages. (We are pro-pineapple-pizza columnists, by the way.)
- Fish a little slower.
When fish are lethargic, they may not want to move much to chase something that may or may not be lunch. Calories are the currency of the water. If it takes 10 calories of energy to eat a 5-calorie minnow, some fish will pass unless you give them time to let the rationalization process start. For example, imagine you just ate lunch at work, the air conditioning is out, and you really don’t want to move. But if someone drags a doughnut across the conference table slowly, you have enough time to rethink your initial instinct to say, “No.”
- Fish a little faster. (“You did it again!”)
Other fish need to react before they think. “Was that a doughnut? I like doughnuts!” They forget it is hot and they are trying to “cut back on the sugar.” Fish typically eat when they are either hungry, mad or reacting to fast-moving food reminding them of feasts from cooler seasons.
- Lastly, make sure to take care of yourself!
Bring water with electrolytes, find shade, take breaks and enjoy the pursuit of finding out which contradictory tip works on any given day in Arkansas’ Great Outdoors.
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