Homer Humphreys Jr. spends about 300 days a year on the water. Between tournaments he guides in his native Louisiana, so a good chunk of those days on the water are in heat that would force an African elephant to lay down and take a nap.
Because of that heat and the fact that he has to produce fish for clients, he knows a thing or two about making fish bite in hot water. Here he gives a few straight-to-the-pointers on using one of his favorite techniques – a Carolina rig – in those conditions.
Where
"In extremely hot weather, with a high water temperature, you want to keep your boat anywhere from 15-30 feet deep, and you want to throw to a ridge in 4-5 feet – even as deep as 7 feet," he says. "You want it to be a fairly narrow ridge, not a ridge going up on a big flat – say it's 5 feet on top, and the back side drops into a little slough and comes out onto an old lake bed in 20- 30 feet."
How and When
Humphreys likes to "position the boat in 20-30 water and throw over the ridge. In summer, when the water is really hot, I find that fish tend to hit better when a bait is coming up the ridge rather than on the drop. I catch better- quality fish doing that."
The reason, he says, is that in hot weather bass often suspend, and "when they move up, they move up to eat – and remember it's a big timing issue. When they're suspended, they're bulletproof."
So when do they want to eat? "You usually get bites at the break of day until around 9:30," he says. "Then it picks up around 3:00 or 4:00. But during the full moon or the 2-3 days after, the bite is from 10:30 to 2:30. It's that way every month during hot weather. I can predict when I'm going to catch fish by that timetable, and it will work anywhere."
He learned that by spending so much time on the water. "I figured it out – it's one of those self-tutored deals from guiding a lot. That's why I like guiding so much. You learn a lot of techniques like this when you have to produce fish."
Getting Them On
His favorite rig for hot-weather fishing is a Carolina rig with an lizard or a ReAction Lures Gator Pup (creature bait).
"My favorite is a lizard," he says. "They hate a lizard. Many years ago an old man who fished an 8-inch black lizard all year long told me, 'Homer, they hate these lizards.' That hung in my head. Everyone says, 'Why fish a lizard in summer when they come out in spring?' Well, the lizards are still around, and if a snake got in your bedroom in January, wouldn't you kill it?
"Bass hate natural predators like salamanders or lizards, and they will get it."
He likes a smaller (6-inch) lizard for summer fishing. "You have little fronts coming through all the time, and if you're throwing big baits like a 10-inch worm or 8- or 9-inch lizard, you may miss those fish. They may not be wanting something big."
As far as colors go, he recommends sticking with what works in the waters near you. "Each lake and river has its own characteristic colors," he notes. On Louisiana's Red River he likes watermelon-type colors, always with a chartreuse tail because "all the bluegills in there have line of chartreuse around their tails."
He fishes the baits with a 7' Homer Humphreys Signature Series Carolina rig heavy-action rod made by American Rodsmiths; a Pinnacle Sonara 6:1 ratio reel; 20-pound McCoy Mean Green line for line and leader; a 3/4-ounce weight; and a 1/0 Owner Rig-N-Hook.
"Owner's not a sponsor of mine, but that's the best hook there is for this," he says. "It's heavy enough that I've caught fish up to 9 and 10 pounds on it, and it's light enough to let the lure glide through there, just like it's following that 3/4-ounce weight like it's fixing to hit it."
Getting Them To the Boat
Humphreys keeps the leader very short – 12-14 inches. "That way by the time you feel him, he doesn't have time to wrap you up," he says. "You get so fine-tuned to it, you can feel that lizard quivering when that bass is coming up to hit it."
But patience – after the bite – is the key to landing big fish on this rig, he notes. "You have to get that head towards you and ease him out. When you think you have the head turned toward you, then reach for the sky.
"If I walk up behind you and you jump, chances are that I can't teach you the patience to wait for that," he says. "If you're nervous or jumpy, it's hard to have patience to finesse them once you feel that bite and know he's there. But you have to keep pressure on him and get the head turned towards you. If he bows up on you, you have to bow up on him too, but 90 percent of the time the fish will swim to you.
"I've developed that over the years, and it's really won me a lot of money."
