It's hot almost everywhere in the summertime, but the desert takes heat to a new level. Anglers in states like Arizona must be willing to try to beat the heat if they plan to fish at all for the summer months. The fishing can still be good, according to Bridgford Foods pro Joe Uribe, Jr., who still fishes when it's sweltering, but he changes his approach and prepares a little bit differently to stay comfortable and safe in the desert sun.
Early, Late, and After Dark
A straightforward way to stay out of the hottest parts of the day is to get on the water at first light, before it gets dark, or even after the sun sets. These time windows are perfect for desert bass fishing and can offer your best chance of success.
"That's about the only time I'll go fishing in the middle of the summer. Even the guides around here start at 5 a.m. and are done by 10 o'clock," he said. "Even by then, the temperatures are already 105 or 108 degrees, which can be brutal. Our summers are long, and we have those triple-digit temperatures from June to September and sometimes earlier and later than that."
With so many days of extreme heat yearly, Uribe says the bass go deep and stay there. "You'd think you could get on a good topwater bite up shallow in the mornings in the summer, but most of the fish stay deep all day once they get in their full-on summer pattern," he said. "Even first thing in the morning, most fish will be deep. That's not to say you can't catch them shallow in the summer here or there, but I've noticed the bulk of the fish will live deep all summer long."
Uribe believes they stay in those deeper zones because they are comfortable and have everything they need there, including forage. "A lot of the baitfish also move out deep, whether that's gizzard and threadfin shad or crawfish," he said. "When we fish the evening tournaments in the summer in places like Lake Pleasant, you come in, and your livewells are chock-full of crawfish parts. Another thing that keeps them out there on Pleasant is the current, since that lake fluctuates a lot up and down, there is always some water movement."
The final option for beating the heat is staying and fishing after dark. Uribe says it's still warm and that he doesn't change his approach much.
"I used to night fish a lot in Southern California, and there it was big baits and fishing right along the bank, but in the desert it's the same fishing as it is during the day," he said. "We're still fishing deep and only using bigger profile baits and some darker colors, but it's one more way to get out there and fish in the middle of the summer here."
Top Summer Patterns
Lake Pleasant is closest to Uribe, but other Arizona lakes like Lake Roosevelt offer a similar deep bite during summer. No matter where he's fishing, the 20-feet-plus zone will be his starting point.
"Anything with 20 to 25 feet of water, even if it's 50 or 60 feet around it, will have some fish," he said. "On Pleasant, that's humps, long points, and island tops, and then on Roosevelt, it's the flats but still in that 25 to 35-feet zone."
Depending on where he's fishing, Uribe plans his lure selection based on the fishery. For Pleasant, it's all about finesse, and he leans more to power fishing on Lake Roosevelt.
"Lake Roosevelt is like an offshore 'ledge fishing' lake, and guys do well throwing big flutter spoons and Strike King 10XD crankbaits, and you can also catch them with football heads and deeper swimbaits," he said. "Lake Pleasant isn't like that, and it can be hard to get on a good reaction bite, so it's a lot of soft plastics. I've been doing well with a Reaction Innovations Spicy Beaver on a 'free rig' and dragging a jig. Then, you always have to have a drop-shot and a 6-inch Roboworm, and the best colors for me are always Morning Dawn and Oxblood Light Red Flake."
The "free rig" is relatively new to Uribe, but he says it's perfect for desert fisheries. "When dragging a jig, you can get hung up pretty easily with all of the rocks and quagga mussels out there, but the 'free rig' doesn't hang up as much since I use a cylinder weight," he said. "Most of the bites will be right when the weight hits the bottom and the bait starts to fall after it. They hit it hard, like a jig, and you don't have to drag it around much since they often hit it right away."
Fishing during the heat of the summer in the desert requires the right approach, both in when to go and how to fish for these hot-weather bass. Anglers like Joe Uribe, Jr., don't stop fishing; they make the most of the summer bite with a new approach.
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