Fishing Flooded Trees

Pro Tip from Boy Scouts Pro Tom Redington

Lakes that don’t have much current develop thermoclines in the summer where the water temperatures differ and form layers. Depending on water clarity and other factors, the top of the thermocline might be 20 to 30 feet from the surface, and a lot of times you can spot it on your fishing electronics. Dissolved oxygen in the water is better at the top of a thermocline, and that’s where bass will often suspend. If the thermocline happens to form where there is a bunch of flooded timber, it can be a gold mine.

On my home lake, Lake Fork, fishing the thermocline in standing timber can produce some jarring strikes. Typically, I’ll start out with a deep-diving crankbait and work it through the dead branches. Sometimes I might long-line it; that is, cast out the crankbait, back off several yards with the trolling motor and then reel in the crankbait. This keeps it in the strike zone longer. Usually, power-cranking will produce the more aggressive fish.

Once I’m satisfied the crankbait bite is over, I’ll switch to a Carolina rig. I cast it out, usually with a 1-ounce weight and a creature bait such as the Lake Fork Baby Creature, let it settle, and then work it slowly through the trees. If I pull the Carolina rig onto a branch, I’ll yo-yo the creature bait up and down until I get a bite or I conclude that there aren’t any fish there.

For fishing the crankbait and Carolina rig, I use a heavy-action Dobyns 805 cranking rod or an 8-foot Carolina-rig rod with 20-pound-test P-Line fluorocarbon. Keeping a bait in front of a suspended bass for long is a problem in the summer, but having the tree limbs there actually helps do that. You might find fish scattered out in a group of trees, or, say, in just one tree on a point. Either way, this is a great summertime pattern when bass are suspended in the timber.