08/14/2026
During the summer, finding fish is made easier due to the thermocline that sets up during these hotter days. The water below the thermocline is pretty much dead water with depleted oxygen. It typically sets up between 25-30ft deep. So look for fish in 25ft or less. Something I like to do is scan around in open water for bait balls. It’s kind of hard to see my graph, but in this video I find a bait ball with fish underneath it. The shad and herring from this years spawn are about 1-2” in size. I throw a 3” Keitech USA Easy Shiner at them on a 3/16-1/4oz tungsten jig head with a 3/0 hook. The easy shiner is slightly bigger than what the fish are feeding on and catches their eye when swimming it through a bait ball, which entices them to bite. The infused squid scent also helps in getting the fish to commit. You can catch fish this way without forward facing sonar as well. If you see a bait ball on the surface, there are likely fish below them. Use the countdown method to figure out what depth the fish are. Good luck, go get ‘em!
