Keith Lusher 08.20.24
With overall temperatures hitting all-time highs for 2024 this week, anglers are being forced to adjust their techniques when fishing for bass.
Dustin Touche of Slidell, LA, has been limiting out (10 fish) on every trip he’s made this month. His method? “Start early, start early, start early,” Touche said.
Touche has been making a special effort to leave the house before dark and arrive at his first fishing spot before the sun peeks over the horizon. “That heat has the water temps hitting 90 degrees by 10:00 a.m., so it’s important to take advantage of that extra hour or so before the sun is fully up,” he said.
On Touche’s latest trip, he formulated a plan to start early, fishing the grass using a hollow-body frog for bigger bass. “Man, did that pay off!” Touche said. The bass fisherman was throwing a green and yellow Booyah Pad Crasher Jr. and caught seven keeper bass before the sun ever fully made it over the horizon. “Those fish were smashing the frog,” he said. “I just love that early morning bite.”
As the day heated up, the frog bite slowed, and Touche switched over to a Chicken on a Chain colored Zoom Fluke, but the bite just wasn’t there. “Once it gets to 90 degrees, it’s just about over on Bayou Bonfouca,” he said.
While trying to finish off his limit, Touche had an unexpected encounter with the biggest bass of the day. It came at the intersection of two bayous, Bayou Liberty and Bonfouca. Touche spotted water mixing where the two tributaries came together and started casting toward the shoreline. He had a small bass follow his lure along the surface and set the hook when the bass hit. As he was reeling the small bass in, he felt the fish pull harder. “I really didn’t know what was on the line at that point,” he said. Touche braced himself for a fight and muscled the fish closer. As it neared the boat, the big fish let go, leaving a mangled 8-inch bass hanging on the other end of his line. “I set the hook on the smaller bass, and while I was reeling it in, that big bass came and inhaled it,” Touche said.
After realizing what had happened, Touche took a moment to catch his breath and replay what had just occurred. “I saw that fish clearly! It looked like it was at least five pounds,” he said. After recuperating, Touche continued fishing with the Zoom Fluke and was able to catch three more bass by casting into drains that came out of the marsh.
Touche recommends getting as early a start as possible in August until the first cool front passes through. “Getting out on the water at dark has paid huge dividends for me this month,” he said. “I wouldn’t be catching nearly as many fish if I wasn’t putting in the effort to get out there early.”
