TAKEOFF
SCENARIOS
SUMMER SCHOOL
F
HOW JEREMY LAWYER FINDS SCHOOLING BASS IN THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER
irst-year FLW Tour pro (and 2016 T-H Marine FLW Bass
Fishing League All-American champion) Jeremy Lawyer
earned a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup
at Wheeler Lake by keying on schooling bass. Since then the
Sarcoxie, Mo., pro has steadily gained a reputation as a master
at finding schooling summer bass. Here’s how he does it.
consistency
By Chad Love
According to Lawyer, summer bass
schooling isn’t a random occurrence
that materializes wherever and when-
ever an angler happens to stumble
across it. In fact, there’s a pattern and
consistency to when and where bass
school up on a given lake.
“Bass tend to school in the same
places year after year,” says Lawyer.
“When you see lots of boats together
on a ledge on, say, Kentucky Lake, it’s
not because everyone just happened
to find that school that particular day.
It’s because schools have been congre-
gating there for years. And they return
year after year because everything at
that spot sets up perfectly to attract
schooling bass.”
characteristics
28
Lawyer used a 1/2-ounce spoon to finish fifth at the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup on Wheeler Lake.
So what makes schooling bass
come back to the same areas summer
after summer? According to Lawyer, it’s
the same thing that sends us back to
our favorite restaurants time after
time: Because they’re comfortable
places to eat lots of food.
“I look for places where those bass
don’t have to expend a lot of energy to
chase food,” says Lawyer. “The tips of
bars, or high spots in bars where water
flows over behind them and makes
eddies – somewhere bass can herd up
shad coming over that bar and keep
them there.
“Maybe there are some trees that
come up close to the surface, or it’s an
outside bend where the river channel
has a big flat. It’s anywhere bass can
hold and have f ood come to them.”
FlWFIshIng.com I July 2017