Summer’s swelter doesn’t stop bass from biting. In fact, savvy anglers armed with the right lures and tactics can enjoy great hot-weather bass fishing for largemouths, smallies and spots.
The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s tackle-crafting friends at Pure Fishing offer a wide variety of products to help us get the job done, including a fistful of bass-catching softbaits made in Spirit Lake, Iowa, by the company’s Berkley brand.
PowerBait Power Worm
The Berkley softbait arsenal is broken into three separate families: PowerBait, Gulp! and Havoc. Knowing how the baits in each of these lineups excel in different fishing situations can help you catch more bass all summer long.
PowerBait—Infused with a bass-busting cocktail of natural attractants, PowerBait is a great all-around option and exceptional when finicky largemouth bass play hard to catch—such as in heavily pressured lakes or whenever the fish aren’t in the mood to bite. PowerBait also makes bass hang onto the bait longer after striking, giving you extra time to set the hook.
Gulp!—Designed to flood the strike zone with tempting attractants,
Gulp! baits are ideal for slow-moving presentations such as drifting and
dropshotting. A Gulp! Leech or Minnow on a size 1 to 1/0 dropshot hook is hard to beat for summer smallmouth bass.
Gulp! Leech
Havoc—While PowerBait and Gulp! products are rich in scent and flavor, Havoc baits are built to trigger bass that are using their vision and lateral line system to capture prey. They excel for fast presentations aimed at aggressive bass, but can be equally effective pitched, punched and twitched.
Havoc baits also bring a variety of colors, shapes and actions to the table. Tailoring these particulars to the conditions and mood of the fish can be critical to success, especially in clear water—which is just another example of how choosing the right bait for each situation or presentation can help USA members catch more bass on every trip.
Havoc Pit Boss
