Largemouth at Dawn

If you can't fish at night, the next best time is dawn. Especially, in the summer and early fall. Fish don't want to be caught broiling away in the sun, so they will go deep during the day, and cruise the shallows at night and in the early morning. The hotter it is during the day, the better the next day's early morning fishing will be. It gets the coolest right as morning approaches. So that is when you want to be on the water. Most likely, it will still be dark when this cooling process occurs.

Good baits during the early dawn are medium sized crank and jerk baits, especially suspending jerk baits. The fish will be coming off a feeding frenzy at night if it is extremely hot during the day, and as the first rays of light hit the water, they will become more cautious and less likely to eat a huge meal. They will be swimming around looking for something small that is dead or injured. That is where your suspending jerkbait comes into play. Working this jerkbait slowly, parallel to the shoreline, and pausing it, will get fish interested. Get a jerk with a rattle to call the fish into it. Most fish will take these on the pause, and they will turn and bolt once they realize that they may have just bit some hooks.

Keep a taught line to feel these subtle takes on the suspending minnow. With sharp hooks, a sudden upward sweep of the rod will be all that is needed to set the hook. No bait works as well as medium and tiny jerkbaits that suspend in the dawn.