When may people think of summer, beach, baseball and backyard barbecue come to mind.
But Bassmaster Elite Series rookie Cody Hollen has a different take when it comes to summer fun. “Without a doubt, my favorite time of year to catch bass is during the summer,” Hollen said. “And to be more specific, I especially like the late summer heading into fall.”
Summer is a popular time for water sports, for sure, but that’s for time spent in the water, not pulling things from it. And pro bass anglers know all too well the experience of glass-slick water, sun beating down angrily and high humidity causing heavy sweat. No doubt, that can be tough on the body, not to mention the bass bite. But to understand Hollen’s reasoning, you have to consider his home base: Beaverton, Ore., a town of almost 100,000 residents located just west of Portland and farther north than New York City, Boston and even Toronto, Canada.
Summers are relatively mild in Beaverton (think highs in the low 80s in July and August), and there’s just more than an inch of rain on average in the summer months, despite the region’s notoriously wet winters. Beaverton also is only a few miles from the mighty Columbia River, which is where Hollen spends as many summer days as he can loading up on the smallmouth bass that make North America’s eighth-longest river a choice destination for anglers throughout the Pacific Northwest.
