After fishing the desert lakes for over 20 years, and teaching a community college fishing class for 15 of those years, I've discovered and refined many of the techniques that produce great summertime catches - tournament winning strategies that work anytime the weather heats up, regardless of where you hang your fishing hat.

In a lot of cases the old saying is right on the money - a picture is worth a thousand words. With the help of the folks at Safari Productions I've put my best summertime pattern fishing techniques on tape in my newest fishing video, "Desert Fishing Techniques." We filmed the entire video on Lake Mead, and covered all the techniques and patterns that have proven themselves over the years.

All top pros agree that the two cornerstones of hot weather bass fishing are as far apart as top and bottom, so we start the video with all the shallow water techniques that produce big catches in the summer - topwater, hard and soft jerkbaits, spinnerbaits and crankbaits are all profiled - shallow water "reaction" fishing at its best.

On the other end of the hot weather spectrum, and most viable when the sun is really blazing up above, is deepwater structure fishing. When it comes to deep water angling the Yamamoto jig leads the way in my book (and video), augmented by how-to segments on the venerable jigworm, Carolina rig and splitshot rigs, and the hottest technique on the circuit, the dropshot.

Of course, rod, reel and line preferences are covered, along with tips on locating the best areas on your lake to start your pattern search for summertime bass. The video closely follows my college class outline, and is intended for bass anglers interested in learning the basics of western angling. It makes good sense to develop a solid game plan, whether you're tackling one of the giant western impoundments, or headed out for a day on the water back home.

With the video I've tried to teach my systematic approach for fishing western lakes, but the best part of the sport of bass fishing happens when you start out with a few of my tips and tactics, and then put them to use, refining them for your water and conditions when you go fishing.

In days past, regional techniques were just that, regional. But those days are long gone. In today's "connected" world of bass fishing techniques and tactics are being shared and adapted from region to region, and in some cases from country to country. This past year on the B.A.S.S. Tour I witnessed that myself - savvy fishermen from all across the country are beginning to adapt the hottest "western" techniques for their local lakes.

The Senko craze, for instance, had its roots in California and Texas, but is now one of he best fish catchers from coast to coast. Techniques covered in this video will open many peoples' eyes to new fishing possibilities on their lakes. The open, rocky reservoirs of the Great Lakes area, and highland reservoirs of the Ozarks, maintain many similarities to the western lakes. Even in the weed-choked waters of Florida, fishermen are using western techniques with great success.

So grab a bag of Senko's and Yamamoto Hula Grubs, check out the video, then get ready to hit the water - just don't forget the Gatorade and the sunscreen. I hope to see you out there!