Trying several tactics often is the key to success when targeting summer bass.

Summer's arrival translates into lots of options for lake-dwelling bass. Cover choices are on the increase, as floating and submergent vegetation continue to expand. Food sources multiply as baitfish and panfish species grow into the size range desirable to bass.

Staying consistent as a bass angler means being able to deal with the many options the fish now have.

A trip Dave Lehman and I made last week to Lake Wilhelm, a quality bass lake with a host of habitats, is a good example of how a range of approaches can be productive when fish have many choices. Despite tough, postfrontal conditions, we managed to boat more than a dozen bass in the 2½ - to 3½ -pound range.

Wilhelm is a fertile lake, capable of hosting a dense fish population. It has decent walleye and muskie populations; both of which receive fair attention from anglers.

As a panfishing lake, it is one of the state's best, with crappies and bluegills the headliners.

In terms of largemouth bass, it features excellent numbers of fish, as well as some large examples.

In addition to minnow species and young panfish, gizzard shad also are available for bass.

Submerged weeds, mostly milfoil, grow out to a depth of 6 to 8 feet. Some shallow areas support lily pads.

Wood is found in the form of shoreline laydowns, sunken trees and submerged stumps. Several sunken roadbeds are present.

The Sandy Creek channel traverses the lake bottom in a snakelike manner, creating lots of points and turns. The water color is heavily stained, and the lake is fairly shallow, with a maximum depth of 25 feet.

Such an array of cover choices plays into the adage of the fish being shallow, deep or somewhere in between.

With that in mind, here are a few patterns to check out on a complex lake like Wilhelm:

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Crankbaits on structure: One of Lehman's favorite tactics is working deep-diving crankbaits like a Poe's Super Cedar 400 on structure in the 8- to 12-foot range."Throughout the day, groups of bass will move up on structure to feed," said Lehman. "There's no real pattern to the movements. One day it might be 2 in the afternoon, the next day 10 in the morning."Because of that, Lehman will periodically check his milk run of deeper structures throughout the day. When the fish are there, it usually takes only a few casts to make contact.n

Flippin' jigs in and along weeds: In lakes that have good stands of submerged weeds, flippin' jigs dressed with a pork or soft-plastic trailer are effective for plying along weed edges, as well as in open pockets within a bank of vegetation.One mistake that's easy to make is to concentrate only on the outside edge of the weeds. Sometimes, some of the biggest bass will hold between shore and the inside edge of the weeds, particularly along steeper-breaking banks where there's a bit of depth close to shore.Another choice location along a weedbed, especially following a cold front, is an inside cup, where an open pocket in the cover runs tight to shore.n

Carolina rigging the flats: The Carolina rig incorporates a heavy brass sinker, a bead for the weight to clack against and a short leader. A variety of soft plastic baits, such as large worms, can be fished on a Carolina rig.The rig's heavy sinker translates into excellent feel of the bottom. When fishing stump- or rock-covered flats, an angler can crawl the bait along the cover. Hits often occur when the bait pops free after having bumped into such an obstruction.Also, following a hot crankbait bite on structure, it's often possible to pick up an extra fish or two by reworking the area with a Carolina-rigged soft plastic.Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.