Bass Fishing Tips & Tricks You Can Really Use

I have been a bass nut since I caught my first one at age 9 or 10. This fish hit a Mepps #2 spinner cast into holes and trails in the lily pads. It probably weighed less than two lbs. But it was a beautiful, wonderful, exciting fish that sent me down a road of discovery, that has stayed with me all my life.

Most of my fishing is done in the ocean now but fresh water bass fishing has remained the type of fishing that is always near the top of my list of favorites. There are many ways and methods for catching largemouth bass, some work well at certain times of the year, others work well year round in temperate climates ( no frozen water periods ).

My favorite all time bass lure is the spinnerbait. It is a very versatile lure, that can be fished fast in the search mode to find which areas, and type of cover are holding fish. Then slowed down and become an effective lure for less aggressive fish. In the search mode the spinnerbait is cast near shoreline cover, trees, brush, rockpiles, and any other form of shallow cover suspected of holding bass. A cast is made, and right before the lure hits the water, the reel is engaged and you start reeling as the lure hits the water. This may sound complicated, but with some practice it becomes second nature. The spinnerbait is very weedless, and can be cast into some very snaggy places without hanging up.

Most of the year reeling it on the surface with the blades bubbling on the surface is the best way to fish this bait. It can also be slowed down and fished just under the surface. During the cold water time of the year, it can be fished like a jig, cast out and let flutter to the bottom, then slowly fished back to the boat with a slow lift and drop. In the winter I have found that a pork frog added to the lure makes it much more effective.

In clear water a tandem silver blade model works well, in muddy water a single bronze Colorado blade is best. As far as color is concerned, use green and white in clear water, red in muddy water and black at night. Use the color guides as general information as color is the least likely variable to cause a bass to strike. Vibration and motion are the variables which cause a bass to strike more times than not. I have only seen a few times that color made much of a difference. Manufactures use colors to get you to buy many more of their products than you need.

Spinnerbaits excel in shallow water, the weedier, brushier, and rockier the better!! You can catch bass from places you would never throw regular lures. And if you seem to be getting hung up to often, a rubber band could be just what the master ordered. You have to use a spinnerbait with a closed line tie, an open one will not work.

Take a small rubber band and thread it through the line tie, then put it back through itself and pull it tight, now, stretch it back to the barb on the hook and slip the loop over the barb ( you need a very small rubber band) this eliminates 99% of hangups, but does not interfere with your hookset, or change the action of the lure.

Back ends of coves are great places to start when water temperatures rise above 55 degrees in the spring. I usually start on the sunny side of the lake in the spring and the shady side in the summer. I go as far back in the cove as possible, and start working my way out casting to all pieces of visible cover. I start out with a buzzing retrieve, reeling fast as soon as the bait hits the water, then reeling just fast enough to keep the bait burbling along the surface. I try to hit as many pieces of cover as possible, as many strikes come just as the bait hits the cover and suddenly changes direction momentarily.

Another good tactic is to stop the bait just as it hits the cover and let it flutter down about a foot thenstart reeling it fast back to the surface. When fishing is tough and bites are hard to come by, and you are in an area you know should be holding some fish, tie your boat to a bush or drop your anchor in a spot where you can cast to several targets from one spot, preferably some in shallow water and some in deeper water. Then make about 10 to 15 casts to each tree or brush pile, some fast some slow, let some casts sink to the bottom and reel slowly past the brush piles.

Also since the spinner bait is very weedless cast into the center of the brush pile and let it flutter down inside of the cover, be alert for a sudden twitch or jump of your line as this signals a strike. When you see the line twitch, immediately set the hook. Another tactic when bites are few, is to put a small pork rind or pork frog on the hook, sometimes this will get strikes when a plain hook will get few hits.

You can also put a small plastic worm or half a larger worm on the hook if you don't have any pork rinds. Once I was in Mexico fishing one of the hot bass lakes when the bass seemed to get lockjaw. We had fished most of the morning for a few small bass. This was very unusual as we were at the lake at a premium time of year when 50 to 100 fish days were common. We tied to a brush pile to eat lunch and as we were eating I was casting a spinner bait over and over to the only other brush pile within casting range, just to pass the time while my wife ate her lunch.

On about the 15th cast a good size bass blew out of the brush and smashed the spinner bait. I guess I just pissed him off and he just wanted to kill the intruder, not eat it as it was a very violent strike. For the next two days we cast many times to brush in premium spots and caught many bass that one or two casts would have missed. When bass are in a striking mood you can usually catch many more bass by covering lots of water and figuring out a pattern, ( if you catch most of the bass off of a certain type of cover or a certain location, say brush in three to five feet of water on secondary points ) thenquit fishing the whole cove and just fish the type of cover that you had the most hits on. Maybe you got the most hits as you slowly reeled the bait past the root wad of brush in five feet of water on main lake points.

Always be looking for similarites in places you get bites. Sometimes bass are in the back of coves, sometimes half way back, and sometimes are on the main lake points. Always look for dirty or semi-muddy water you will have much better luck than in clear water. Bass in clear water are usually spooky, especally on lakes with heavy fishing pressure.