Catching Bass Fish All Year

Now that we have a general idea of where bass are at different times of the year, lets go catch some. We will start out in the early spring period, when bass start coming out of deep water to feed heavily before the rigors of the spawning season. This is the time of the year for big female bass to really feed as much as possible, and they are at their most catchable stage of the year.

Early in the year the big females use steep structures, as that gets them from deep to shallow the quickest. Now is the time for large deep diving crank baits, my personal favorite is the Bagley DB3. This crank has a great action, dives deep enough to tempt the big girls out of their hiding places, and is quite weedless if the downward facing hook is clipped off the front treble hook, it usually bounces right over most snags. Some times it hangs up, but it is mostly stuck behind a branch or the like, just give it slack and most of the time it will back out and float up and away from the snag.

Be prepared, when it floats up the bass of your lifetime may just grab it, if your line gives a quick twitch, set the hook quick and hard. Some anglers fish these lures on light line because it gives them more depth on the retrieve, but I always use twenty pound test or twenty five if the water has lots of snags, the lure goes deep enough to interest fish in the ten to fifteen foot range. I want to be able to have a good chance of landing a real big fish hooked in places with lots of brush, light line will not allow this, stick to the heavy line when fishing these large crank baits! In places with light cover and clear water, light line can be used effectively.

When I use light line, ( ten to fifteen pound test ) I mostly use a seven and a half foot spinning rod, with a medium size saltwater spinning reel. This allows you to cast a very long way, get the lure down deep, and it does away with backlashes common with casting reels, light line, and casting into the wind. Loaded with eight pound test you can cast a Rapala floating minnow a country mile with this outfit. This allows you to put the lure over fish before they know you are near in clear water lakes. I also keep an extra spool loaded with Spectra, a braided line with an extra small diameter, twenty pound test is the same size of eight pound monofiliment line. It casts a spinner bait twice as far as casting gear, and the long rod and non-stretch line allow me to catch bass at long distances when conditions are right for reaction baits. This rig is for clear water with very few snags, if you are fishing water with lots of snags, stick to the conventional casting outfits and make short precise casts trying to always leave a path through the jungle to reel your fish through.

Train yourself to make the first casts in an area to the outside of cover, this way when you hook one, you can pull the fish away from the cover without disturbing the rest of the fish in the area. Next make casts into alleys in the cover, making short casts first, and saving the longest cast for last. Catch the close easy fish first and you will catch more fish in the long run. Make a long cast far back into a fishy looking spot and you could spook the whole school of bass by one fish mucking about in the cover. You only caught the one fish when a careful approach could have put many fish in the boat!

I hope none of you are getting bored with my bass series, I realize there are lots of people who do not fish for bass on a regular basis, but hopefully this information will make you a better bass fisherman, and give you the confidence to go out and catch some nice bass the next time you are on the lake or stream. Please let me know if you want me to write about any other kind of fish, fresh or saltwater, or mix them up, maybe throw in some boating , boat upkeep, or seamanship articles.

When you first get to the lake, say in early spring, and the bass are not yet in the spawning mode, points are the place to start. I usually have several rods rigged and ready. One has a 3/8 oz. spinnerbait in a light green and white color, chartreuse if the water is not real clear. The next one will have the Bagley DB3 crankbait in chartreuse and white or Tenn. shad for real clear water. My third rod will have a green plastic six inch worm rigged wacky style, ( the hook in the middle of the worm ) this is for fish that hit the spinnerbait and miss, I jerk the spinner out of the way and throw the worm to where the bass missed the spinner and most of the time get an instant hit. When I come up to the point, I start out upwind and drift down to the point. My first cast is across the point, about three feet from shore.

My next cast is about six feet from shore. When fishing the spinner, I close the bail when the lure is just about to hit the water, and immediately start reeling just fast enough to keep the spinner gurgling on the surface. Now as i drift past the point, I can make two long casts down either side of it, the first just outside the shoreline, and the second about six feet from the shore. Now I turn around, and using the trolling motor, go back into the wind.

The next series of casts are with the crankbait. The DB3 dives to about seven to ten feet, so look at the slope of the point and figure where the seven to eight foot level of water depth is, this is where your first cast will go. You want it to bump the bottom as it comes across the point, I have caught many nice bass just as the bait comes free from bumping across the point. You should make several casts across each point and several down each side. You should judge by the slope of the sides of the point where the eight foot water is and make your casts out far enough from the bank that you are not constantly getting hung on the bottom.

If you are fishing a shallow lake you may want to use a number 12 Rapala so you are not always hung on the bottom. After about an hour of this you should have a pretty good idea of what the bass want and where they are located. If most of your strikes are on the spinner on the shady side of the point, just put the crankbait away and fish the spinner until the fish stop hitting it. Patterns change during the day and you must change too, if you want to stay on the fish. Spinnerbaits are usually best early and late in the day, and the deep diving crank shines during the midday!