The Practical Bass Fishing Tips for a Successful Fishing Experience

The Practical Bass Fishing Tips for a Successful Fishing Experience

Many men have found bass fishing to be quite a relaxing experience. Although the bass has been known to be quite a fighter and a

battler, the sheer excitement of waiting and finally catching it releases certain chemicals into the body that provide a euphoric feeling making the experience all worthwhile and satisfying.

Many men and women have come back from a bass fishing expedition feeling light and perky even though they have been outdoors the whole time. The strenuous activity seems to recharge their bodies.

The popularity bass fishing has garnered over the years has grown to an all time high with more and more people discovering its joys. Some though are reluctant to start because they have not got a single idea on what to do. Here are some tips to get you started and secrets to act like an experienced professional bass fisherman.

Baits

There are many types of baits used to catch bass, some work much better than others. Basically there’s live baits and artificial baits.

Live Baits

Artificial baits have been known to catch quite a few bass but many believe live bait works best.

Bass respond well to many forms of live bait but often action can be faster than with lures. Mostly used are Minnows, Shad, Shiners and Night Crawlers. You can also use cutup bait fish, such as a Sardines, Anchovies and even Crawdads work very well.

Artificial baits

Lures are artificial baits used to attract and entice fish to bite to eat or bite to move it away from its nest. Artificial baits are made of just about anything possible from plastics, metals, wood and even feathers. They are made to look and or move like anything the fish would consider eating.

Soft Plastics

There are a wide variety of Soft Plastics baits used for catching bass. The choices are endless from different types of creatures like Worms, Lizards, Frogs, Swim Baits, Tube Baits etc. to different types of plastics. Many are made to float, some are made with salt and some are made to hold different types of scents.

Hard Plastics

Hard Plastics are used to make thousands of types of Crankbaits from Jerk baits to Rat-L-Traps

(Lip-Less Baits) from floating to diving and even suspending baits.

Wire Baits

Spinner Baits, Buzz Baits and Alabama-Rigs are very popular for catching bass. Spinner baits are one of the most versatile lures used to catch bass. They can be used many ways and in many different conditions. Spinner Baits or Blades as some are known to call them, can be fished fast or slow, deep or shallow.

Jigs and Others

Many fisherman love to fish with Jigs. The Jig is a bait that consistently catches quality bass. And many fisherman love to fish with Spoons. Spoons have been around for more than 50 years. The kitchen spoon was used during the depression as a simple replacement lure.

Location

Knowing where to locate bass can be a challenge to most anglers because of so many different factors that need to be determined.

Water clarity, water temperatures, seasonal patterns, water depth, reading a map and weather. Also water levels are very important, are they raising, lowering or staying stable?

Areas holding bass are key areas to fish. The more time you’re in the zone, the more chances you have to catch fish. People say that 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. Areas that usually have bass are areas of vegetation, shallow water close to deep water, points, secondary points, backs of coves, ledges, drop offs, and islands. Also different types of structures like rocks, sand, boulders, ramps and docks.

If you catch a fish. DON’T LEAVE THAT SPOT! Stay there and fish more after you have removed the hook. Fish will follow the fish on your line and try to steal the bait. Especially if it is white bass you can sometimes catch two at a time with crappie and perch if you have a double rig.

Worms usually work well during light to heavy over cast skies and spinners usually work better when there is a breeze or in windy conditions that make a ripple on the water surface. When you set the hook, try to keep your line tight and maybe even give it another hook set. When they jump it is real hard to keep your line tight. If the fish is deep and coming up fast, swing your rod tip to one side or the other to pull it to the side rather than pulling it to straight up to the surface. After the hook set always try to maintain the same resistance between you and the fish. Too much pull and you’ll break the line, not enough pull and you’ll lose your fish because they can spit the bait out if there is not enough pressure to keep the hook in its mouth.

Make sure you aren’t using dull hooks. Also, smaller hooks can penetrate easier, making them harder to throw. In most instances, though, nothing beats an aggressive hook set, and then keeping steady pressure on the fish, especially when they go airborne.

 

Fishing Lures for Bass

Fishing Lures for Bass

When it comes to finding or selecting fishing lures for bass you have thousands of choices, but there really are only two that work. Not two lures for bass, two concepts of lures for bass. You either go “la natural” or you get “crazy”, there is very little room for “naturally crazy” when it comes to fishing lures (or baits) for bass.

Bass are either in a bad mood or they want a quick snack or two; often times they are in both a bad mood and want a snack. This just increases your chance of picking the right lure or bait. People that are very experienced with fishing for bass know this, they probably have not looked at it this way before, but I have an odd gift for seeing things in an odd way.

I have personally witnessed a bass eat a wild duckling about the size of a tennis ball and had either a bass or the most aggressive perch in the western hemisphere bite the fingers on my right hand as I was trailing them in the water off the boat.

Ducks and fingers are not common fishing lures for bass, but they obviously work.

The key to selecting the right fishing lures for bass specifically relies more on your delivery and presentation than the actual lure itself. Your mission is to figure out where the bass are located and then get your bass fishing lure of choice to them because they will rarely travel farther than the range of sight or sound to eat something. Just because they are always ready for a fight does not mean they go looking for one.

You go to them, they don’t come to you.

You often hear the term “Water Column” used when people are talking about fishing for bass or lures for bass. This term is very simple when you understand what it means, and it means exactly what it says. If you take a lake or waterway and look at it by “depth” that is a column. Fish at the surface are at the top of the column and fish at the lake-bed are at the bottom of the column.

Bass, more than other apex predator species will move along this water column during different times of the year. In one part of the year they prefer the upper levels while other parts of the year they may like the depth of 12 or 18 feet. Other times they may like it at 40 feet deep. Depending on the climate, they may like less than 5 feet in the morning and 25 feet at noon. You just need to know your fish.

This is where your choice of fishing lures for bass come into play or to use bass fishing techniques with lure that are not specifically designed for bass. The lures you want to use are the ones that will get to where the fish are, either through their engineering or through the way you rig them.

A plastic worm is one of the classic bass fishing lures because within a few minutes you can modify it from something you are using in 12 inches of water to something that in dancing down bass alley at 30 feet deep.

The correct bass fishing lures or baits are not so much the lures themselves, you just need to understand the “water column”, the character of the fish that time of year in relation to the water column and how to rig the gear that you are using to get to that depth.