What is the best bait for catching bass?
Answers:
Each kind of lure has certain times and places in which it is most effective. Careful bass fishermen, those who think about what they are doing and why, know that they can use the lures in their tackle boxes to work for them and that each one has an optimum range of service. Some lures work deep and some stay on the surface; some baits should be retrieved slowly and others should be burned along. So when the fish are deep, don't (in most cases) go with a surface lure. And when the bass are lethargic, don't make them chase a speeding bait.
COLOR: As each lure has a job to do, each color has a purpose, too. While some research indicates fish respond better to some colors than to others and that water clarity has a lot to do with what color lure might work best, it ia beyond the realm of most fishermen to obtain a device that indicates the best hues to use. So stick with crawfish colored lures when working close to the bottom around rocks, stumps, and willows. Use a fish colored bait, such as one painted chrome or silver or gold or like a shad, when working around deep points or around schooling baitfish. Try bright colors such as hot pink or chartreuse when the water is stained to the point that visibility is less than 18 inches. But chartreuse also works well in water that is fairly clear, and it is an excellent choice in spinnerbait skirts. Some bass anglers prefer chartreuse spinnerbaits around weed beds (and many like black there), while others go with white shirted lures around wood structure.
SPINNERBAITS: These are the most versatile of bass lures. They can be worked deep or shallow, slow or fast and in a number of motions. They are generally snagless, which makes them a top choice around weeds and submerged trees and willows. Use spinnerbaits generally this way: Try the inline models only in fairly open water, although they can fished among rocks with only a slight chance of snagging. Stick with the safety pin spinnerbaits around trees, willows, weeds, of all varieties, boat docks, stumps, flats, and long tapering points. A spinnerbait is one of the absolute best baits to use if the water is very dirty, especially in the summer and spring. The blades on the lures send out a lot of vibration as they rotate through the water and the action gives fish something to key on as they seek the disturbance in muddy water. Try a big cupped Colorado style blade when you seek to make the most underwater noise. On the other hand, when vibration isn't too important but plenty of flash is, try a willow leaf blade. The most popular sizes of willow leaf blades are No.4 to No.8. Since you'll be fishing a spinnerbait mostly around heavy cover such as weeds and wood, be sure to knock the lure into the cover regularly. That is, bump a stump or tree trunk with the lure and then let it settle a foot or so. Strikes from ambushing bass often will occur just after a spinnerbait hits a piece of wood then tumbles down. Too, you can slither the lure over snags that are out of the water and let the lure slip quietly into the water below the tangles to sneak up on lurking bass. Spinnerbaits and crankbaits are generally used to cover water quickly. Generally use a spinnerbait if the water is shallow and a crankbait if the water is deep.
CRANKBAITS: Crankbaits are especially productive on active bass that are willing to run down a meal. When the crankbaits are working to their potential, they are digging their big plastic bills into the sand, gravel or rocks on the bottom, deflecting themselves off objects and bouncing tantalizingly in front of hungry bass. They should be used when you want to quickly prospect for bass along an underwater hump or reef, down a steep or tapering point, along the sides of a road bed or around a launch ramp. Some expert bass fishermen use crankbaits in heavy cover such as trees and stumps, but those are places where a beginner should take considerable care. Because they mostly are floaters, crankbaits will bob back to the surface if you stop retrieving them; but if a hook is stuck in a branch, the lure will be stuck and perhaps unretrievable. Try a crankbait in heavy wood only after you've had lots of practice in walking one along a lake bottom so you can learn how the lure works. Many fishermen use three color patterns in crankbaits: chartreuse or firetiger, shad or chrome, and crawfish or reddish orange. These colors will mainly get the job done whenever a crankbait will do it. Another selection of many anglers is the deep diving models over shallow runners because the big plastic bills on the deep diggers serve several purposes. They deflect off snags and they dig puffs and furrows as they nose down into the lake bottom. The result is an added attraction that might draw attention of a hungry bass.
PLASTIC WORMS: Most anglers' favorite lure is the plastic worm. But it's not a simple stalk of colored plastic that it used to be. Now you have straight worms, snake worms, plastic lizards, curly tail worms, j-tail worms, and worms with holes, dimples, air pockets molded in, bumps and nubs and flavorings. Then you have the colors. Probably no other category of lure comes in as many colors as plastic worms. But if your just beginning to stock your tackle box, here's some simple advice. You'll need two basic styles: a straight worm for flipping and a worm with an action tail for more open water fishing. The j-tail and snake worms provide tantalizing motion in the water and they give off vibrations that draw fishes' interest, but they also can catch on small sticks, weeds and twigs and foul up an angler's presentation when he's flipping. As far as colors go, stock worms in black, blue, grape, and motor oil. And perhaps a metal flake variety in electric blue or motor oil.
JIGS: They are great for flipping shallow cover or casting to deep structure. They are best fished when they are in close proximity to under water cover. There are two basic varieties: The open-hooked plain jigs dressed with marabou or plastic grubs and the bass-style jigs with a snag guard and a rubber or rubber and hair skirt. These often are tipped with a plastic worm or pork rind trailer to add bouyancy and action. You can fish plastic worms and jigs in much the same way. You should keep the lure in close contact with the bottom as much as possible, twitching it in short hops. The jig-n-pig is a top choice when the water is still cold in the spring. It is meant to imitate a crawfish, which is one of the bass' favorite foods. Many fishermen switch over to plastic worms when the water begins to warm around spawning season, but the jig-n-pig will produce fish all summer long for those who stick with it. Toss either a plastic worm or jig-n-pig into a pocket in a weed bed, next to the shady side of a stump or leaning tree, under a boat dock, next to a submerged rock, along riprap and near boat ramps and points.
TOPWATER: The topwater bait is broken down in two categories: slow moving and fast topwater lures. Examples of slow movers are Zara Spook, Rapala floating minnows, chuggers and poppers. Fast baits are Jitterbugs, buzzbaits, and various propeller lures. Surface lures begin to draw interest just before the bass move onto the spawning beds and they'll continue to be hot until the water cools down in October or November. In the spring, try buzzbaits and the Zara Spook or Rapala near stumps or standing timber on shallow banks. During the summer, work topwater lures early and late in the day, or when the clouds are heavy and the wind is calm. Bass will move a long way to hit a topwater under such conditions. In the fall, try a surface lure near points and cover in bays made by creeks that feed a lake or reservoir. Buzzbaits work best when retrieved with a fairly quick pace. Allow them to bump the objects in the water just as you would with a spinnerbait. With a Spook or Rapala, however, a different approach is necessary. Cast one out and let it set until all the ripples from the splash-down are gone. Then twitch the lure slightly. Often the strike will occur then, but repeat the stop and twitch throughout the retrieve. Sometimes the strike will occur well away from the cover; sometimes it'll be right next to the boat. With a Zara Spook, each twitch should be made on a slack line. When you jerk the Spook, it'll dance right to left and stay within a small area for a long time. That give a bass plenty of time to get angry at the intruder. A strike under those conditions is a moment to remember.
Spring and early summer are good times for surface and sub-surface type baits. These are exciting baits to fish because you can see what's happening when a bass hits the bait.
An "oldie but goodie" is the Tiny Torpedo or regular Torpedo, that used to be utilized as much or more than any other topwater bait. What makes this bait so nice is it's so simple to use. You just cast it out, and reel it in. The prop does all the work. Chrome/blue is probably the best all around color.
The chugging or popping type baits such as a Chug Bug, Pop R, Spit' n Image and others are also easy-to-use baits and can be very effective. With these baits, cast it out, let sit until the rings disappear in the water and with a twitch of your rod tip, cause the bait to chug or pop. This action is caused by the cupped face of the lure each time you twitch your rod and take a half turn on your reel handle, working the bait back to the boat. Select colors that are close to the type of bait you are trying to imitate.
Buzzbaits are another easy-to-use lure with built in action that can be fished in heavy cover or thick grass. They come in several varieties. One type has a wire frame with one or two prop-type blades that gives a buzzing, gurgling sound as it comes through the water, and a skirt on the back to give it color and bulk. Another type is an inline buzzbait like the Top Prop. Just cast it out and start reeling as soon as it hits the water, keeping the bait on top of the water. You can cover a lot of area quickly with this bait. Good colors are white, chartreuse, or a combination of both.
Casting spoons like the Johnson, Arrowhead and Timber Doodle are great fished through vegetation. Although it is a spoon-shaped bait, made of metal, it does rise to the surface of the water if retrieved at the right speed. They usually have a weed guard that keeps them from hanging up and the metal gives off a flash something like a spinnerbait blade does. You can even add a trailer to change the color.
There are several soft plastic baits, like the Mann's Ghost, Scum Frog, Snag-Proof and other frog and mice baits. These usually come with hooks and swivels built in and are designed to be weedless. You can throw them out over hydrilla, moss, lily pads or other vegetation and retrieve them in a jerky action or steady retrieve. White, chartreuse, frog, and gray or brown mouse colors are some effective color choices for this bait.
Trick worms are a great bait to fish. They come in bright, and unusual colors such as hot pink, (a personal favorite) fluorescent chartreuse, lime green, yellow, merthiolate and also standard colors such as watermelon. There are lots of ways to rig these baits. A couple of standards are to put the hook through the egg sack area of the worm, with the hook exposed, called a wacky rig, and then there is the standby Texas rig, weedless style. Just cast it out, using the rod tip, twitch, and wind back to the boat giving the bait an erratic action.
Other soft plastic twitch and jerkbaits are the plain stick type baits like the Slug-Go, Slimy Slug, Phantom's Pfish Stick, and baits like the Shad Assassin, fluke, RT Slug, Jerk Shad and Fin-S Shad. With these baits you need to use a wide-gap hook, typically a 3/0 to 5/0 size, because the thickness of the bodies, and also to get a good hook set through the body of the bait. The hook also adds to the weight of the lure for casting purposes. These are true twitch baits because when you cast them out, and use a twitching action, with your rod as you reel it gives the lure a darting, wounded baitfish action. Colors should be the same as the baitfish in the area you are fishing.
The hard-body type stick baits like the Rapala, Twitch' N Minnow, Rattlin' Rogue and Storm Thunderstick come in both a short bill and long bill version as well as floating or suspending models. These baits are typically lightweight and are hard to cast in the wind. Underhanded, or pitching type, casts work best with these baits. After you cast the bait out, you work it back to the boat using your reel, which gives them a darting jerking action, which is where they got the name jerkbait. Use baitfish colors with these lures.
The Zara Spook is one of the oldest topwater baits around. Its action is called walking the dog, which is a side-to-side action created by pointing the rod tip to water and twitching about six inches with a steady rhythmic action as you crank your reel a half a turn per rod twitch. Kind of like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time. It takes practice, but with the right rhythm, the Spook will dart to the right and then to the left with a steady action as it comes back to the boat. This has always been a big bass lure.
All of these baits can be used around vegetation, stick-ups, laydowns, trees, and stumps with excellent results. Expand your lure selections. Try to use some of these baits on your next trip to the lake. Have fun and tight lines.
I Need My airsoft pistol to be upgraded!!! PLEASE Help!?
Minnows would be the best bait. But it depends on what kind of bass you're talking about. Minnows, and lures, along with worms too if you're talking about any bass.=)
What are some great techniques to catch huge pike?
well...i had luck with worms...yeah simple...but that is for fresh water if ur looking to cath salt water...which i dont think you can eat those but squid works.yes im a BIG fisher.i love to fish salt water mostly the other day i cuaght a 33 1/2 in. king and a 27 in. spanish yeah fun fun...(cigar minnows wrk best for those ^_^)What is the best firearm for home protection and self defense?
Try salamander lure. Works every time!Johnson silver minnow with a pork rind hooked on it.
Which dept. stores (wal-mart. dick's etc.) can you buy a gun?
live bait every time. keep it simple and try shiners or bass minnows. these can be purchased through any bait and tackle store. isn't this what fish eat everyday? so why try to fool them with artificials. good luck and remember to take time to Take a kid fishing!i use a mepps aglia #3 inline rooster tail. i recently started using them, and they are amazing. without a doubt the best bass lure ive ever used. ive caught more bass in the past month, then i have my whole life. recently caught a 19 inch 4 and a half pounder. alot of 17 inchers too. you can get the lure at kmart. good luck, and if you want to know what it looks like, email me, and ill show you a pic. good luck
What are the set backs to fishing with Shad?
Berkley Power Bait rubber worms work pretty good. I use the black with purple tails, and I catch lots of bass. Also, a Gitzit that looks like a little minnow seems to work pretty good.I recently aquired some old guns looking for ballpark values?
Bass Fisherman is telling you rightMore Questions & Answers...