10 Easy Bass Tips from the Pros to Increase your Haul
10 Bass Fishing Secrets From Professional Anglers
- Annoy those bass - Bass is an ornery fish. You have to keep tapping at them to upset them into biting your hook.
- Fish before the storm - The best time to fish bass is before a front comes through, not after. The pressure of the front makes the bass more active and can greatly affect the success of your outing.
- Red fools the fish - In shallow cover - wood, stumps, clumps of grass - use a spinner bait with a red or pink head, and a crank bait with red hooks. The red makes the fish think the bait’s injured, and they’ll bit at it.
- Save shredded worms - When your plastic worms get torn up, save ‘em. Bass like to ambush wounded prey, so a beat-up worm is perfect to use.
- Keep your hooks sharp - Use a file to sharpen your hooks every time you catch a fish and before every trip. Bass have boney jaws, so a sharp hook is more likely to penetrate the fish.
- Skip your bait - When you cast, stop halfway instead of following through. This makes the lure hit the surface of the water a few feet before your target, so the lure skitters over the water.
- Face the wind - Sacrifice some distance in your casts and fish with the wind in your face. Bass always swim with the current, so it’s better for them to find your bait before they find your boat.
- Make your bait seasonal - Bass eat different bait depending on the time of year. The general rule is early in the year they like crawfish, so use peach-colored patterns. In the summer and fall they like shad, so use chrome or silver baits.
- Fish shallow in the spring - In the spring bass hang out in spawning beds. Concentrate on shallow areas, especially in pockets and coves protected from the wind because this is where they are likely to guard their eggs.
- Look at your livewell water - When you put a bass in the livewell, they are notorious for spitting up what they were feeding on. From there you can tell what color lure or kind of lure to throw the rest of the day.