When largemouth bass move to the shallows during the pre-spawn and spawning phase of their year, they are hungry. What better way to tempt them than to offer them a real meal? while bass will eat almost anything they can fit into their cavernous mouths, a preferred bait in the spring is live bait, and the best live bait is often a fat, juicy crayfish. Crayfish are native to all fresh waters, so bass everywhere are familiar with them as a source of food. Also in their favor as a bait is that crayfish are reasonably easy to gather in fair numbers, either by purchase from a local bait shop, or by procuring your own, and are hardy creatures that can survive for long periods in captivity.

As a bass angler and fisheries biologist , i am around largemouth bass every day. I can attest that they are much smarter than they look. Bass can be picky and having a variety of lures to throw at them is the best bet to consistently catch fish. Start by covering all the bases with bottom, moving, and topwater lures. From there, use baits that match what the bass in your area are eating. Look for lures that have good action, are built to last, and are scented when possible. I took the time to find several of the best bass baits out there to keep you on fish. https://bassonline.com/bait-for-largemouth-bass/

Station your boat outside of the target area, cast the spoon deep into cover and “walk” it back along the surface. Allow it to flutter down into openings or ambush areas. Always be prepared for a strike. Remember, when a bass hits a spoon that is below the surface, set that hook instantly—and like you mean it. On the other hand, when bass hits it on the surface, hesitate an instant before setting the hook. This hesitation allows the fish to actually close its mouth on the bait. Remember what i said earlier: in pads and other really heavy cover like slop, largemouth generally make a first strike (mouth closed) to disorient their prey and then move in for the kill.

The Best Bait For Largemouth Bass

Live bait is always an effective method and requires much less presenting from the angler; this guide will explain the best live baits to use when bass fishing and how to rig them. In general, anglers catch bass most frequently when using bait; the largemouth bass would feed naturally. For this reason, baitfish and crawfish are usually the most consistent types of live bait for catching bass because these are what bass usually eat in many different places. Other popular baits are frogs and worms. Anglers can also use mice, salamanders, and various bugs or larvae for bait to pull bass, depending on where you are fishing.

Categories baits & lures , fishing in the u. S. Catching largemouth bass in clear water conditions is not always the easiest of tasks and can, to many anglers, be rather intimidating. The increased visibility can make it harder to persuade the bass to actually take your lure. But, with the right type of lures and lure colors in your arsenal, fishing in clear water does not have to be a problem at all! natural-looking lures, such as jigs, senkos, craws, or baitfish-like swimbaits, should be your first choice when fishing for largemouth bass in clear water. The best lure colors for clear water conditions are green, brown, and shad.

Plastic or rubber worms are one of the most popular artificial lures for fishing largemouth bass. They are extremely versatile and can be used in a variety of weather and water conditions. They can also be incorporated into a number of fishing rigs allowing them to be fished at all depths within the water column and target much more than just bass. Some of the more common rigs that use rubber worms include the texas rig , carolina rig and drop shot rig. Plastic worms are simple, effective year-round, versatile, and most importantly, always catch bass. When targeting largemouth bass in cold water, fish a plastic worm across the bottom using a carolina rig.

This is a very common question heard during the winter months. Let’s get this out of the way - bass do bite in cold conditions! when i say cold conditions - i mean water temperatures of between 20-50 degrees fahrenheit. They just eat less. Their metabolism reacts to the cold water and they exert less energy in feeding. There is still the chance to catch bass in cold conditions - we just have to fine-tune our bait selection. Bass will generally migrate to deeper waters in colder conditions. Temperatures are more stable here and they’ll follow food/bait which also move deeper.