Largemouth Bass Fishing Tips

The equipment you use for largemouth bass fishing is going to depend on your personal preference,
where you are fishing, the type of fishing you are doing, and the location of the bass. You will want to
match the rod and reel. A heavier rod is going to be needed if you have to horse the bass out of
heavy cover like weeds, timber, pads, or other kinds of slop. The reel is going to have to match the
rod. Too big of a reel for the rod will make the rod butt heavy and harder to cast accurately. With so
much of our bass fishing relying on our sense of touch, a sensitive rod that allows you to feel the
lightest differences of pressure on your baits is crucial. This won't come into play if all you're doing
is casting crankbaits, but if you are jigging a deep water point, you will need to feel when the fish hits.

No matter what kind of presentation you are using, lighter line will be the best way to go. Now I am
not saying you need to be throwing 3/4 ounce jigs around heavy cover with 2 pound test, but you
need to go as light as you can go. As situations change, you will need to change your presentations.
This is why so many bass anglers will have more than one rod and reel set up in their boat. Another
reason is if a bass misses one bait, a lot of times you can go back at the bass with a different bait
and pick it up.

The lure selection that is at your disposal these days is mind numbing. Even if you know you are
going to be working a soft plastic through some cover, there are a seemingly endless selection of
styles and colors and sizes to choose from. The same can be said with jigging lures for working
deeper points and sunken structure. If you are new to bass fishing, or just love the excitement of a
largemouth hitting your lure, then I would suggest going with a topwater bait and start your day out
before dawn. If catching a largemouth on a topwater bait doesn't hook you on bass fishing, you
might as well try something else.

The type of topwater lure that you can use is also just as varied as all the other kinds of lures. One
of the simplest to use is the buzz bait. Just cast it out and retrieve it just fast enough to keep it
churning the surface, and then hold on. Several times I have actually seen the wake of the fish as
the fish closed in for the kill. Good colors are green, yellow, and white. Even on these you can
attach a soft plastic trailer bait. Probably the second most used topwater bait is the popper type
lure. It has a concave face and when you give it a tug, it pops on the top of the water. Cast it out,
give it a few pops, then let it settle until the rings dissipate. Then pop it a couple more times. If you
are used to constantly moving your artificial bait, then this will be one of the hardest things to
master.

Spinner baits and inline spinners are just as effective. I have caught countless numbers of
largemouth on Rooster Tail lures. Yellow, white, coachdog colors all worked extremely well for me.
I believe the success and the popularity of the spinner bait has left the inline spinner in the dust, as
far as largemouth bass are concerned. Even these baits have numerous types to choose from.
Types of blades to use, size of blades, color of blades, number of blades. Do you put on a trailer, do
you use a trailer hook. The list goes on and on. One of my favorite spinner bait lures, isn't really a
true spinner bait. It is the Beetle Spin. It's popularity can be attributed to one of two things. First, the
Beetle Spin, much like the other true spinner baits, is almost snag proof. You can cast these lures
anywhere and get away with it. The second reason these lures are so popular is that they will catch
just about anything that swims in the waters of Indiana. Just the same can be said about my
favorite inline spinner, the Mepps Comet Minnow.

Other topwater lures are the stick baits or jerk baits. These are cast out and retrieved in a jerk jerk
jerk pause method. The idea is to mimic an injured minnow on the surface of the water trying to
swim. The most common method to fish these baits is a technique called walking the dog. This is
accomplished by twitching the lure to one side and then back to the other. Having a slight pause
after each twitch so the lure can float that direction under its own power. The lure should move
more to the left and the right than towards you. All this action on the surface of the water can draw
in bass from a long ways off.

Largemouth bass will relate to some kind of structure. Any rip rap in a stream or river can hold
bass. Look for them on the down stream side of the obstruction. They also relate to weeds in lakes
and ponds. Under water humps and islands will hold bass as well. In shallow running streams, look
for the bass in the deeper pools along the stream. A lot of farmers will be pumping water into and
out of these streams for their fields. Pumping water out of their irrigation ditches and into the
streams to control flooding can cause a deep pool to form. The same can be said for the down
stream side of a dam used to control water flow. Any culvert or bridge can also hold largemouth
bass. You would be surprised at the number and the size of bass that can be caught in these small
feeder streams throughout the year.

Live bait that can be used for largemouth bass is a wide assortment of the usual baits. Crawlers,
crawdads, minnows, bugs, frogs, and salamanders are baits that most people think of. This baits
can be fished in many different ways as well. Most common would be a slip sinker rig or a three
way rig to keep the bait on or near the bottom, or to slip bobber rig so you can pick up the bass when
they are suspended out in open waters.