by Bruce Middleton, November 02, 2009

Choose lures and baits according to what lives in the lake you’re fishing…

When it comes to choosing realistic looking baits or lures to catch a bass on, you need to know several things. Mostly you need to know what is on the bass’s menu in any given lake that you are going to fish so as to aid you in your choice of lures. This means you need to know what kind of fish inhabit the lake with the bass as well as the creatures that live on the lake bottom. Not all lakes are alike. You also need to know if the lake has lily pads and/or cow weeds and if the lake is completely surrounded by houses or not. Cow lily weeds look like lily pads but the leaves are smaller and more arrow shaped. But remember too that generic baitfish colors can be very attractive to bass even though those particular colors may not exist on baitfish in that lake. It is often the general shape and action you give it that caused the strike.

Other fish in the lake represent sushi to a bass when the baitfish are fry and up to the size that a bass can still swallow them without getting them stuck in his throat. I have seen bass though that have had a fish in its mouth but that fish was so big that almost half of it stuck out of the bass’s mouth. Trout as big as 18 inches are fed on regularly by bass down in California and the use of 18 inch lures and some bigger are used all the time down there. So a bass can take some pretty big baitfish as a meal.

If a lake has wooded areas around part of it, this offers an area for snakes, mice, ducks and other animals to enter the water that just aren’t available to them when a lake is completely surrounded by houses. It is also a place where the bottom hasn’t been cleared of all the logs in/under the water or all the vegetation and weeds have not been cleaned out or killed. This cover creates homes, ambush points and places to hide and find food where lakes that have houses all around them just don’t offer most of the time. And speaking of ducklings, bass take an amazing amount of baby ducks each year. My folks lived on Kitsap Lake for 30 years and it was amazing to watch momma ducks babies willowed down from 8 to two or three every year. Now multiply this times 250 momma ducks on the lake and you begin to see how many baby ducks are fed on by big bass. A lot! Also too there are lakes that are so big that they have marinas in places, which serve as places bass can use as cover since so many boats and docks are all found in one location.

When you go to pick out a lure to fish with, first you must decide at what depth you are going to fish at. You have to decide whether or not you are going to fish right on the bottom, the surface or at a depth somewhere down the water column. This will reduce the amount of choices down to one or two types of lures. Remember that the depth the bass are at is the most important factor to consider when fishing for bass. Depth is also often a direct result of the seasonal movements of the bass and the water temperature.

Now say you are in a search mode and you know that sculpin or Goby live in the lake along with trout and rock bass. So you find a bag of plastic sculpin/Goby/Bullheads baits in green pumpkin seed and you hook one up as a swim bait, on a jig head or a split shot rig. This way you can swim it along but also let it land on the bottom just like a real sculpin would. This would be a very wise choice and if you think about it you have chosen a natural looking bait the bass are used to eating. Your job now is to vary the presentation and depth until you find what depth the bass are holding at. Don’t forget to use your fish/finder too as this can be a real aide in establishing the depth bass are at.

Lily pads are the homes for such animals as frogs. Frogs are a great source of protein and they come in all sizes from small to really large. Bass love eating frogs. A great choice could be to use a plastic frog down the aisles and indentations of the cow weeds and lily pads or following any weed line. Look for any indentation or open areas that goes all the way to the shoreline. Cast the frog to the shoreline and try to land it right on the water/land line. Then begin moving the frog one or two inches at a time, adding pauses all the time while retrieving the frog. I use frogs with real looking bent legs so the legs look like they kick when I twitch the line. When a bass takes these frogs, you have lots of time to reel down and then using a lot of leverage, set the hook. The bass will hold the frog for a long time without spitting it out, so you have lots of time too set the hook. A bass will even fight for up to 30 seconds without being hooked, just hanging on to a frog. This dramatically shows how much bass love frogs and how long you have to set the hook. Don’t forget to use scent. A frog used as a top water bait around docks is a good choice too. I try to land the frog on the edge of the dock itself and the just barely pull it off the dock so it looks like it just hopped into the water. Bass will pounce on this presentation but use the plastic frogs with a weedless hook or one with a weed guard already attached so you don’t snag the dock.

Now you have to remember that bass are opportunistic feeders and when they find something they think is food right in front of them they rarely hesitate to strike it even if they already have a mouthful of crawfish. Your job is to find a tantalizing bait or lure and put it right in front of the bass’s nose in order for him to take a bite. That is why the above lures where chosen. They look and smell, (if you add attractant) like something the bass eats every opportunity it gets. Animals like the frog and sculpin are a real treat and are struck with great force. Bass are also reaction strike oriented. This is to say that they will strike a bait or lure if it triggers a hard-wired response in the bass. Reaction strikes occur whether the bass is hungry or not. I have caught bass with a full stomach and had two crawfish in its throat and still strike a plastic crawfish that triggered this feeding response.

A nifty little trick I use some times is a really tiny crank bait rigged Carolina style with a jig as the weight. I own about a half dozen of these small 1-5/8” and 1-¾” crank baits. I use the jig most of the time and tie it on with a palamar knot. All the crank baits float so when presented the jig is on the bottom working for me and the tiny crank bait is floating above it looking like a fish fry. During tough bite days and when fishing really bad cold fronts, this rig has landed me a few bass. The only real trouble with it is the hooks are small and you have to fight the fish with a loose drag so you don’t rip the hooks out and damage the bass. I have also caught trout on this rig so I guess it has a universal appeal.

One really good search lure is a lipless crank bait in chrome or silver with a black or blue back, crawfish colors are great too. I also really like the new Bass Pro Hickory shad, Heddon Foil Perch, Rapala Sexy shad and any reds that duplicate crawfish colors. These fish getters have a sound chamber in them that sends sound waves from one end of the lake to the other. Most anglers use the chunk and reel method where you cast it out as far as you can and then just reel it back. But it is also a great tool to use retrieved fast over the tops of weeds. And if the lure should get caught in the weeds, just give it a sharp snap of the rod tip to brake it free and clean the hooks of any debrief and just keep reeling. Be aware though that when snapping the lure free after being stuck, this can cause some really vicious reaction strikes. One other thing that must be taken into consideration and that is the sound of this lure or any lure for that matter. The US Navy studying sharks found out that a steady sound was pretty much ignored. But a sound that came and went and differed drew them in, in droves. This can be applied to bass fishing too. You need to vary the sound of the lipless crank or any other lure or bait in order for the bass to not just discount it as noise. By varying the motion of your retrieve and therefore the sound emitted you up the chances a bass will be attracted to it. This is one reason a crank bait is so successful. The sound is varied and comes and goes at irregular intervals.

Another great choice of lures to use is a Rapala Original Floating Minnow™. An F-11 in silver color is the number one selling lure every year since 1963 when it was first introduced. This one lure sells well over a million units a year, each year and that doesn’t count the other sizes or colors. Rapala lures hold 125 world records on 110 species of fish in 56 countries. Rapala’s lures have a universal appeal to just about any fish you can name as you can see by the records, that it is used by just about every fisherman in the world, and for good reason. Why is it so popular? Easy, it looks like a real minnow and has a realistic swimming action. Now while it is a floating crank bait, it actually dives to about 5 feet when retrieved. I would say that it is safe to say that 98% of all bass anglers have at least two types or colors of this crank bait. And like any crank bait it is a search bait and covers a lot of water in a short amount of time. It is mostly used along the shoreline where you cast it into very shallow water and retrieve it back to the boat. This lure doesn’t come with a split ring on it. Now a lot of anglers tie directly to the nose of this lure but I add a split ring as I think it gives the lure more freedom to wiggle and that means a more realistic looking swimming action.

There are a lot of realistic looking crank baits out on the sports stores fishing shelves today. The Bumble Bug™ and Ant™ look just like real bugs. This series of incest lures also comes in hornet, yellow jacket and Grass Hopper. They also have many different kinds of crawfish crank baits on the shelves too. Fish shaped lures includes the Tail Spin™, Pro Shop Walker, Small Fry™ series, Strike Kings King Kong Swimmer™ and King Swimmer™ just to name a very few crank baits that really do look like real fish. Just about every manufacturer of lures makes crawfish crank baits so you have a very wide selection to choose from there. Also too, a tight wiggling lure works well for taking inactive bass while a wide wobble is better at taking active bass, bass in low light levels and in off colored water. This is because this tight wiggle sends out much more vibration and flash into the water, drawing in bass when they can’t see the lure until they are right up on top of it. They then make instinct strikes because the lure sounds right. Remember too that bright colors in dingy and muddy water are called for and that more pastel colors and patterns are called for in clear water.

Plastics are made today to look like crawfish, worms, eels, salamanders and some look like they came from outer space. But I think the plastic frog is one of the best plastics ever made. It comes in a myriad of sizes and leg designs. Different hook styles, different leg styles and about 55 colors make for a wide choice when it comes time to picking a few of these bass catchers out for yourself. I like to thread a piece of worm up on the hook of my frogs when fishing weed and grass beds. This added attractant could really make the bass hammer your lure.

Plastic worms are probably the most life-like imitation lure on the market today. They do come in every size imaginable, as there are fat ones, skinny ones, long ones and short ones. They come in more colors than there are stars in the sky. Well maybe not that many but darn close. And we fish them in so many different ways, Texas rigged, Carolina rigged, wacky rigged, weightless, split shot rigged and other ways. They are universal in their appeal to bass and they catch bass almost all year long. They can look like a snake swimming on the surface or a worm wiggling on the bottom but either way they look real and that is what counts in the end.

The plastic swim baits out on the market also look like minnows right down to the size and coloring. Whether it is a Zero™ bait, a Sluggo™, or other minnow shaped plastic used as a top water or just under the surface jerk bait, they all look and act like injured baitfish in distress. A whole new line up of soft plastic swim baits is hitting the market place and they really catch fish. The ones with a boot type foot that really look like they swim are becoming even more popular as they advance and become a real go to way to bass fish. Add to this the hard lure counter part jerk baits like Bomber Long “A” or a Rapapa X-Rap or Minnow Rap ™ and you have more and more fish looking lures to use.

Now while spinner baits don’t look like anything in nature they do have key features that make a huge difference in their ability to catch or not catch bass. Basically a spinner bait is a vibrating strobe that has a bait under it that the bass strikes. Different blades have different vibrations and a different strobe cadence. In clear water we use silver and gold blades and in dirty water we use colored blades. As for the plastic bait below the blades, that should be small looking when in the water. Fish colors like smoke, silver, silver/black and white/gray/black are excellent colors to use. If you use a trailer hook (which is always recommended) then ensure the skirt goes all the way back to the end of the hook. Also use a bit of red at the front of the skirt. The bass from a very long distance away can hear the vibrations sent out by the blade(s). The strobe effect of the blade(s) is an added attractant that further draws the bass closer but it is the plastic skirt that the bass strikes. So if you have followers but no takers, the best thing to do right away is to change colors. Try to keep the blade(s) the same though. Again also is the sound of the spinner bait. If the bass are following the spinner but not biting it may be because of the sound it is emitting. Try changing to a different sounding one of vary the retrieve so it breaks up the sound somewhat. This can vastly improve your strike ratio.

Also too with a spinner bait it is important to decide which type of blade design you are going to use. A Colorado blade is the roundest and has the most lift. In order to keep it down at a certain depth you will have to fish it very slowly. With an Indiana blade(s), which is tear drop shaped, you can retrieve it faster and still keep it at the same depth. And lastly is the Willow Leaf blade(s), which are the narrowest blade(s) of all. These are the fastest spinner baits you can retrieve and still keep down at depth. But remember that when using these spinners that the speed is relative to the size and number of blades as well as the shape. It is best to look at a retrieve right next to the boat so you can see how fast to reel in the lure first before casting it out. Remember too that the slower the retrieve the more bass are likely to strike it. Lastly with a spinner bait is the length of the arm that the skirt is on. If it has a short arm it is very good at helocoptering down in a spiral. This is a slow presentation used somewhat like a stop and go presentation of a worm or crank bait. A long arm is very good at riding over vegetation without snagging the weeds or grass. So look at the spinner baits very closely so you buy the one you need.

Buzz baits like spinner baits use the skirt as the strike point but instead of being under water a buzz bait is used an the surface where it creates a lot of commotion, noise, vibration and flash. Like any top water lure the purpose is to make noise and attract bass to a moving target that he can take or leave. Since it is a reaction bait most bass will strike it rather than let it pass them by.

Top water crank baits or plugs as many people call them, mimic real crippled baitfish. For the most part the lures look like a real fish. Many have a feathered back hooks that acts to cover up the rear hook when the lure is at rest. The feathers flair out and camouflage the hook and it looks like a real tail to boot. Small baitfish when frightened will rush to the surface and even jump out of the water to avoid being eaten by predator fish. A top water lure combines this with a crippled look to draw an instinctive strike from bass. These lures are very good at what they do. They ‘re best fished in low light conditions like at dawn and dusk but they can be fished successfully all day long. I know! My personal biggest bass was caught at 2:00 PM on a lake with water skier all around using a black buzz bait along a weed line. The bass weighted 8 pounds. Now that may not seem big for you southern boys but up here in the Pacific Northwest the record bass is 11 pounds and 2 ounces. So that makes my bass a real whooper. Proportionally, it’s like fishing in Georgia where the record is 22 pounds and catching a 16-pound bass. So as you can see you can fish a top water lure all day long even with ski boats around you and catch some mighty big bass.

As we all know bass see as vast range of colors. They also can see fine detail like a hook or fishing line. This is a great reason to use line that turns invisible in the water or very thin line, which would be harder to see. Of course on fast moving lures and baits the line doesn’t make much difference because it is moving so fast. Also it would make sense to me to use the most realistic looking lures and baits I could find in order to fool the bass into striking it. I would think that a lure or bait that looks completely out of place or unnatural would be rejected immediately. Every year more and more lure manufactures are coming out with real life imitations of fish and other animals like crawfish that look so real it is becoming hard to tell the real from the fake unless one of them moves. This has to improve bass fishing. If we, a very smart animal indeed, can’t tell the difference, then a bass has no chance at all. We will catch him every time. All we have to do is find the bass and present the lure or bait in a realistic manner and then set the hook.

Just recently what was considered a west coast plastic bait has just taken over the category of realistic swim baits. This is the new Paddle Tail Swim baits just now hitting the shelves and pages of your favorite sporting goods outlets. These new bait helped Jay Yelas win some of the biggest fishing tournaments along with the 2007 Bass Angler of the year. He set the record for the single heaviest bag of bass ever turned in to weigh. The action of the paddle tail baits is so realistic that bass just seem to not be able to resist them. Manufactures are rushing to make new and improved models and adding colors at this very moment. These baits are especially good in water where the bass have never seen these baits. And since bass get accustomed to the same old lures something new always gets them excited.

A lot of these new baits are classified as hollow bodied baits since the mass of the body would defeat the size of hooks we normally use, therefore a hollow is made in the body so the EWG hooks we use can penetrate the plastic and still have enough meat left to hook the bass. I have to add to that a lot of use users use a number 2 drop shot hook and hook this bait through the nose so the action of the bait isn’t diminished in any way. This makes them not weedless but you will have to decide which method works best and where for yourself. 5-inch models are the most popular size among pros and amateurs alike but they come in 4 inch and 6 inch sizes too. Now since most of these baits are used without weights the use of weighted hooks are called for. Fortunately there are about 35 kinds of weighted hooks to choose from so this isn’t a problem. Plain jig heads can also be used with great effectiveness. I have even seen small jig heads with a spinner blade used with them and these are effective too.

When using these baits a lot of the time many anglers will use 6/0 or even 7/0-sized hooks so they are large enough to hook the bass when a smaller hook just won’t work. Generally speaking these plastic baits are a light line set up and therefore are used with spinning reels and light line. The line is usually monofilament or fluorocarbon. I prefer fluorocarbon because of the characteristics it has and because it is virtually invisible.

Now there is another school of thought that says to use fish colors that don’t represent fish colors found in the lake you are fishing. These anglers state that by using a different color that it makes their lures stand out in a crowd. This should be given so real thought as they seem to work when some times using the exact fish colors found in a given lake don’t seem to be working too well. So instead of retrieving your lure, say shad colored through a school of shad that a different color say goby or blue herring will make that lure easier for the bass to target and strike.

It may not be that easy but with the new generation of realistic lures and baits coming out on the fishing market, it may not be too long before it is true. We already have hybrid crank baits that have a hard wood front and a soft plastic tail to give the lure a realistic swimming motion while having a perfect look a like head and fins of a baitfish. We are beginning to combine different materials together to make all sorts of baits and lures that satisfy different needs or different attributes of a lure so as to be even more lifelike than ever before. I don’t doubt that some crank baits will have computer chips in them soon. Oh wait, they already do. It’s in those TV advertised lures that flash a red light on and off every time the lure gets wet. I think I’ve even seen them in a catalog somewhere too.

What will they think of next? Enjoy!


Bruce Middleton

bpmiddleton@peoplepc.com