Bass fishing techniques involve anticipating how the
bass thinks in order to locate their habitat, knowing what will trigger
a strike and help you catch a lunker bass. There are various techniques
for catching bass, and some of them differ slightly for catching the
biggest bass.
Bass are predatory fish, but they also conserve
energy for suitable bait that gives the appearance of the "most bang
for the buck", unless they are in a spawning pattern, protecting their
nest. In this case, they can be much easier to anger and trigger a
strike. The spawning season is often the easiest time to catch nesting
bass for this reason. Male bass move into shallow water, with gravel
bottoms and swish their bodies to make nests and wait for the female
bass to move in a couple weeks later.
Bass fishing techniques for
the pre-spawn differ from post-spawn bass fishing. In the two week
period that the males are waiting for the females, they become hungry,
and will tend to go after lures or baits that simulate the natural bait
fish of the waters they are in. Chances are that if you use natural
looking bait fish lures, in the shallows, you may snag a large bass,
although the females of the species are larger than the males in
general.
Bass fishing techniques during the two weeks of spawning
in the spring tend to be a combination of hunger strikes and aggressive
protection strikes, where they may hit oddball looking lures better
than natural bait fish lures. The reason for this is that the smaller
baitfish are more plentiful and also moving into the shallows, so
sometimes, they get full or tired of the same thing.
Bass fishing
techniques post spawn and the rest of the year vary from the spawn
period. Bass like brush piles, downed tree limbs, the edges of
drop-offs and hiding under boat docks or other types of cover. The
reason for this is that they can stealthily attack bait food swimming
by.
Bass can swim up to 30 miles per hour, which is why many
fisherman love trolling lures for bass. A "no effort" and relaxing way
to catch bass is to troll a mid-depth lure behind a slow moving boat,
out about 100 feet or less. You are sure to trigger a strike many times.
Other
bass fishing techniques involve casting and retrieving bass lures,
flipping bait fish into banks and brush piles or using top-water
rattling baits, action baits and spinner baits, which are more likely
to trigger hunger and aggravation strikes. Bass are pretty smart, but
the biggest bass seldom make the same mistakes that the smaller bass do.
Big
bass tend to stay by themselves, versus swimming in schools like the
smaller bass. Bass fishing techniques for catching the bigger bass mean
NOT fishing where you are catching a lot of small ones. There is less
competition for bait fish, and they tend to push the smaller bass out
of their territory, which is normally less than several hundred square
yards. They still like the same type of habitat, but go for bigger
lures and bait presentations. Think like the fish do and you will be
successful catching some nice bass this season!
