General help please

[AustinHellickson]

Went put fishing today with not a lot of success, fished a purple craw-1 bite. Red and black spinner bait- nothing black and blue jig - nothing, how do I get to be better at fishing lures? I am going on a fishing trip soon and I need help asap, what lured have worked well for you guys? What's help my confidence with lures when I'm not catching fish on them? And what will help when I am going on a trip and do not know the conditions.  I am usually stuck on shore, and can't cast too far. Any thoughts on this so far? Going to bass pro soon and what should I pick up? please list some lures below. Thanks!

 

FYI i mainly fish big lakes. 

[jleonard91]

You can't go wrong with a Senko type bait. I really like the Yum Dinger. If nothing else is working I can tie on one of these and almost always catch at least one to avoid the skunk. A lot of people on here like the Ned rig too. I have never tried one, but with so many people backing it that might be worth a try as well. 

[N Florida Mike]

^^Good.        Also Try zoom super flukes t-rigged.

Start by letting it sink to the bottom.Wait 10-20 seconds.You can then jerk,let it sink,repeat a few times and cast again.They will sometimes nail it when you just reel it in.Try different retrieves.

Buy at least 2 totally different colors to find what they want in your water.

A good place to start is watermelon or green pumpkin.

[OddChase]

I teach a lot of people how to bass fish here at school and the first thing I tie for anyone is a senko. Here's the senko bible. If you find that you can go out and put two or three hours on a senko and not catch a fish - you might want to find a new place to fish. I really like a 4" watermelon seed Yum Dinger on a 4/0 hook. Tight lines.

[AustinHellickson]

5 hours ago, jleonard91 said:

You can't go wrong with a Senko type bait. I really like the Yum Dinger. If nothing else is working I can tie on one of these and almost always catch at least one to avoid the skunk. A lot of people on here like the Ned rig too. I have never tried one, but with so many people backing it that might be worth a try as well. 

I forgot to add i used a wacky rigged baby bass senko with 1/4 oz wieght - noting

2 hours ago, OddChase said:

I teach a lot of people how to bass fish here at school and the first thing I tie for anyone is a senko. Here's the senko bible. If you find that you can go out and put two or three hours on a senko and not catch a fish - you might want to find a new place to fish. I really like a 4" watermelon seed Yum Dinger on a 4/0 hook. Tight lines.

weight less or weighted?

[OddChase]

2 minutes ago, AustinHellickson said:

I forgot to add i used a wacky rigged baby bass senko with 1/4 oz wieght - noting

weight less or weighted?

Depends on what you want. Personally, I pitch senkos with either 1/8 or 1/4oz weigths. However for most beginner anglers, weightless seems to provide a better chance of getting bit (mostly dinks but still fun). It's hard to fish a weightless senko incorrectly. Just the other day I was fishing a weightless 6" like I would a soft jerkbait and was getting smacked almost every cast, and if I didn't hook up I would often times get a second hit. 

[AustinHellickson]

12 minutes ago, OddChase said:

Depends on what you want. Personally, I pitch senkos with either 1/8 or 1/4oz weigths. However for most beginner anglers, weightless seems to provide a better chance of getting bit (mostly dinks but still fun). It's hard to fish a weightless senko incorrectly. Just the other day I was fishing a weightless 6" like I would a soft jerkbait and was getting smacked almost every cast, and if I didn't hook up I would often times get a second hit. 

Thanks, for the tips! what colors should i get, i already have baby bass.

[Hog Basser]

If you want to spend the money, the Whopper Plopper is a great topwater that always gets a few bites for me.  I use the 130 in rainbow trout color, but I think about any of them will work.  

I also like plastic swim baits like the Keitech Fat Swing Impact or the Rage Swimmer.  I like to rig them on Owner twistlock keel-weighted hooks, but most hook applications work for them.  

[soflabasser]

A Rebel Pop-R is a good lure to use from the shore.

[Gundog]

How I started was to not worry about catching fish and just think about the techniques. Once that you have that down the catching will happen. This forum is the best place for learning a lot of techniques. Browse the forum and try new things.

[AustinHellickson]

Just now, Gundog said:

How I started was to not worry about catching fish and just think about the techniques. Once that you have that down the catching will happen. This forum is the best place for learning a lot of techniques. Browse the forum and try new things.

What techniques do you recommend?

[Gundog]

Texas rigged soft plastics dragged slowly or hopped on the bottom. But its not just about the technique, its also about the area you fish it. Bass love weeds. Its an easy place to feed and be safe. It also give them cooler water in the summer. Many baits thrown in or on the edge of weeds will get hits. If you don't have weeds look for drop-offs. Places where the water depth drops suddenly. Not necessarily a huge depth change, it may only be a couple of feet. Thats all it takes. Bass will sit in the deep area and move up when bait presents it self. Good luck.

[AustinHellickson]

1 minute ago, Gundog said:

Texas rigged soft plastics dragged slowly or hopped on the bottom. But its not just about the technique, its also about the area you fish it. Bass love weeds. Its an easy place to feed and be safe. It also give them cooler water in the summer. Many baits thrown in or on the edge of weeds will get hits. If you don't have weeds look for drop-offs. Places where the water depth drops suddenly. Not necessarily a huge depth change, it may only be a couple of feet. Thats all it takes. Bass will sit in the deep area and move up when bait presents it self. Good luck.

The main place i fish is by a bridge, to the right i keep getting weeds stuck on my lures, so i will fish there weedless next time. thanks

[Bass Turd]

Research the Ned Rig. It and the Whopper Popper are always tied on on my deck. 

[AustinHellickson]

6 minutes ago, Bass Turd said:

Research the Ned Rig. It and the Whopper Popper are always tied on on my deck. 

Thank you

[soflabasser]

Here's a list of lures I recommend a shore angler to have;

Rebel Pop-R

Live Target hollow body frog

Spinnerbait

Bill Lewis Rat-L Trap

Rapala jerkbait

Senko

Zoom super fluke 

Zoom speed worm

Zoom trick worm

 

[OddChase]

59 minutes ago, AustinHellickson said:

Thanks, for the tips! what colors should i get, i already have baby bass.

You're getting a lot of good advice here, especially thinking about a technique and just going for it. When it comes to the senko it is very easy, which is why I always recommend it as a first lure. It can be rigged weedless as well as weightless and it will produce fish. The ned rig can potentially catch 10 times more fish than the senko, but most times you will have an exposed hook (there's another thread on here talking about different ways to make a Ned weedless).

As for colors - keep it simple. A green pumpkin/watermelon for your clear water, a black or black and blue/purple for murky waters or cloudy days, and you might try a ghost/white color during shad spawn times. Might be surprised. 

Tight lines. 

22 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

Here's a list of lures I recommend a shore angler to have;

Rapala jerkbait

Can you explain how you'd use a jerk bait from the bank? I'm just curious as a bank fisherman myself. I always considered them a deep water bait. However I do use flukes if the fish seem to be in a jerk bait mood. 

[Bass Turd]

FYI Ned heads do come weedless now. It's the only way it will work in my lakes.

[the reel ess]

I went with a buddy a while back to a body of water we both know very well. He could fish it blindfolded. After a couple hours we were stumped and he pulled out an old 4" do-nothing worm pre-rigged with 2 hooks and rigged it with a splitshot about a foot up the line. He proceeded to catch bass. He threw me one and I did the same. Since then I've had good luck with a Zoom Finesse worm C-rigged with 1/8 oz weight. I can use a weedless worm hook with it. It's really HOT here and fish are in a negative mood so finesse size baits will get you more bites. They almost always will get you more bites for that matter. I also try to go early or late in the day. There's usually a better chance during low-light periods to get bites.

That's all I know.

[GM0ney]

The biggest thing that helped me get better at fishing was slowing down. When a lot of people start bass fishing, they move the bait to fast. The Senko is a great lure rigged weightless, the issues i had with it was it can be hard to cast a weightless Senko from the shore. My best luck has been with a weighted Senko dragged over rocks as slow as you can bare to. As for color the best color for me is Green Pumpkin.

Tight Lines

[soflabasser]

8 hours ago, OddChase said:

Can you explain how you'd use a jerk bait from the bank? I'm just curious as a bank fisherman myself. I always considered them a deep water bait. However I do use flukes if the fish seem to be in a jerk bait mood. 

These are some retrieves you can use with a Rapala jerkbait (Rapala X-Rap,Rapala Minnow,etc) from the shore;

1.Steady retrieve at slow pace

2.Steady retrieve at moderate pace

3.Steady retrieve at fast pace

4.Steady retrieve mixed in with occasional pauses

5.Typical jerkbait retrieve