beginner questions

[jasondaily]

Hey everyone, I started to get into fishing about a year ago and have done ok for myself. my PB is around 5 pounds. However i recently when on a guided tour and didnt learn as much as I wanted. I was asking questions and the guide was giving vague answers. some of my questions are below and if you guys could help me anwser them that would be great. Thanks

 

1. I asked " what makes one spot of the lake better then others?" "why are we fishing these lilly pads vs the grass line over there?" his reply was find the bait. if you find the bait you find the bass. He wasnt able to tell me how to find the bait. so guys, lol how do you find the bait? especially if you have never been to a lake before.

 

2. "why are you using crankbait vs a swimbait or spinnerbait? the guide wasnt very helpful on explaining why one lure was a better option then another lure.  

 

these were some of the questions. Please any insight will be very helpful. 

[WRB]

Welcome to bass fishing.

Please add your profile with the regional area you are fishing at.

Bass are bass however largemouth bass are different than Smallmouth bass and both are different from spotted bass, the 3 most common bass.

Your questions are easy to answer and good place to start.

1. 90% of the bass live in 10% of the water, determining where that 10% is takes a lot of time on the water to determine and it changes. Why bass prefer one area over another that looks the same above the water is usually what is below the water i.e., structure breaks and cover types that attract prey the bass are targeting at that time.wind direction, type of bass, type of prey, contour of the structure and type of cover all combine to make one area better than another.

2. Using a crankbait in pads would be a very low % lure to use because it can't be effectively presented to the bass without snagging that type of cover. Surface lures, weedless lures would be a better choice.

Tom

[scaleface]

How do you find the bait ? With your eyes and sonar . Also by watching birds like gulls . The lakes around here there is bait everywhere ,  so   finding the bait is not important as finding a pattern or good structure . That should be your next question .

 

Second question each lure has places where they excel and dont   and they overlap . So picking between a crankbait , spinnerbait , or other lure is often just a guess .  There is no definitive answer .

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

I have to agree completely with what has been said so far. Some really good advice worth following.

 

I'm not sure this will be much help, but in Massachusetts the Department of Energy and Environmental affairs publishes rough topo maps (Even crude ones give you a starting point.) of many ponds and lakes. (They are currently updating.) Along with these maps is a brief description of the species found in each lake. I was surprised to find that golden shiners are in many. Needless to say, that was nice to know when making color selections for swimbaits, flukes, chatterbaits, and so on. I'm a believer in the "match the hatch" philosophy and in my case I found my fluke selections using this information paid off. So, I would suggest you check out available info for your area. I think research makes me a better (not good, but better) fisherman.  Hope this helps.

[NorthwestBasser]

Finding bait... here in eastern Washington we have pretty clear water for the most part, so I LOOKfor the baitfish with my eyes, or as stated, use the graphs and find bait balls. When I roll slowly thru an area, I also rely on my nose. When a good school of bait is near, you can smell them. Listen for them "popping" the surface. 

Choice of lure is going to depend on location mostly, if multiple baits wil function it's gonna be a trial and error type thing

Good luck!!

[Bassun]

As a secondary consideration for "why here", bass seem to gravitate toward a change.  So, all things being equal - if you have a grass line, then a small area with lilly pads, then more grass -- I would generally start around the pads.  The same is often true with docks - the first and last dock in a row - or a significantly different dock in the middle of a row of docks tend to produce more for me.  If I'm blindly fishing, I look for some "feature" that stands out.  Could be a lay down, change in bank structure, odd hump or point, etc.

[Sam]

Jason, you need to subscribe to both Bassmasters magazine and the Bass Times, via Bassmasters.

Check out these two publications and read them from cover to cover.

As you progress through your bass fishing journey you will learn a lot of information. Start a library and use three-ring binders to store magazine articles for future reference.

You have asked two very important questions and they have been answered. If we all knew the answers to these questions when we hit the water we could catch one on every cast.

Bass fishing is a lot of experimenting with the places to fish, baits, techniques, rods, reels, line, hooks and time on the water.

Please add your physical location so we can be helpful to you in the future.

Welcome to the Forum Don't disappear on us. Keep asking those questions.

[Bassun]

Sam's dead on the money.  There are other good publications out there like In-Fisherman etc. especially if you are not exclusive to bass.  Years ago, I did just what he said and saved EVERY issue of anything fishing related.  I went a different direction, and was a little "over the top" so to speak.  I kept a little index of all the articles and what they focused on so I could pull them back up as needed.  I'd highlight stuff, then label the article content to a useful category, maybe "Fall Pattern" or "Chatterbait Tips" etc, the Magazine, Issue and Page.  I was amazed at how often I actually went back and skimmed over articles before or sometimes after a trip or tournament.

 

The wife made fun of me, but I can tell you my fishing improved dramatically!

[jasondaily]

Thanks for all the great information. I'm currently fishing the south east side of Toledo bend. About 20 minutes south of cypress bend park. I'll check out the bassmasters magazines. Thanks again 

[IgotWood]

On ‎7‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 0:47 PM, jasondaily said:

his reply was find the bait. if you find the bait you find the bass. He wasnt able to tell me how to find the bait. so guys, lol how do you find the bait? especially if you have never been to a lake before. 

 

Understand that most guides aren't anxious to give out too much information. He may have spent many years learning that lake, and perhaps is keen on something that others aren't. That's my guess as to why his answers were vague.

 

I am only a year into bass fishing myself, and still learning. This being my second season fishing the same two local lakes, I am now able to predict, to a degree, where the bait will be. Everything mentioned previously is accurate. When I fish a new body of water, I use my sonar to look for changes on the bottom, ie; depth, hard/soft bottom, brush, etc. Often times I'll mark the bait in these areas, or see cormorants, or other birds looking for the bait. Birds, in my opinion are the best sign to alert me to bait.

[Angealy]

I'll try my best and go into details, Please do bare with me.

When getting into bass fishing you need to understand their environment.

Some lures work better than others depending on the conditions.

On a lake, a good starting point is to pick your spot with building structures,high grass/fallen trees/under trees/near the bank/docks you get the point.

After this, look for fish/see what the water conditions if they are muddy or clear.

After that pick a spot understand what you can or cannot use for that spot lure wise.

In a high weed spot you wouldn't want to use spinners/spoons/skirted jig with spinner blade, Instead you'd use a frog or a texas rig senko as these are both weedless and more offer or not you'll get a strike from bass.

I can't tell you how often i'll rig a weedless senko and pull it in some grass and get a tug from a bass. 

In a clear and open spot most lure works, It's just a matter of finding what they want and where they are at.

In a spot like this, I'll use a top water and twitch it and pause,weightless senko wacky or texas both work great or a crank bait seem to work pretty great.

Hopefully this helps.

[scaleface]

2 hours ago, jasondaily said:

Thanks for all the great information. I'm currently fishing the south east side of Toledo bend. About 20 minutes south of cypress bend park. I'll check out the bassmasters magazines. Thanks again 

 Theres like 250 pages of infomation on this site about fishing Toledo Bend .  

 

[fishnkamp]

You received a lot of good info. I want to help you with a different frustration and that is with choosing a guide.

I do not want you to be disappointed and not take a guide in the future.  Her is what is important to remember.  my wife and I have taken guides for many trips in our 40 years of fishing. I am very careful to decide what I want the trip to be. Sometimes we just want to go catch 100 fish.  This was my reason to go take a early spring float trip on the upper Potomac River for 10 years or so. I used the same guide and he knew what his marching orders were, his job was to pilot the raft and help my wife catch fish. That meant I was on my own to just fish.

Other trips we pay guides to teach us how to navigate and how to fish specific new techniques.  This was true a few years ago when I hired a guide that competed on the FLW circuit.  We had never fished any lake in TN. so he taught us how to fish it in the spring and how to navigate it. We stayed there and caught fish on our own boat all week long. We discussed exactly what I was looking for before I hired him. 

I have a policy I stick to with guides I hire when I am fishing the body of water all week. I llet them know I expect to not only fish his spots but I expect him to teach me WHY the pattern is working. Then I promise not to sit on any of his spots but rather I do some map work to identify similar areas  like his spots.  It is amazing how much more willing a professional guide will be to share info if he knows you will not stake out his best areas all week. Remember I hired him for his fish finding abilities, and his teaching ability for that day. His next client did the same and it is not fair to dis advantage his next client.  Do not be afraid to talk to a guide in depth. I had conversations with 4 guides before I got the "right feeling" about my guide on Dale Hollow.We use him exclusively every time we go there.

[WRB]

On July 7, 2017 at 11:45 AM, jasondaily said:

Thanks for all the great information. I'm currently fishing the south east side of Toledo bend. About 20 minutes south of cypress bend park. I'll check out the bassmasters magazines. Thanks again 

You can also read the sites Central forum and read Catts reports that cover several years of fishing Toledo Bend or PM Catt.

Tom

[Catt]

@jasondaily

How y'all are?

 

I don't know how serious you are about learning since ya aint posted anything since July 4th!

 

First let's address your questions to the guide.

 

While the questions you asked are basic they don't have simple answers. For guide to properly answer those questions would having taken most of the day.

 

Second you paid the guide to catch fish not to be your a personal tutor!

 

As for Toledo Bend we have compiled 259 pages with 6,456 replies, that has been viewed 944,906 times.

 

I feel confident one of us can help