getting into bass fishing

[Bluegillslayer]

I just signed up to this website. I want to get better at bass fishing after almost only fishing ultralight for months, I used to use only spoons,grubs, and inline spinners but after fishing ultralight cranks and lures for panfish and trout I wanted to fish for bass with more "bassy" lures like senkos and other plastic worms but it can be overwhelming with all the choices of lures and videos with people catching bass like its the easiest thing on the planet.I have bought plastic kits for bass but I have only gotten like 1 or 2 bites. So I have picked up simple lures that I know will catch fish, I bought rooster tails,inline spinners,rebel crank baits,a rattletrap and have since caught many EXTREMELY small bass (way less than a pound) from my lake and a pond. I plan on buying some 3 inch mister twister grubs and some bass pro brand sassy shads for some soft plastic choices. So far my pb bass is 3 pounds caught on a Mepps spinner. If you have any lure suggestions that are not to complicated to fish please tell me, thank you.

-Bluegillslayer     

[Fishin Dad]

Bluegillslayer,

 

Welcome to the best bass site!   This place is loaded with info.  If I wanted  to catch bass and keep it simple, I would tie up a wacky rigged senko, throw a 1/2 oz. chatterbait with razorshadz trailer, and use a versatile Stanley top toad for topwater.  These are all very easy techniques that allow you to catch fish.  Once you are viewing this site for a while, you will have more info than you can believe.  Very helpful and knowledgeable people on here.  Also, Glenn and friends run a tight ship and keep this site very appropriate and friendly.  

 

Many will ask where you are from to allow more specific information for you.  Good luck and tight lines!!

 

Fishin Dad

[Bluegillslayer]

Thanks!

[Wizzlebiz]

I would suggest sticking to 3 basic lure concepts. 

 

1 Top Water. : popping frog

 

2 mid level : spinner baits (personal favorite)

 

3 bottom :3/8oz bullet weight with soft plastic generally 5 inch senko but not limited to just that. Any soft plastic of a reasonable size can catch bass. 

 

I understand you want a direction to take so I am offering you suggestions however there is so much more that goes into proper lure selection than levels of water. 

 

The time of year, water temp, the fishes natural forage, time of day, air pressure, all play a part of what is going to happen. 

 

Good luck and welcome to BR

 

 

[Bluegillslayer]

Thanks!

[Fishes in trees]

How old are you AND what percentage of your total disposable income are you prepared to spend in the quest to "get better at bass fishing"?   BE CAREFUL how you answer this question.

 

When I think about how much disposable income has been donated to the cause of " getting better at bass fishing ", over the years, and then  I think about baits, rods & reels, a few different boats, a few different tow vehicles, ( and the associated maintenance expenses ),  who knows how many road trips to seminars, 10 years of BFL competition as a co-angler ( with all of those associated expenses ), don't forget the actual time well wasted on the water, and the associated opportunity cost.  ( I maybe could have done something more productive mentally & fiscally )

 

When I think about all this stuff all at once, I cry & smile at the same time and reach for another beer.   I get it that everyone has some kind of jones and me, I seem to be addicted to fishing in general, bass fishing in particular and I'm ok with that.

Oh, yeah, where are you from?  That does make a difference in terms of seasonal patterns and available resources.

[Tennessee Boy]

Welcome to the forum @Bluegillslayer.   Your journey into bass fishing reminds me of mine almost 50 years ago.  As a kid,  the first fish I caught on an artificial lure was a bluegill.  I unhooked the fish immediately but I was hooked for life.  I slowly evolved from fishing for panfish,  to panfish and small bass, to small bass,  to larger bass.  I used many of the same lures you listed.  I loved the Rebel Teeny Wee-Crawfish.  Like you I caught my first 3+ bass on a Mepps Inline Spinner.  

 

My advice to you in to continue to evolve your current techniques to target panfish less and target bass and larger bass more.  For example,  you've had success with inline spinners,  experiment with smaller (non inline) spinner baits, then larger ones.  They should work in the same situations as the inline spinners but can be worked through cover, will generate more vibration, and will target larger fish.  Larger spinnerbaits can be cast further and can be fished deeper which hopefully will help you reach the larger bass in your lake.   You can do the same with crankbaits.  Take what works for you now and experiment with larger,  deeper running baits.  

 

It can be very hard to replicate what you see in a video where someone is catching bass on a specific lake, in another region of the country,  using a lure you've never fished before.  It's been my experience that evolution is much easier than revolution when you're learning to catch bass. 

 

 

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard!

 

Keep it simple. The easiest, IMO, is a wacky rig, mentioned above.

It has caught me so many bass over the years. Do not overthink

things or you can get frustrated and end up spending a lot of money

on lures, plastics, etc.

 

If you are near a Bass Pro Shops, Dicks Sporting Goods, Cabelas, etc.,

pick up a bag of green pumpkin stick worms. I really like Bass Pro's 

version called Stik-Os. They're reasonably priced and go on sale often.

I personally prefer the 4.25" worms over 5".

 

Next buy some wacky hooks -- I prefer Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap,

and Gamakatsu Split/Drop shot hooks in size 1/0. The split/drop hooks

are a little lighter wire.

 

Tie on your hook with a Palomar knot (look it up on Google), it's easy.

Rig the worm on the hook perpendicular. So bend the worm and put

the hook through the middle. That's it.

 

Cast to docks, near downed trees, etc. Let the worm fall, it will "shimmy"

and attract strikes. Read up on this rig. Plenty of great articles here and

on the web.

 

Good luck!

[Hook2Jaw]

Welcome to BR and welcome to bass fishing!  There is some awesome advice listed above.  Stick worms of all sizes catch bass exceptionally well, and wacky rigging is an awesome way to learn them.

 

When I learned to catch bass as a kid, it was via Texas rigged, weighted rubber worms and spinnerbaits.  When I took up bass fishing heavily a few years ago, I started by Texas rigging weightless rubber worms -- I started with Yamamoto Senkos, but I went through so many I opted for cheaper options and YUM Dingers are an excellent bait.

 

I have so much faith in a Texas rigged Dinger that I'm going to have to suggest that in addition to the wacky rig suggested above.  It's a similar presentation that has less action, but it has enough of that, and is far more weedless.  I personally used 2/0-4/0 light wire and heavy wire worm hooks to fine tune the fall rate, but as a baseline I would grab some 3/0 light wire EWGs for this presentation.

 

So, wacky and Texas rigged sticks are two techniques.   Since you've expressed interest in paddletails, my favorites are YUM Pulse and Big Bite Baits Cane Thumpers.  Rig either on a 1/8oz to 1/4oz weighted swimbait hook.

 

Good luck, @Bluegillslayer!

[Joe_w1234]

Welcome aboard! As previous people have said, keep it simple. Get some different lures for different parts of the water column. I wouldn’t use any spinners any more because they really don’t have a great chance of getting anything of decent size. 

[Scott F]

5 minutes ago, Sweet Tater Pie said:

I wouldn’t use any spinners any more because they really don’t have a great chance of getting anything of decent size. 

Really? I get big smallmouth on spinners every year. I don’t use tiny spinners, but to say they only get small fish, isn’t correct.

[WRB]

Lures selected should be compatible with your rod/reel/line you use.

Ultra Lite indicates to me a spinning outfit with 4# or litgher line and that limits the lures you can effectively use.

Do you plan on continuing to use Ultra Lite?

Tom

PS, 3 lb bass on Ultra Lite tackle tells me you are a skilled angler.

 

[scaleface]

Get lures that will fish thick cover well and a rod and  reel combo that will handle them . Bass like cover of all kinds .

[Wizzlebiz]

1 hour ago, Sweet Tater Pie said:

Welcome aboard! As previous people have said, keep it simple. Get some different lures for different parts of the water column. I wouldn’t use any spinners any more because they really don’t have a great chance of getting anything of decent size. 

My 2 largest bass this summer were on 3/8 oz spinnerbaits. 

[Bird]

Hmmm I was gonna recommend a spinnerbait or plastic worms as top vote getters for beginner. 

[Joe_w1234]

3 hours ago, Scott F said:

Really? I get big smallmouth on spinners every year. I don’t use tiny spinners, but to say they only get small fish, isn’t correct.

Oh sorry I still am a bit of a beginner myself but you learn something new every day  ill have to try some

2 hours ago, Wizzlebiz said:

My 2 largest bass this summer were on 3/8 oz spinnerbaits. 

Sorry I was talking about the little spinners like a mepps or a rooster tail

[JustJames]

Welcome you to the green carp site. Btw I’m kind of opposite from you, I start from bass and now learn to fish those panfish.

You are coming from panfish which normally fish a little faster than bottoms contact plastic lure for bass.

At first I would stick to some moving lures that you are custom to, like spinnerbait, 1/4oz in-line spinner, lipless crank and underspin with either grub or paddle tail. For bass you will have to vary you retrieve sometime fast sometime slow enough just to tick the bottom, until you find them then move to bottom contact lures. For bottoms contact which required a lot slower retrieve, weightless senko is still a bullet proof. Cast it out let it drop all the way to bottom watch the line maintain semi slack line, lift to about 45 degree and let the lure drop on semi slack line, watch the line count to 10, rinse and repeat. You, panfish anglers, have advantages of over bass anglers on watching line, you only need to distinguish between a tab from fish or tab from rock. Just be mindful that bass bite action is a lot less than panfish action, but every tab you feel will get your adrenaline rush.

P.S. Don’t leave your UL at home, last evening I went out, lost my only bass lure (wacky rig), switch to UL 1/32oz jig head with Magnet Trout Slayer and manage 2 bass and 3 bluegills in the last hour before sun down.

 

[Bluegillslayer]

Thank you all for the info I am a teen ( I can afford lures that are priced from a buck to 6 bucks without feeling bad about losing money I do not like to spend to much money) who lives in Washington state near like skagit county. I have a Bass Pro mega cast combo with 6 pond mono tied on at the moment, that I have used heavily these past weeks catching mostly trout and some mega dinks, it has held up fine. sounds like I am going to try some spinnerbaits and stick baits. 

[MN Fisher]

10 minutes ago, Bluegillslayer said:

and stick baits

If you haven't purchased the stick-baits yet - Bass Pro has a kit with a selection of colors on sale. 36 worms in 8 (random) colors for $5.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-36-piece-stik-o-kit

[Bluegillslayer]

cool I have some BigBitebaits senkos and some strike kings are those any good? the BigBites are a sparkly blue the others are normal green

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, Bluegillslayer said:

cool I have some BigBitebaits senkos and some strike kings are those any good? the BigBites are a sparkly blue the others are normal green

Any of them can be good - it depends on what the bass are hungry for that day. Which is why a selection is preferable. I've tossed one color for an hour and got nothing, changed colors and get hit first cast in the same area I've been working.

[skekoam]

OP, listen to all the advice above and try not to get caught up in the plethora of baits there are for bass.  If you try to buy everything out there, you will end up more confused and frustrated than you started out. I'm somewhat new myself and my favorite thing to throw is a weightless senko.  I don't know why, but I just find it easy to rig and throw.  I've also caught most of my fish this way.  i've yet to catch one with any lure or spinner bait.

 

Good luck out there.

[GreenPig]

7 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

If you haven't purchased the stick-baits yet - Bass Pro has a kit with a selection of colors on sale. 36 worms in 8 (random) colors for $5.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-36-piece-stik-o-kit

Welcome. Stick-O's and Zoom Super Flukes work and are affordable.

[WRB]

8 hours ago, Bluegillslayer said:

Thank you all for the info I am a teen ( I can afford lures that are priced from a buck to 6 bucks without feeling bad about losing money I do not like to spend to much money) who lives in Washington state near like skagit county. I have a Bass Pro mega cast combo with 6 pond mono tied on at the moment, that I have used heavily these past weeks catching mostly trout and some mega dinks, it has held up fine. sounds like I am going to try some spinnerbaits and stick baits. 

We are sneaking up on this slowly, BPS Pro Mega cast combo with 6 lb mono, spinning I assume, light or medium?

Skagit county is a large area will assume the Puget Sound around Seattle, maybe lake Washington as a central starting point.

Young teen fishing from the bank with limited resources. 

Tom

[Bluegillslayer]

medium spinning it is pretty stiff but is working fine so far, more near Whidby and the San Juan islands, yes I am mostly a bank fisherman with access to a pond and my local public lake. I do not like to spend a lot on lures and things but I am not a cheapskate.