I’d like to switch over to artificial bait. What is the learning curve like?

[Boomstick]

On 8/8/2020 at 4:06 PM, roadwarrior said:

"If I’m to believe the bass pros I’ve talked to, in addition to a good number of people here, you can catch far more with artificial.

 

Generally not true. I have had days when artificials outfish live bait, but over time live bait outfishes

artificials 10:1.

I am not sure 10:1 is exactly accurate, but I would say overall live bait anglers do catch more fish than anglers on artificial lures. I would say once you become skilled with artificial lures, the gap will close significantly - I'm sure that KVD fares much better on artificial lures to live bait than say I do for example. Lakes that are heavily fished will offer a significant advantage to live bait as well as bass may reject artificial lures they have seen before but will still be much less hesitant to reject live bait.

 

Artificial lures do offer two primary advantages as far as I'm concerned (some others too, but there are two worth focusing on as point in this discussion as far as I see it). First is convenience - you have your tackle bag loaded and all you have to do is get up in the morning and head to the lake, how nice is that? Second is something I have not heard mentioned at all but that is you can easily cover a lot more range and faster with artificial lures - at times the bass are chasing that can be a huge payoff. There's also two major downsides (same disclaimer as before) - artificial lures are costly at the end of the day and I feel like I always need a bigger stick to keep the bait monkey away, and second they have a much steeper learning curve - and that is not to say there is no skill in fishing live bait by any means.

 

As far as where to start, the split shot rig does seem like it would be a good option for a river that you can fish on your current gear. I would say just be sure to give it time and don't give up on it - as you are confident with live bait already, this might be easy to do. If you decide to stick with it, I would suggest picking up a medium heavy baitcasting rod and reel, one that runs slightly on the heavier side like a St. Croix Mojo Bass 7'1" MH/F Jig and Bait rod or a Daiwa Tatula 7'1" MH/XF, Shimano Zodias 7'2" MH/F, Dobyns Fury or Sierra 704C - generally 10-20lb line ratings. Then you can try fishing a jig or some various Texas rigs, maybe a Texas rigged Rage Tail crawfish or the like.

[scaleface]

I dont think live bait outfishes artificials unless in a confined area like a pond . 

[Angry John]

It's not any harder unless you struggle to cast.  You will notice things like correct line fill that never bothered you before.  You can also cover an area a lot faster to find productive areas.  My favorite change is being active.  Bait and wait never did a thing for me.  Casting and cranking is fun.  I dont seem to do any worse than the guys bait fishing from shore and I end up giving them fish a lot of the time.  Your bycatch may go up a lot.  Fishing for bass I catch a lot of different stuff.

[ajschn06]

On 8/8/2020 at 11:02 PM, diehardbassfishing said:

Sorry - I'm very opinionated on this topic. If you catch on live bait - you haven't really done a thing. Where is the challenge?

Learn to work for your catch - like the pros. There is a good reason why live bait isn't allowed in professional competition!

 

Once you fish for bass on artificial baits, you'll have a whole new appreciation for the sport, and truly grow as a fisherman.

 

Karl

 

 

 

 

I agree- I'd add trolling to that too.  Where is the accomplishment!?

[Big Hands]

I have heard that it's easier to feed em than it is to fool em, but (in my personal sample size of one angler) all of my largest bass have been caught on artificial baits, and for me, it's not even close. Live bait is not necessarily always a slam dunk over artificial baits, but that's for a different discussion. 

 

If my life depended on me having to use an artificial bait to catch a bass in a river or creek that was 3 to 5 feet deep. I'd probably use a silver, silver/blue or gold Kastmaster spoon. Second choice would probably be a small crankbait like a Rat-L-Trap (lipless) or a small lipped crankbait. I like these for that situation because you can cover a lot of water and those bass will see the lure if it's in the vicinity. If it were a lake, my choice would be a dropshot rig with a skinny 5" wacky rigged plastic worm.

 

Way back in the early 80's when I was learning to use artificial baits, I landed my first plastic worm bass dragging a splitshot rig with very skinny, tiny 2" curly tail mister twister worms on very small hooks. That gave me the confidence to try more and more artificial baits. We trolled crankbaits all over creation as well. 

[the reel ess]

Here are a few can't-miss lures in my bag. I don't always use them. I don't even use all of these because I'm usually trying to target bigger bass. But they flat out catch numbers of bass.

 

Trick Worm, weightless

Zoom Finesse Worm or French fry or some other type do-nothing worm. Some people like them on a split shot rig. I usually just do a light weight Carolina rig.

Small lizard, same rig.

GYCB Hula Grub. The biggest bass I ever hooked (and lost) was on this bait, T-rigged.

Senko

Spinner, like Rooster Tail, Panther Martin

Small Tubes

Ned

[scaleface]

27 minutes ago, Big Hands said:

I have heard that it's easier to feed em than it is to fool em,

Yeah , I heard that one too . I use to visit my dad at his favorite bar and some of the stuff I heard from that bunch was hilarious . One old gentlemen , many times , made the claim    "I have two bass lures . If neither one of them doesnt catch them , then the bass just arent biting . " 

[Smells like fish]

Yes! Cut it loose like its a bad habit! You haven't even began to enjoy fishing til you take up artificials and fool the fish one on one. I believe using artificial can equal and sometimes even exceed live or cut bait. 

This evening was fishing with my 13 year old nephew that's just beginning to fish. We were only wanting to catch some bluegill and using soft plastic minnow, grub and worm we caught around 30 gills, crappie, 3 catfish and a bullfrog ?. You can catch everything that swims! You only have to worry about 1 thing... Do you know about the bait monkey? ?

And all you need in your creek to catch tons of smallies and red eyes is a AC Shiner 250 in sunfish color, made and sold in Ohio. 

[MGF]

I know live bait catches fish but I think the whole Idea with game fish is the idea of a "reaction" bite. I don't know if that exists with most live bait presentations.

 

I keep mentioning the other fun to practice skills like casting...I've been fishing this split shot rig on spinning the last couple of weeks and haven't had the chance to do much real casting. Last night there was weather moving in so I decided to take a wacky rigged dinger up to a local pond and toss it around. This is the pond that's been looking really dead for the last year or so. I did throw a rod with the split shot rig in the truck in case the weeds were too much for the wacky rig.

 

While I was getting my rod out of the truck I heard splashing.   I saw a bass on the other side of the pond almost flop onto the bank chasing something. I look down (about a 10 ft drop to the pond) and see a bass a little ways off. I sent a back hand cast just ahead of him from where I stood up on the bank. I remember a time when I couldn't have made that cast to save my life but it was second nature last night. He nailed it about 2 seconds after it hit the water. I took a quick picture and turned him lose.

 

I took one more cast and nothing. I took another. I skipping it this time and caught another bass. That's two bass in three casts. I was about to cast again but the storm was really bearing down on me so I ran for the truck instead. LOL