will bass eat something they are not familiar with?

[Darth-Baiter]

For Example.  Hellgrammites or the Goby.  artificial bait can look awesome (to the fisherman), but if i threw out a bait that isnt even available in my region, am i wasting my money?

 

i'm not sure we have hellgrammites where i live.  never seen one.  thoughts?

[Choporoz]

I couldn't get bit on Fat Ikas for the longest time.   Once live Ikas were introduced to the waters I fish, it was a whole new ball game.

[Jar11591]

Bass will eat anything. I saw somebody who used a 1/2” drill bit to make a plastic mold, Texas rigged it and caught a bass. And if a wacky senko gets bit, anything will. I do think that there are times where using a bait that resembles the local forage in looks and action can increase your odds, but I think bass will eat anything that looks like it could make a meal. 

[crypt]

I'm just like a bass.....will try anything at least once.....

[Catt]

34 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

 

i'm not sure we have hellgrammites where i live.  never seen one.  thoughts?

 

If you don't tell em there's none, they won't know there's none.

[Tennessee Boy]

I’ve caught bass on a purple plastic worm of all things.

 

I’m pretty sure there are no purple night crawlers swimming around in the lakes I fish.

[Jig Man]

How much reasoning do you think they have in those pea sized brains?  They are predators.  They will eat anything, especially if it moves.

[Fallser]

I agree with jig man, if it looks like food/prey and they're hungry they'll hit it.  I've caught bass on some weird lures.  I have one in my box that's a mackerel pattern.  I've caught several bass and a couple of pike on it.  Gobies may not be in your lake, but you might have sculpins in the lake, similar in shape, a bit darker in color.  It's interesting that you mention hellgrammites.  I'm heading up to NE Ontario on the 26th.  I brought some locally produced soft plastic hellgrammites at fishing show.  I plan on fishing them.  I'll let you know how I do.  There are no hellgrammites in the lake.  Mainly because mostly live in streams or rivers.  If you ever do find one, be careful picking it up.  They bite.

  It get even weirder when I'm fly fishing.  When I tie flies I try to create the illusion of life, but I've had bass take some strange flies.  Prime example, this is a head shot of PB largemouth on a fly.

You can see the fly above my thumb.  It's about 2 inches long.  I don't know what it thought it was.  It was post-spawn and the fish was skinny.  Maybe it was just hungry and grabbing anything that looked like a meal.

[Mobasser]

Bass strike things out of curiosity also. If it doesn't taste or feel right, they blow it out in a second.

[ironbjorn]

I started growing tobacco and rolling my own cigars. I've been launching them into my local waters like stielhandgranates to make sure the bass will keep hitting my Senkos. I noticed the cigars stopped naturally growing in my local waters. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

[WVU-SCPA]

While there are species of lizards in Pennsylvania, they don't frequent the waters I fish.

 

Bass in Pennsylvania still will eat a plastic lizard.

 

Edit. I guess there are salamanders but the point still stands.

[Choporoz]

23 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

I started growing tobacco and rolling my own cigars. I've been launching them into my local waters like stielhandgranates to make sure the bass will keep hitting my Senkos. I noticed the cigars stopped naturally growing in my local waters. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

Couple weeks ago I was smoking a cigar while fishing from my dock.  The tobacco wrapper came a little unraveled.  I tore off about a one inch square piece and tossed it in the water.   Four gizzard shad came out to examine it.  After maybe 5 or 6 seconds, one grabbed it and tried to run.  The other 3 immediately tore after the first and all started grabbing it.  It became so much more desirable when another fish had it.  

[king fisher]

Bass can and will eat everything, except the lures I am trying to get them to eat.  Maybe I should start fishing the lures they like to eat, not the ones I like.  

[TnRiver46]

A bass would eat a shad the first time it ever saw one. Or a crawdad, or a bluegill, or a bird, or a snake, etc 

[MAN]

Go search Victim Bait and there is you answer. Bass will eat anything. 

[fin]

A lot of people fall for cons because they are “expecting” to see something. It’s the same with fish. If it looks/acts/tastes/feels like what they are expecting, they are more likely to hold onto it.

 

And then there are hot dogs.

[WRB]

3 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

For Example.  Hellgrammites or the Goby.  artificial bait can look awesome (to the fisherman), but if i threw out a bait that isnt even available in my region, am i wasting my money?

 

i'm not sure we have hellgrammites where i live.  never seen one.  thoughts?

Hellgrammites live in cold water streams in the mountains around you. Dobson fly nymph is a hellgramite, Stone fly nymph looks very similar and common in lakes are Donner fly (dragon fly) nymphs. Bass eat everything crawling around the bottom or in weeds.

We don’t have Goby but do have fresh water sculpin that look very similar.

Roboworm offers Sculpin worms in FX series and a new 4” Sculpin that work good here.

Lunker City has a Hellgie that works.

So no you are not wasting your money.

Tom

 

[bulldog1935]

I witnessed a stonefly hatch in a cove on Lake Travis, a hundred bass sitting just below the surface, and you couldn't buy a stike. 

Similar, white bass sipping a trico hatch, and you could only catch them on dry flies. 

 

Also a plague-like migration of red sphinx moth, which bass would impale themselves on any red popper you threw out, and their bellies were so distended, you couldn't imagine where they put the next one. 

 

This endemic bass hen lived at a vent to a bat cave, where the aquifer takes flow off the river. 

Our endemic bass are the only bass that will retreat into aquifer caves to survive drought. 

She certainly got to this size eating the baby bats that fell in. 

[Big Hands]

It's my opinion that bass will eat just about anything they perceive as possibly being food, including things like a ball of cheese, food pellets, cubed chunks of meat and even wads of soft plastic and metal that don't really look like an actual creature.

[Columbia Craw]

Unlike my grand kids, bass will eat what’s before them where as the kiddos only want chicken nuggets and fries.

[JustJames]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

A bass would eat a shad the first time it ever saw one. Or a crawdad, or a bluegill, or a bird, or a snake, etc 

Or even a moving bacon strip, true story though, I was targeting bullhead with bacon on bobbers rig while moving the bobbers, 2lb bass inhale it. 

[TnRiver46]

Oh yeah, I’ve caught bass on bread, hot dogs, and cut bait 

[the reel ess]

There are no 6" to12" worms in most waters, but bass sure do like them. I caught a bass on a Texas rigged Gummi Worm once just to show my buddy I could do it at his pond. I had a 10mm wrench rigged up with a hook and was planning on using it like a jigging spoon. But I needed the wrench for my Jeep.

[Scott F]

Spinner baits are only native to a few very remote mountain lakes yet thousands of bass are caught on them every day. If you present nearly any bait available at Bass Pro Shop in the right place in your lake, at the right time, the right way, you will catch a fish on it, even if they’ve never seen a live version before. 

[Hammer 4]

A few years ago, at a city park lake, there was a lady fishing during the trout plant, she was using salmon eggs. After about 10 mins, a 6 lb bass took her bait, and she landed the bass, how she kept hooked on that dinky treble hook is mind boggling. And yes, she released the bass, which I was happy to see.