My little tricks to catch more bass. What are yours?

[Darth-Baiter]

My truck is the long cast.   I feel it keeps me and my kayak off their radar.  
 

when casting to shore I post up further than usual.  My fave lakes tend to be clear water.  

[GRiver]

With my boat being a small but humble vessel, I don’t have a lot of room, so I can’t carry 20 rods and reels (wish I could). I have multi purpose rigs and re-rigging isn’t and issue if I have to go in a completely direction.
Keeping a larger variety of baits, and not a lot of one is a factor too. I’d rather catch a few fish on a few baits, than a lot of nothing on one bait. 
 

[Motoboss]

I just recently learned a new trick, too much gear is too much.

 

Moving to my canoe I found in a recent tournament that bringing seven rigs, large tackle guide box with the double paddle, rain gear bag, cooler, net, depth finder, anchor and rope is,,,,,,,,,,,overloaded clutter.

 

I was constantly moving something to get to something else, crossing lines and hooking rods with swinging baits and at times even myself. All the while trying to throw any and all setups instead of focusing on what the conditions were giving me. Needless to say, I didn’t fair well, managed a few fish but spent too much time trying to cover water and ended up distant from the leaders.

 

My new trick is “less is more” ! I always pre-rig, always troll a bait while paddling and now will fish the conditions presented with selected rigs. All the while with less clutter while being more efficient with a minimum outfit.

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Motoboss said:

 

My new trick is “less is more” ! I always pre-rig, always troll a bait while paddling and now will fish the conditions presented with selected rigs. All the while with less clutter while being more efficient with a minimum outfit.

 

Yo, bro'!

[king fisher]

I clean the house and buy my wife flowers, before I mention going fishing for the weekend.

[IYAOYAS]

keep a chartreuse highlighter for soft plastics. I fish flukes ALOT. sometime when they start getting shy  rather than changing color i'll take a chartreuse highlighter and put a stripe down each side like a sexy shad. It usually picks the bite back up.

[ATA]

Nahh... I am not gonna tell ya... 🤣

[Swamp Girl]

16 minutes ago, IYAOYAS said:

keep a chartreuse highlighter for soft plastics. I fish flukes ALOT. sometime when they start getting shy  rather than changing color i'll take a chartreuse highlighter and put a stripe down each side like a sexy shad. It usually picks the bite back up.

 

I also love the color chartreuse. 

 

1 minute ago, ATA said:

Nahh... I am not gonna tell ya... 🤣

 

Ve have vays of making you talk, Mr. Bond. 

 

[Cdn Angler]

Similar idea to you SwampGal. I fish topwater a lot and if I am fishing a floating topwater and I know I'm going to be pausing to do something in my kayak (tieing something on, looking at my phone etc.) then I cast and kill the bait, then do whatever.  

 

I've had bass come and nail a non moving topwater that's been there for a long time (10 to 30 seconds) so I figure it's worth a try. 

 

Better to have a lure "in play" while I'm not then the opposite. 

 

Another one that I don't do any more. I fish some waters that get nearly zero pressure and bass will sometimes follow me around under my boat, I assume for shade. I've caught a few throwing a Worm at them, but now I don't target these fish. It didn't exactly feel like an accomplishment to get them to bite.

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

8 hours ago, Cdn Angler said:

I fish topwater a lot and if I am fishing a floating topwater and I know I'm going to be pausing to do something in my kayak (tieing something on, looking at my phone etc.) then I cast and kill the bait, then do whatever.  

 

Cool idea!

 

8 hours ago, Cdn Angler said:

Better to have a lure "in play" while I'm not then the opposite. 

 

Heck, yeah! Stay in the game!

 

8 hours ago, Cdn Angler said:

I fish some waters that get nearly zero pressure and bass will sometimes follow me around under my boat, I assume for shade.

 

Interesting. I've never had this happen...that I know. 

 

8 hours ago, Cdn Angler said:

I've caught a few throwing a Worm at them, but now I don't target these fish. It didn't exactly feel like an accomplishment to get them to bite.

 

I'd feel the same way. It would feel like catching a pet.

[the reel ess]

On 3/29/2025 at 8:06 PM, Swamp Girl said:

You all know I like to have a busy boat. One thing that helps me achieve this is to have a lure in the water as much as possible. Whether I was launching a canoe in the wilderness of northwestern Ontario or launching a canoe at four in the morning on a Maine bog, I always cast before I launch. Ten yards out, I cast again. 

 

And I always rig my rods and reels the night before as I don't want to waste time in my canoe changing lures. I watch too many YouTubers rigging AFTER they arrive at water. 

 

When I'm paddling, I troll one rod and sometimes two. I catch hundreds of bass every year trolling. A canoe isn't like a motor, which keeps the speed steady. My trolled lures are forever speeding up and slowing down and going this way and that. In short, they look unpredictable, alive, and tasty.

 

And when I'm retrieving a lure, I'm not watching the lure unless it's a wacky worm. Otherwise, I can feel what's happening. Instead, I'm looking for feeding bass while I retrieve. 

 

I multi-task to keep my boat busy and I keep fishing at all times to that same end.

 

 

What is/are your trick(s) to catch more bass?  

What lure do you troll? That's never worked well for me while paddling, except for crappie. It works great for those if you can find a concentration of them. I even put 4 quick-disconnect rod holders on my rails for them.

 

I also cast before I launch my kayak. I've caught some big bass doing this. You are often just screwing up a good spot when you launch, especially in a remote place or one that's not pressured. I'm also rigged up before I go with whatever I think will do the job (often you're wrong, but it's a timesaver)

 

I make sure to wear my hearing aids and listen to everything around. No music, it's a distraction from the sounds of nature. I also usually never drink beer while fishing alone. When I'm out for fun with a friend, which is rare, I might have a couple.

 

I do my dead level best to not spook fish. I know people say noise doesn't bother them, but the big ones got big by not being dumb. I'm sure it has worked in my favor to be quiet. It's the attention to little things that get the job done when they aren't biting well.

 

When all else fails and times are tough, I'll go out with a topwater, a finesse C-rig with a small lizard and a Senko. You'll be surprised how many smaller bass just pass up your "big bass baits". They also love those little pre-rigged worms you see in convenience stores with two exposed hooks or a propeller.

 

I try to show fish something they may have never seen. Instead of a frog, I might throw a lizard or a toad or a Johnson spoon with trailer on the pads. You can get bites when it falls off the edge that you can't with a floating frog. Be prepared for the strike!

 

 

 

 

[FishTank]

Have a bathroom plan

 

Go big and then go small - BFS

 

Fish the conditions you are given and adjust to them as needed

 

When in doubt,  throw a wacky senko 

 

Learn from your mistakes - adapt 

 

Don't be a one trick pony

 

[Swamp Girl]

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

What lure do you troll?

 

I've had good luck with an underspin, spinnerbaits, Mepps spinner, and Whopper Plopper. If the water I fish weren't so shallow and weedy, I think crankbait would also work well, but I've tried them and always catch weeds.

 

If I catch one while trolling, I mentally mark the spot where the bass hit and return to it to cast. 

 

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

I do my dead level best to no spook fish.

 

You and me, brother. I'm as happy to bump a bass with my canoe as catch one because when I get close enough to bump them, I know I'm paddling with nearly no sound.

 

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

No music, it's a distraction from the sounds of nature.

 

Again, we're the same. I once played some music I love on my cell phone while fishing and it was annoying. @Dwight Hottle just told the story of his second biggest birthday bass, which he heard splash on the far side of a floating island. If he'd been chatting or playing music, he might not have heard that splash. 

 

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

I also usually never drink beer while fishing alone.

 

Ditto again.

 

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

Instead of a frog, I might throw a lizard or a toad or a Johnson spoon with trailer on the pads.

 

@WRB suggested a spoon that isn't a Johnson and I bought a bunch in the spring of '24, but never used them. I have just the place to try them this year, so thanks for the suggestion.

 

[the reel ess]

15 hours ago, Cdn Angler said:

I've had bass come and nail a non moving topwater that's been there for a long time (10 to 30 seconds) so I figure it's worth a try. 

 

I have one place where bass are really prone to doing this and I have no idea why. The biggest bass I've caught out of my friend's pond quietly slurped a Chug Bug that was just soaking before I started the retrieve. I saw the bass before it bit. The strike was silent and the bait just disappeared. 

[Swamp Girl]

On 4/2/2025 at 2:08 PM, the reel ess said:

The biggest bass I've caught out of my friend's pond quietly slurped a Chug Bug that was just soaking before I started the retrieve.

 

Big bass are big slurpers. However, I've had a few that woke the dead with their wakes when they hit my lure.

[dytmook]

Not really tricks so to speak but since I can only carry 2 to 3 rods I try to make sure I have a bottom bait and a suspending bait. If something looks different about the water, pick it a part an extra cast or two

[Big Hands]

I am willing to fish ugly water. Foam and other crud pushed back into the back of a cut. Bushes, rocks, and stickups mixed in, all the better. Places others don't even want to be, or aren't willing to take their boat, especially this time of year.

[Tackleholic]

I get up extra early to rock and roll as soon as it's light enough to safely navigate and cast between the buck brush.

[Swamp Girl]

5 hours ago, Big Hands said:

I am willing to fish ugly water. Foam and other crud pushed back into the back of a cut. Bushes, rocks, and stickups mixed in, all the better. Places others don't even want to be, or aren't willing to take their boat, especially this time of year.

 

2 hours ago, Tackleholic said:

I get up extra early to rock and roll as soon as it's light enough to safely navigate and cast between the buck brush.

 

Me too!

 

 

There be bass in the barely water, me mateys!

[TnRiver46]

Live bait 

[Swamp Girl]

17 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Live bait 

 

Heck, yeah, again, but prepare to be teased. When I first started fishing for lmb three years back, I took nightcrawlers a few times. They worked, but I was teased for using them.

[the reel ess]

6 hours ago, Big Hands said:

I am willing to fish ugly water. Foam and other crud pushed back into the back of a cut. Bushes, rocks, and stickups mixed in, all the better. Places others don't even want to be, or aren't willing to take their boat, especially this time of year.

I think about this too. What we consider to be trash and pollution is just the neighborhood to a fish. They're captive in the environment. They don't know any better. I've fished places that look like postcards with nary a nibble then caught bass from a quarry or tiny hole.

 

Also, bass in small waters will be so shallow sometimes you wonder how you don't see their fins.

[TnRiver46]

34 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Heck, yeah, again, but prepare to be teased. When I first started fishing for lmb three years back, I took nightcrawlers a few times. They worked, but I was teased for using them.

Wont bother me! When you look like I do, you get used to being teased 😂 😆 

 

(live fish work even better than live worms)

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Wont bother me! When you look like I do, you get used to being teased 😂 😆 

 

You are great at that. You shake off all teasing like a lab shakes off the rain.

 

We don't have a local bait shop. Pity. I miss that little tug when a bass takes a minnow or leech. Luckily, lures are also fun and in couple, key ways, are easier to fish, since they cast so much farther and can be cast into thickets.

[TnRiver46]

I usually catch the live fish with a net and can dig worms in my yard but the big worms from the stores seem to work better. Wal mart has night crawlers, and so does about every gas station and convenient store around here