Big bass baits

[Randall]

Roadwarrior read this off another website I had posted on about the size of baits and type of retrieves used to catch big bass. He asked me to post it here. so here it is. Should make a good topic for discussion.

 Big bass are not the most aggressive or the ones who eat the most. They are the most efficient. As they become older they become even more efficient at what they do. This is how they reach trophy size. They feed under optimum conditions and don't waste energy chasing around bait or swimming long distances to find or catch food. They develop a home range that fills all their needs and live in it without waste of energy. They live on the best structure in the area and the best areas that fill all of their needs. They even move around in a predictable manner taking the best routes from place to place. They even feed on the type of forage that gives them the biggest meal for the least amount of effort. Most of my big fish over ten pounds have been caught on trickworms fished slowly in areas where the structure and area was idea for them to live with out expending a lot of energy to live. I have caught ten pounders on a bunch of different baits but the times I caught them on power baits I feel I hit them in the head with it and got a reaction strike where they moved a few inches up to a couple of feet to strike. The key to keep in mind is that big bass want the biggest meal for the energy expended. That doesn't always mean the biggest bait they can get in their mouth since catching, holding and swallowing a big bait may take more effort from the bass than catching two smaller baits half the size of the big bait. Another thing I have noticed where I live is that big bass have learned to target a soft spined easy to swallow big baitfish like a gizzard shad even though they could also eat bluegill in the same area. I think they have learned that a gizzard shad is easier to catch and swallow than a bluegill. I see many more smaller bass seven pounds and under targeting the bluegill and shad equaly. I also think this is the reason big trout swimbaits work so well out in California for the giant bass. Here in Georgia where I live swimbaits that match the size, profile and swimming action of a gizzard shad work better than the big trout swimbaits even though the trout swimbaits are bigger and the bass are big enough to eat them. I feel the big bass here are more conditoned to eating a four to eight inch bait since that is what they are feeding on most of the time while anything over eight inches resembles something that would take too much effort to swallow since that is true from the experience of the fish since most fish over eight inches are another bony spiny fish that is hard to swallow and catch. If we started stocking easy to catch and swallow 12 inch trout in the same lakes down here the bass would probably start to prefer a 10 to 12 inch swimbait instead of the smaller four to eight inch bait. This is what I have learned while catching big bass in Georgia on Lake Varner which I consider Georgia's best public big bass lake and one of the best in the country. To apply it to NY or anywhere else in the country I think the same principles would apply but the forage and size of baits may change a little depending on what the bass have become conditioned to in that specific body of water.

[CJ]

Excellent points made,Randall.I have caught alot of good size fish on finesse worms.I always felt that a finesse worm presents as a easy to catch and swallow meal.

[fourbizz]

awesome read randall. good logic imo

[roadwarrior]

Thank you!

I think this is a GREAT article. Plus, as most of us already know, Randall has caught some MONSTER bass, especially recently when most of us are just wishing we could be out on the water. Thanks again for taking the time to repost this piece.

[senile1]

Thanks for imparting your wisdom, Randall.  With the number of hogs you've stuck in the last year, I'm all ears.

[bassmasta7]

Great article, I have been wanting to go out fishing for months so I can start using trickworms more.

[Lightninrod]

Excellent article Randall.  Those wily Bass tend to fool me so any and all help is welcome .

Dan

[TournyFish001]

like the others say- great read and thanx-

[hi_steel_basser]

Hey, Randall, great reading. I live in Cartersville. I have been to Varner once. Got skunked. Wanna hook up. PM me if you don't mind hooking up. You might want to turn me down, though, because I have seen High Votage's website and am thinkin about joining.   :

[burleytog]

Hopefully you can put me on at least one big fish.  All I ask is for a 5+.  

[Lard_Bass]

Randall,

You said you caught your biggest fish on trickworms.  How did you rig them?  I am just curious on the presentation that help trigger the strike.

[Randall]

Randall,

You said you caught your biggest fish on trickworms. How did you rig them? I am just curious on the presentation that help trigger the strike.

I rig them two different ways. My favorite is on a splitshot rig with a 1/32 oz splitshot about one to two feet up 8lb line. I will fish this down to around ten feet. If I go deeper I use a 1/16 oz shot. It takes patience to fish it this deep and slow but it works for the bigger bass as well as smaller ones. The reason I fish this instead of a Carolina rig is because fish spend most of their time suspended near the bottom. The Carolina rig pulls the bait across the bottom under the fish while the splitshot rig comes off the bottom a little in the face of the fish and falls back slowly to the bottom making it an easier target for bigger fish. It also looks more natural. I use a jighead like a 1/16 to 1/8 Spotsticker or Spot Stalker rigged weedless on 10lb line the rest of the time. The reason for this instead of a Texas rig is that a light jighead with a trickworm when jiggled comes off the bottom in a horizonal posture and looks more natural as it moves off the bottom slowly in the face of big suspended fish. I have found that bigger fish in the lakes I fish , like to strike a bait at or above their level and almost never on the bottom so both of these work for me since they present the bait that way.

[bass109]

Randall, great advice ;D

[Lard_Bass]

Randall,

What a coincidence. I just read in a book the exact techinique of split shotting. The chapter title is called "Split Shotting for Finicky Bass." Mike Folkestad, a former BASS champ, talks about using the split shot technique in less than 20 feet of water. Besides a worm, he also recommends a 4 in grub. Your insight to larger bass and how you catch them must show that they are truly finicky.

Have you used this split shot technique in deeper water (more than 20 feet)?

[Randall]

I have caught spotted bass in 30 to 35 feet of water on it but that was before I learned dropshoting. I think a dropshot or jighead would be a better bait for water that deep. Also Most of the lakes I fish are shallow and around 35 feet deep at the deepest point so I spend almost all my time in less than 20 feet of water and 95% of that time I am less than fifteen feet deep.

[Fishing Doug]

Randall,

Good info....and I certainly agree with the logic, however, on the complete opposite end of this, many anglers would say that the jig (which imitates a crawdad or similar creture) is one of their big bass baits.......

what are you thoughts on this? One would think that consuming a crawdad would take a significantly higher amt of energy and potentially be a smaller 'meal'.

FD

[Randall]

I see a crawfish as an easy bait to catch and swallow. The bass can just swim up slowly and suck it in. no energy wasted chasing it around. I use jigs as well when the conditions are right for them. My fishing partner Doghouse got a 10lber yesterday on a jig.

[Triton_Mike]

I agree with Randall on alot of points above.  Especially about the spineless bait fish ie gizzards.  I throw alot of the Trout immitation baits here in GA and I don't think the fish are smart enough to determine a trout bait from a gizzard bait.  I really think they think it's the same thing and it's the overall size that attracts them.  I caught an 8lber late last year on a Trout colored Bass Harrasser which is a 8 inch bait that weighs close to 5 oz.  The bait was actually a brown trout pattern and we don't have any brown trout anywhere in my lake.  I have also caught numerous nice spots on a trout colored Triple Trout as well.  I feel that the size of the bait attracts bigger fish and the bigger fish will move a little further for that big meal than they would say a smaller bait.   Of course it always helps to hit them on the nose.  I will say that my situation is considerably different than Randalls on Varner.  I have alot of dinks to wade through and that big bait helps me keep some of those smaller aggressive fish off my bait so that the bigger ones will get a better chance at it.  So many times I have reeled in smaller fish only to find a monster following the smaller fish.  This is especially true in a schooling situation where the bigger fish stand back while the smaller fish school.  Great discussion and great article Randall .  

Mike

www.tritonmike.com

[flyphisher #]

Got my PB 10.3lber last june on a black trick worm on a +100 acre public lake that shall remain nameless

Have caught probably 50 other fish over 5lbs on a trick worm in the last 7 or 8 years.....

[Lard_Bass]

Randall,

What type of hook do you like to use on the trick worm?  I was wondering if you use a fine wire hook size 1 so the rate of fall is not too quick.

[Randall]

Randall,

What type of hook do you like to use on the trick worm? I was wondering if you use a fine wire hook size 1 so the rate of fall is not too quick.

The only hook I will use is an Owner rig'n hook in size 2/0.  The reasons are its the only offset hook that I have found will not catch grass where the hook comes out of the head of the worm, it has a short shank and wide gap so there is more worm trailing behind the hook for more action, it is a strong wire hook but still takes very little force to go deep into the jaw bone or mouth of a big fish because of the cutting point. On a size 1 or 1/0 I just miss to many hooksets on a trickworm so a 2/0 size is what I use.