Search bait help.

[bassboy1]

I have heard lots about search baits.  But, I am unsure how to use them.  Most of my success has been in farmlike ponds.  So, I will sooner or later find them using plastics and the occasional spinner/buzzer.  Well, now that I have a working boat, I am starting to fish larger lakes and rivers.  How should I use a search bait, and what should I use?  I hear people saying, if the fish won't bite the fast bait, slow down use plastics.  But, I hear you cannot search practically with plastics.  What do I do when the crank or buzz bite is not on?  Basically give me the basics on search baits.  BTW, if it helps, I do have a fishfinder, and it should be installed before my next fishing trip (Sunday) .

All these questions from someone who is actually planning to fish tourneys next year. :-/

[Bladesmith,]

You will hear as many different opinions on what constitutes a good search bait as you receive answers to your question. Basically, you use a faster moving bait to search for fish so you can cover a larger amount of water. I use spinnerbaits and crankbaits mostly, because either will allow me to cover different depths as well as a lot of water, but any bait that will allow you to cover a lot of water reasonably quickly will work. Once you have located fish, then you can slow down and use your soft plastics with confidence, knowing there are fish in the area.

[bassboy1]

What if they only want plastics.  The search baits aren't gonna find them.  I assume that unless I happen to get a gut feeling to throw a plastic, that I will not find them.  Also, how do you match conditions to baits? i.e. what water conditions to throw a spinner/buzzer/crank, and when to go natural or bright.

[Evan Pease]

I use jigs. They can cover the entire water column without havin to chang anything but the trailer. When you do find the fish, I use the jig slower. Inline spinners are a good alternative to find schools.

[frogtog]

I use a search bait that is fast like a spinner or crank. I am looking for a Reaction strike. This works when they just arn't in a feeding mode. Once you

fish about 100 200 yards of say a bank and you get a couple of strikes tourn around and fish the bank with a differant bait till you see what they want.

Believe it or not you can make fish start feeding. Repeat this in differant locations till you come up with a pattern. This will work sometimes and then there are times you just ain't going to get them to bite. 8-)

[buzzbaitfool12]

to me the best search bait is a rattle trap..once you find them then slow down..If fishing arent haven it then find points or secondary points, docks, variations in the bottom of the lake and slow down and fish these thorougly with worm or jig..

[SoDak_Bassman]

i was gonna say a lipless crank, as in a rat l trap or a rapplin rap, until i saw it already posted, so i'll just second that.  I have my best luck using these around submerged xmas trees in a local lake, then after finding what trees they are around, either me or my friend will switch to a weightless senko, or a drop shot to pick up the remainders that are just hiding out.  

[Catt]

Instead of using a lure why not use a map and your depth finder?

Find structure & you'll find bass  

[Matt Fly]

I'm  with Catt.

My first thought is time of year and what they normally would be doing with the seasonal pattern.

Next is the weather, I love having a wind out of the southern direction for at least 3 days in a row.      That sets up were the plankton/zooplanktons should be found, such as the wind blown points, humps, fence lines, tree lines or just good banks.

Take post spawn for instance, after the bass have spawned, soon there after, bluegill will be shallow to spawn, and its paypack for bass.     Great time to be targeting blue gill beds with a multitude of baits.     So bass will be feeding shallow in early summer for sure.        

Shad hatches will occur through out the summer, so shad imitating baits such as spinners, cranks, and fluke like baits will work.

Consider the lake itself,     a heavy recreationally used lake may cause the best bites to be at night when the lake is quite.  

Right now, seasonal pattern in Texas, I know that spawn is approaching some areas, and is started in other areas.       So my search will be shallow or out to the first breaklines near deeper water depending on temps.

Knowledge eliminates alot of dead water fast.      

Matt.

[Matt Fly]

Happy Birthday bassboy1, the big 14 today.

I wanted to add, some of the older guys I have known are both pleasure and tournament fishermen.

One tip that an older guy gave long time ago was.      When on lakes with multiple creeks that feed in, and bass are moving in and out staging in the winter for pre-spawn,    he like to troll cranks up and down the creeks till he picks up a few in an area.       This is easier to locate schools of bass this way.    He said you can learn how far they move up a creek or when the back out to the mouth.     On various warm consecutive days, bass will move further back into the creeks, and a sudden cold front might have moved the fish all the way out until warmer temps drives the temps up.

Once you locate how they are moving on other days, he can pinpoint on where to start without covering dead water.     Even when fronts pass.     Once you find that area, then break out your confidence baits.

Matt.

[Bankbeater]

Rat-L-Traps and 1/2 ounce spinner baits will be my main search baits this year.

[Shakes]

trap or spinnerbait. the clearer the water, the faster you crank.

[MoBassFishN]

SEarch baits is a generic term. There is no single search bait that is right for all situations. Very seldom is there a search bait that can cover all the situations you can find in a small stretch of bank much less a larger body of water. I use a combination of baits as search baits depending on the season. Always, my search baits will allow me to cover water quicker. IE: heavier jigs, heavier worm weights, heavier spinner batis, etc. I will have several rods rigged. This time of the year, I'll have for example a spinnerbait, a shallow square billed crank or rattle trap, a 1/2 oz. to 3/4 oz. jig, and a wild crank bait like awiggle wart tied on. I'll fish all those baits down a stretch of bank (possibly a whole cove) while disecting every type of cover I can identify. Once I start getting bit, I'll pay attention to depth, cover type and how I think they are associated with it, speed of retried, etc. then try to duplicate it in similar locations on the lake while trying to find a bait that they are biting better like a lighter jig or worm, a smaller or larger crank or spinner bait, etc. Fishing is a big part about confidence. Fish hard and it will come after a few successful outings.

Good luck and good fishing!

[Dan:]

I typically use a spinnerbait or crank for my primary search baits, but if you are set on using plastics to search, you could try a carolina rigged fluke, lizard, worm, grub, etc...

[llPa1nll]

trap or spinnerbait. the clearer the water, the faster you crank.

Couldnt agree more...

[New 2 Bass]

Isn't a C-rigged lizard a search bait?  I mean, if the leader is long enough.  It works for me.  I only bring this up because I couldn't catch a bass with hard bait even if you put it inside a live Bluegill.  ;D

Al

[Catt]

It's about 10' over thier heads Matt  

[RochesterBasser]

All the previous information is great stuff!  Definetely use it.

One thing I'd like to add about the weather, if the weather is windy, cloudy, and basically bad, I like to use really fast baits like spinnerbaits and traps.  When it's sunny and calm, I don't even bother with these baits and go straight to flipping plastics into the pads at a pretty quick pace.  This method works well for me, but I guess it depends on your lake also.

Hopefully this helps a bit