How To Catch Any Fish - Largemouth Bass on Lures or Bait

By Dan Y Smith

What can I say about the Largemouth Bass that has not already been said? Probably nothing. Largemouth Bass are the most popular gamefish in North America and are the only fish I can think of that is found in all 50 US states. They are the subject of countless fishing shows, magazine articles, books, etc. US and Japanese tackle companies probably pour more money into equipment for these fish than any other.

Largemouth Bass are an aggressive fish that can be targeted using a huge variety of techniques, so no matter what kind of fishing you like to do you can probably catch a bass with it. In fact, I cannot think of a single category of artificial lure that will not catch a bass. Poppers, Soft Plastics, Spoons, Spinners, Jerkbaits, Crankbaits, Spinnerbaits, Stickbaits, etc all will work under the right conditions. Bass are ambush feeders that pounce on prey that comes by them. Even when they are not feeding, they will often pounce on lures out of sheer aggressiveness. Every bass fisherman probably has a story about catching a tiny bass on a lure that was bigger than it. There is no way it was planning to eat it; the fish just wanted to smack it and show it who was boss.

Largemouth Bass are found in lakes and rivers throughout the US and also in a number of other countries including Japan where they are very popular. They are a hardy fish and easily transplanted. Largemouth relate very strongly to cover and structure, so if you find that you can usually find the fish. I release all fish I catch as I have never found them to be very tasty. They are easy to release by grabbing them firmly by their lower jaw, which immobilizes them (more or less).

Largemouth Bass can attain weights of over 20 lb but very, very few fish get anywhere near that size. The world record of 22 lb, 4 oz stood for 77 years until it was tied in 2011 in Japan. Any bass over 6 lb is generally a female. The average bass caught is probably only around 2 lb. The biggest one I ever saw in person was over 16 lb and was caught in Arizona on a live salamander (not sure if that was legal). I'm still searching for my double-digit fish; I lost one over 10 lb at the boat that still makes me want to cry.

I have caught hundreds of Largemouth Bass but there are many people who know more about catching them than I do. However, I hope some people will find the information below useful.

Tackle

Tackle for Largemouth Bass varies tremendously depending on the technique you use. You could be using a heavy baitcasting rod with 50lb braid with a 30lb leader to fish heavy trout imitation swimbaits or a light spinning rod with 4lb test to fish small drop shot plastics. For most of the techniques we use here in heavily-pressured California (other than large swimbaits) we fish with 6lb test. When we have fished in Mexico we have used 30lb braid with 20lb leader as the fish are not shy there and they seem to fight harder. Also there is a higher chance of a bigger fish down there. The best setup would be a Daiwa Steez baitcasting rod paired with a Daiwa Steez baitcasting reel spooled with Daiwa Samurai braided line. For spinning gear, a Daiwa Certate reel with a Daiwa Steez spinning rod.

Techniques

There is no way we can cover all techniques for Largemouth Bass. we will touch on the ones we use the most which are: drop shotting, plastic worms/lizards, senkos, and swimbaits. The first three techniques seem to work for them everywhere we have fished for them, from Wisconsin to Mexico.

Lures

Drop Shotting - Drop shotting involves suspending a small plastic lure above a small weight using the drop-shot knot which can be found online. This is then either cast out or dropped down and then jiggled up and down and then allowed to rest. You should keep the line somewhat taught throughout so that you can feel the bite. Slowly reel the lure back a foot or so at a time pausing to jiggle it frequently and then stopping.

Personally I have always liked using the Roboworm 4" Sculpin for drop shotting. These work so well that I have never felt the need to seriously give anything else a try. The Purple Blue Neon color seems to always generate strikes for me if there is not some other hot color that I know of that is working on the particular lake I'm fishing. If the bass are feeding on shad I like the Natural Shad color. Most of my drop-shot fish have come on one of those two colors and I usually only switch when I run out of them. I use the Baby Bass color too if there are a lot of Bass fry swimming around. When the bite is on you can go through a lot of these lures as they are pretty soft and you usually don't catch more than a bass or two on each. You don't usually get huge bass while drop shotting (although you never know) but it is a good technique for numbers. If I can't buy a bite on a well presented drop shotted plastic then I assume it is shaping up to be a tough day. The second you feel a bite you should set the hook.

Plastic Worms and Lizards - The plastic worm is one of the oldest bass lures and it still works very well. we have grouped plastic lizards in here as well because we tend to fish them the same way. Personally I like Berkeley 7" Original Power Worms or Power Lizards as my basic worm lure. We like the ribbontail design. Purple, Watermelon, Green Pumpkin and Black with Chartreuse tail are the colors we use most often. It's not a very natural looking color, but for whatever reason bass seem to really like purple. We usually fish them Texas rigged (see pic). We use the lightest weight possible to get them to the bottom because a lot of times you get a bite while it is sinking so it shouldn't sink too fast. Once they hit the bottom you let them sit there for a bit, then slither them forward on the bottom a foot or two and let them sit again. If there is a rock or something there, inch it over the edge and have the worm fall vertically down the side, as this will often generate strikes. When the lure is sitting on the bottom you can often feel a "tick-tick-tick" as the bass inhales the lure and chomps on it. When you feel that, reel in the slack and set the hook. You also have to watch your line and if it starts to move then a fish has grabbed the lure and is swimming away. Reel tight and set the hook. The good thing about plastic worms is that they feel natural and bass will often hold on to them for quite a while compared to hard lures that they spit out instantly.

Sometimes fish like a worm fished on a straight retrieve so we will mix it up with that as well. Sometimes when you are reeling the worm in fast after crawling it along the bottom you will see a fish chase it. That can be an indication that the fish are more aggressive and may respond to a faster retrieve. Normally I like to fish worms very slowly though.

Senkos - In the world of lures these have to be one of the easiest things to fish. You can rig them either Texas or wacky, cast them out (unweighted if fishing shallower, and with a small weight if fishing deeper) and just let them sink. Sometimes you will see the line move off in which case a fish has taken it and you should reel up the slack and set the hook. If not, just let it sink to the bottom and wait a bit. Lift the rod slowly and if you feel weight, set the hook. If not, lift it up a few feet, reel in a bit, and let it sink again. I usually do this 2-3 times before reeling in. The main temptation with Senkos is to try to do too much with them. For whatever reason bass just love eating them if they just sink and sit.

I have a small bass in a little pond in my backyard. Once in a while I throw a lure in there to see if he will hit it. He is wise to everything but the Senko. Bites that thing every time.

Swimbaits - I am far, far from an expert on these but being in Southern California I felt they were worth a mention. This technique is used primarily in California to target big bass in lakes that are stocked with trout. The swimbaits are generally between 6"-12" and designed to resemble stocked trout. There are a wide variety of them, some of which float, others of which suspend, and others of which sink fast. Retrieves used vary widely as well from reeling quickly to barely moving the lure. You will have to do some research on what swimbaits work in your local lake and then focus on how to fish those particular ones. You generally will not get a lot of fish with these, but most of the biggest fish caught in California come on these (and sadly quite a few come from illegally using live trout for bait as well). You have to really commit to throwing these baits for a long period of time, because after a couple hours of chucking these heavy baits with no results it can be very tempting to go back to the drop shot or some other high percentage technique.

When you mention swimbaits in relation to bass most people think of large trout imitation swimbaits. However, I have caught quite a few bass with small shad paddletail swimbaits, and I like to use these when trying to cover a lot of water in an area where bass are eating shad.

Baits

Largemouth Bass readily eat a variety of baits, although many fishermen (including myself) choose to pursue them primarily or exclusively with artificial lures. Some good baits include large nightcrawlers, crayfish, and shad. I would fish them with as little weight as possible and set the hook as soon as you feel the bite to lessen the chance you will hook the fish in the throat or stomach. If you plan to release fish you should pinch down the barbs on hooks when using bait. That way, if the fish gets hooked in the stomach you can still easily get the hook out with less (although some) damage to the fish.

Spawn

If you have never caught a Largemouth Bass you should go in the Spring when they are spawning. Depending on what part of the country you are in this could be sometime between March and May. During this time small male bass flood the shallows and can often be easy to spot. The big females come in for a much shorter time but are more vulnerable to being caught than they usually are. The small male bass can often be caught one after another on drop shotting and other similar techniques. Anyone can feel like a pro bass fisherman during the spawn, even if they don't have a boat. If you can catch them like that every other time of year then you really are a pro.

Where to get the big ones

The biggest bass in the country are consistently caught in California, Texas, and Florida. However, the big ones are tough to catch as almost all trophy waters in this country receive heavy pressure. The best places to target the trophies and have a good chance of landing one (even if you aren't a pro) are all in Mexico. Lake Baccarac and El Salto kick out a lot of trophies each year. Agua Milpa is awesome for numbers of smaller fish with the occasional bigger one thrown in and Huites has a lot of mid-size bass with an occasional double-digit fish. I have fished Agua Milpa and Huites but not the other two. Security concerns unfortunately cloud these fisheries at the moment, but hopefully that will not continue. People still fish them frequently in spite of that.

For helpful information on how to catch many, many other species of fish go to my website at http://www.howtocatchanyfish.com. You can also see unbiased tackle recommendations, see tons of high quality fishing photos and buy recommended tackle.

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