Bass fishing is one of the fastest growing segments of sport fishing, with professional and amateur tournaments popping up on almost every major North American bass fishing lake and river system.  There are now more television shows dedicated to bass fishing than any other specific species of sport fish, and for fishermen who dedicate their sporting time to one specific species of fish, trout was normally the leader, but bass fishing is quickly catching up, if not over-passing trout as the overall top-fished sport fish species.

The best techniques for bass fishing include using rubber jigs, worms and surface baits, as well as stirring them crazy with crank baits.  Finding the bass is only a small part of the battle, as they will often feed only near the surface, amongst weed beds, near deep water drop offs, or in fast waters.  The fisherman has to adjust their techniques and lures in order to catch good sized bass on any given day.

There is a very good reason why the majority of bass fishermen have weedless lures, and that is that they have lost countless lures fishing in and around the perimeter of weed beds for bass.  Bass like heavy weed beds, thick underwater foliage of any kind, sunken logs and trees, rock formations, just below the top of steep drop offs, and any other cover that also acts as a snag magnet.  Lures are lost every day, in every waterway while fishing for bass.  The best techniques for bass fishing would have to start with getting and learning how to properly use weedless lures and weedless bait spinners.

Bass fishing techniques vary depending on the type of water and water vegetation present.  For deep waters with rocky bottoms, using tube jigs works very well for bass.  Use different types and colors of jigs until you find the setup that works best.  Bass fishing is more often than not a study in patience, as you may go hours without a nibble, then try a certain lure and have non-stop action.

When using tube jigs, soft jerk baits or plastic worms, scented or not, let your line out until the jig hit’s the bottom (your line will go lose when the jig hit’s the bottom), reel your line in until it becomes taught, then reel in a few more spins worth of line for every foot you want your jig to be suspended from the bottom.  Lift your rod tip up about 2 to 3 feet every 10 to 15 seconds, or more frequently when strikes are rather constant.

Large bass will react violently to some surface lures, like crank baits and top water baits.  Cast your bait to the edge of weed beds, near where drop offs are, or near any shoreline overhangs like trees.  When reeling these baits in, reel quickly for a few turns of the reel, then stop for a few seconds, and repeat until you either catch a fish or retrieve the bait.

When fishing for bass, you can use live bait, spinners, spinners and leaders with live or artificial baits attached, scented artificial baits,  along with a vast variety of lures.  Most of the better lures for bass have vibrating technology which can drive the bass into ferocious attacks on the bait, as well as the essential bass fishing weedless hooks.  Weedless hooks should be in every bass fisherman’s tackle box, or in the vests, as they are one if the best fall-to lures for the bass fisherman.

One fall back for bass fishing that is in most bass fishermen’s tackle boxes (or in their vests) is the worm harness.  Just like trout, bass love a good, juicy and wriggly worm, and will strike violently when they are feeding.  If they are not in a feeding frenzy, then top water lures and crank baits should be used to agitate them,

Fish on!

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