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101 Bass Fishing Tips - by Rob Brewer |
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| What we have here is a collection of tips and tricks that I have learned over the years of my fishing life. I did not invent or think of all these on my own. Some are from books; some are from other fisherman and some actually are my own creation or observation. It took Roland Martin an entire book to explain 101 tips. I haven’t read that book yet. But here’s how to do the same thing in just a few pages. Anyway, here’s my 101 “greatest hits”. I hope you find something that helps you stink up your livewell. 1. Buy a battery operated hook sharpener. You’ll actually sharpen hooks like you never thought possible and your bite to hook-up ratio will increase ten fold. 2. Crimp a splitshot sinker on a worm hook near the eye. Use this when fishing tubes instead of buying manufactured jig heads. 3. Put split rings on the hooks of any bait that has hook hangers (Zara Spooks, Jitterbugs etc.). This will lessen the fish’s ability to throw the hook and assist in actual hook ups too. 4. Always wet your line with water, saliva etc. before drawing a knot tight. It reduces friction, a major stressor of monofilament line. 5. Make your own marker buoys by cutting “H”s out of a sheet of foam insulation. Tie on 30’ of Dacron and a 4-oz weight, then wrap it up. 6. The colors yellow and red have caught more bass than all other lures combined. Keep this in mind when making a lure selection. 7. Carolina rigs work better with a slow “sweeping” retrieve as opposed to a “hopping” retrieve. 8. Wrap some solder wire around the front treble’s hook shank to make your bait suspend or to simply lessen its buoyancy. 9. Try fishing a plastic worm on a jig instead of a pork frog. It’s something new for the bass to see. 10. Fat round lures have a wide wobble and long thin lures have a tight wobble. Remember wide for warm water and tight for cold water. 11. Fish a Slug-go on a weighted shank hook. It will impart some great action on the fall. 12. Cast a topwater out and let it sit and sit and sit, just when you can’t take it anymore, wait another 10 seconds, then give it just a twitch. 13. Remove the factory hooks on a Pop-R (unless they’re the Excalibur ones) and replace the front with a larger premium treble and put an Owner feather treble on the tail. The feather breathes and will net you more bites. 14. To make a great buoyant lure for Carolina rigging, insert a foam earplug (or foam “peanut” from packing material) inside a Gitzit or other tube bait. 15. Saw off 6” or 8” inches off an old broom handle and stick it in your tacklebox. Whenever you get snagged using braided line or heavy mono. Pull out the stick; wrap about 6 turns on the stick and pull. You’ll either break off or get your bait back without cutting your fingers. 16. Use rubber bobber stops to peg worm weights. 17. The week before and the week after the March full moon is the best time (easiest) to catch a big bass. 18. Remember fishes metabolism is linked directly to water temperature. Adjust your retrieve accordingly. 19. Keep a detailed fishing log and record notes you learn on the areas you fish. Within a short period, you’ll have good database developed of what works, when and where. 20. When ever the water is down exceptionally low. Go to the lake and pencil all the good stuff on your map and take some pictures of it too. Later, when the water is back up, you’ll have some offshore honey holes and the photos will assist you in determining the best angle to fish the cover. 21. Make yourself fish a piece of cover more thoroughly. Don’t place one cast and move on. Set a number for yourself and make at least that many pitches. 22. Ask yourself what your weaknesses are. Force yourself to develop them. It’s best to do with someone who is fairly adept at the tactic you are working on. 23. Confidence! Confidence! Confidence! Believe in yourself and your abilities. Confidence is the most important lure in your box. 24. Remove the split ring on the front of those crankbaits and other lures. (save them for tip #3). Either tie directly to the lure or use a duolock snap. 25. Look in your tacklebox. See any snap swivels? Throw them out. 26. Fish the windy sides of points, grasslines, blowdowns and such. As annoying as it can be to keep the boat positioned, this is where all the plankton and bait is blowing to. Guess who’s following closely behind? 27. Rising humidity means a falling barometer (good fishing); conversely fog means rising barometric pressure on the edge of a cold front (tough fishing). I am not referring to the morning mist often seen on the lake at sunrise. 28. Plant some cover in your favorite lake. Be sure to take some compass bearings and mark it on your map, so you can return to it. 29. Learn as much as you can about your quarry, especially it’s seasonal migration patterns and the prevalent forage in a given area. 30. Replace the swivels on your spinnerbait blades with ball bearing snaps. This will make changing the blade a snap. 31. Learn all there is to know about the operation of your fishfinder. Do you know your transducer’s cone angle? 32. Use a jig as the weight in a Carolina rig. You’ll get those guys who eat the sinker and maybe pick up a double. 33. Make your own Excalibur treble hooks by bending the hook about ten degrees off center. 34. Remember, any object that is isolated is attractive to bass. 35. When fishing a lake without any cover (like Little Creek Reservoir in Toano) keep in mind that depth is “cover”. 36. When fishing Cypress trees, be certain to fish an area at least five feet around the trunk. These trees often have a doughnut like root ball and the bass could be anywhere within it. Work around the snorkels too. 37. Save your old tore up jig and spinnerbait skirts. Use the strands as pegging rubber for your worm weights. 38. Erratic lure action is the single most effective means of raising the aggression level in a bass. In otherwords, avoid a steady retrieve. 39. Any bass you can see can also see you. Act accordingly, keep movements slow and subtle. 40. Be wary of lures that are “too loud” (be it color or sound). Nature is mute, dull, quiet and camouflage. Working the more subtle side will get you the aggressive, active and neutral fish everytime. 41. Always have a follow up rod rigged and ready when topwater fishing. Often a bass will miss the topwater, but throw something different and you’ll usually hook him. 42. When bed fishing in the spring, be certain to cast at any stump, log or other “rubbing” object that may be near the bed. Females often hang around wood and actually rub against it prior to going on the bed. 43. Bass prefer a PH level of 7 to 9. Closer to 9 is better. 44. It is documented that about 50% of tournament released bass hang around the release site. Some for months. Exactly how close “hang around” is, is uncertain to me. But it’s certainly something worth remembering. 45. Willows on the water’s edge always have major root structures. They always seek water. Never pass one up when you see it. 46. Remember 90% of all thermoclines are between 10’ and 18’. 47. A Carolina rig is the absolute best presentation for catching inactive bass offshore. 48. Put your tacklebox on a diet. Empty it out completely. Now go through and remove all the lures that you did not fish or catch fish on. Put these aside in a Plano case. Someday, you’ll “need” them again. 49. Keep your crankbait crashing into cover; this triggers lots of strikes. 50. Take a kid fishing. If you don’t have one, borrow one. 51. Get a map of the lake(s) you are fishing. Study them prior to your trip. No basser worth his plastic worms would fish a lake he didn’t know without a map. Eventually, you won’t need the map anymore, you’ll have it memorized, but that comes with time. 52. Remember when setting, adjusting or testing your drag always pull the line from the rodtip, not the reel. The guides add considerable friction and could cost you a fish when using lighter line. 53. When searching for bass, always look for the bait first. The saying “You can’t catch them where they ain’t” is very true. Find the bait and you have “found” the bass. 54. Back off your reel’s drag at the end of the fishing day. It relaxes the drag washers. Keeping your drag tight all the time compresses the drag washers and they take a set to them. The result is a jerky drag as opposed to a smooth one. 55. Always peg your worm weight. You’ll feel more bites and your worm will penetrate cover better. 56. Always pull your knot down the eye of a Pop-R (or other chugger) so that it points to the lake bottom. The lure will have better action. 57. Disassemble, lube and clean your reels at least once annually. By the same token, avoid over lubricating them. A quality reel, with proper maintenance will last a lifetime. 58. Never buy lures advertised on “infomercials”. Examples are Walking Worm, Bionic Minnows, Flying Lures etc. While they may catch a fish here or there, they aren’t the magic tools they’re advertised to be. That money could be better spent on some other lures that consistently catch more fish. 59. Tie an 18” dropper line on the back of a topwater. Add to this a small crappie jig. You’ll be surprised at how many quality fish bite the tiny jig. Not to mention, the chance at a double. It DOES happen. Take it from me. 60. Take another kid fishing. If need be, borrow that one too. 61. Avoid making unnecessary noise in the boat, you’ll send fish fleeing to the depths or shut down the bite when fishing in deep water. 62. Avoid negative smell tracks. Gasoline, bug spray, sunscreen, reel lube all repel fish. 63. Wear sunscreen and drink only Gatorade or water when out on the water. 64. At least once a year, go fishing with nothing but a lure you want to improve your skills with. It’s hard to do, but make yourself do it anyway. It will pay big dividends once you have developed some confidence in it. 65. Carry at least one spinning rod in your “arsenal”. It lends itself well to pitching light lures like tubes and original Rapalas. 66. Buy or make your own plug knocker. It will pay for itself AND you’ll catch more fish because you’ll throw your lure where you normally would not. 67. Keep spare line in the boat. At least enough to refill a reel or two. You never know when Murphy might show up. 68. Buy your line in bulk and respool often. Line is too critical to neglect. It’s cheap insurance. Never discard old line overboard. 69. Every so often, remove your trolling motor prop and inspect for old fishing line wrapped on the shaft. If left unattended, it will eventually cut into the seals that keep your motor’s armature safe and dry. 70. Write an article and submit it to this page so that I too may learn something. Reading my own stuff gets old fast. 71. Save your old plastic worms, instead of discarding them. You can use a piece of worm as a spinnerbait trailer and you can use pieces on a jig’s hookshank to give it some body when the skirt is flared out underwater. 72. Unplug your trailer lights before immersing your trailer. My lights leak big time, but once I started doing this, I have yet to need to replace a bulb. 73. Consider using clear or dark green mono instead of line with fluorescence. You’ll have to concentrate more to detect bites, but who says that’s a bad thing? 74. When you catch that first bass of the day, start asking yourself questions. Did he bite as the bait was on the fall? Was it paused? How deep was it? Fish don’t speak our language so we need to learn to speak theirs. 75. Generally speaking, tapered points hold active bass. Steep, shelf-like points hold inactive bass. Observe weather conditions then choose accordingly. 76. When catching fish in one spot and the bite tapers off, switch lure size/color. You’ll often pick up a few more fish. 77. A five fish limit caught on jigs will outweigh a five fish limit caught on anything else. I bet Bobby could make me eat these words. 78. Retrieve a buzzbait so the blades just ripple the surface. Many anglers fish these baits way too fast. Slowing down will get more bites and more hook-ups. 79. Slowly motor along side bridges and watch your LCR. Often vandals have thrown things like shopping carts, old appliances or other debris off the bridge. While their presence is unknown to us, the fish notice and move in. 80. If you’re just now entering into bass fishing and don’t own a lot of rods yet. Find one you like and by all your future rods the same make and length. This will eliminate the casting inaccuracies associated with picking up another rod after having thrown the same lure/rod combo for the past hour. 81. When buying a reel and deciding which model to buy, ALWAYS buy the one with the faster retrieve speed. Don’t buy into that more power to winch fish out of cover hype. While you may feel it in your hand when deep cranking, you’ll be glad when you hook Mr. Hawg and he puts the move on you. 82. Male bass rarely exceed 16”, while females frequently exceed 22”. 83. Bass DO become conditioned to lures and scientific research shows that bass can remember a negative experience for more than 90 days. Maybe you might want to try a different lure when returning to a locale where you lost a nice bass. 84. Watch for birds such as Great Blue Herons along the shoreline. As obvious as it may seem, many overlook the fact that these birds are “baitfish sentinels”. These birds are feeding on the same bait that bass are. 85. Use a crankbait that is rated to run deeper than the water you intend to fish. This will keep the lure nudging the lake floor. It will in turn kick up little puffs of silt that mimic a crayfish swimming along. 86. To make the ultimate weedless crankbait, buy a jointed number 11 floating Rapala. Cut off the tail section and remove the front hook. Now add a split ring to where the after section was attached. Add to the split ring a 5/0 worm hook. Put on a Slug-go (Texas rigged) on the 5/0 and throw at the thickest cover you can find. This has great action and rarely hangs up. 87. When dropshotting tie an overhand knot in your line between the hook and sinker. When you snag your rig, the line will always break at the knot, leaving your hook and soft plastic bait. 88. While it’s not the Gospel truth, learn this saying and adjust your fishing style accordingly. Wind from the north, don’t venture forth; wind from the east, fish bite least; wind from the west, fish bite best and wind from the south blows the hook in fish’s mouth. In otherwords, flip, pitch or deadstick in a north or east wind because the fish are “post frontal” or difficult to catch. Cast or crank a west or south wind because the fish are active. 89. In May when you see many Brim & Bluegills bedding, fish the deeper water adjacent these. Often bass are lurking nearby waiting for a spawner to stray too far from the nest while warding off nest raiders. 90. Always fish a visible mudline in the water. Cast parallel to it and be sure to fish both the murky and the clear side. 91. Don’t rule out a topwater presentation in cold water. Though not the norm, bass have been caught on topwaters in water as cold as 42ºF. Just be sure to fish slow. 92. Try an artificial frog, especially in July through September. Fish it on 15lb (or more) and throw it up on shore. Swim it out into the treetops. I have caught a number of quality bass doing this when nothing else seemed to work. 93. Put 8ozs (per 10 gal) of rock salt in your livewell. As simple as this may seem, it will tremendously aid your bass in recovering from the stress of captivity. 94. Keep in mind if you have a temperature sensor on your LCR, it only reflects surface temperature, not that of the entire water column. 95. Subdue your lures finish with steelwool or 800 grit sandpaper. You want that dull, mute natural look, not some glossy, flashy showroom paint job that belongs on a car. 96. A floating dock will draw more bass than one on pilings. Docks on pilings closer to the waters surface draw more bass than those up high. 97. Contrary to popular belief, sunlight does not hurt a bass’ eyes. Shade is preferred because the bass is a predator. Shade enhances the bass’ camouflage. 98. Look at how you hooked a bass when crankbait fishing. If he swallowed it or has both hooks in his mouth, then you have the right color/size. If hooked lightly then consider changing size/color. 99. Try whacky worming or swimming a worm. Show the bass something new. It may seem dorky at first, but once fish start biting, it loses that image real quick. 100. Slip an old pair of nylons over your livewell’s aerator pump. The ultrafine mesh will keep scales and other debris out of your pump and make cleaning it simply a matter of exchanging the nylons. 101. For Pete’s sake, take that kid fishing already will ya? Share the Knowledge Fishing is life. Rob Brewer |
