If you are reading this, you have probably decided to pursue what many think is the greatest freshwater sportfish out there: Bass Fishing. While experience is always the best teacher, there are a few tips that apply to every bass angler, no matter where they are in the world.
Our 10 top bass fishing tips are:
- Scope out your fishing spot
- Remember bass are driven by temperature
- Look for cover and ambush points
- More expensive is not always better with lures
- Match the water color
- Tailor your tackle box
- Pace the bait
- Drop in behind a fish
- Stagger your retrieval
- Don’t let large lures scare you
Fishing tips are subjective, but most are born of experience and success. Knowing how to apply them to your situation is key. Our list below contains plenty of bass fishing tips, and they’re adaptable to just about any bass fishing situation.
Table of Contents
A Few Quick Notes
Bass run the gauntlet of freshwater and saltwater in terms of species types. While for many fishing situations tips are highly subjective, with bass, no matter the type, they are all basically the same animal.
They are apex predators, more aggressive than most, will fight to their last breath and are smarter than most people realize. Catching them requires that same strategies and tactics whether you are going for largemouth bass in California, stripers in Connecticut, smallmouth in Canada, or all three in Florida.
The tips here are not comprehensive. Books have been written on the topic of fishing for bass. These tips are practical, useful and proven. But that doesn’t mean they are the final word. Fishing conditions across the globe can vary greatly, which affects fish behavior. So, bear that in mind, and be ready to adapt these tips to suit your specific situation.
44 Top Bass Fishing Tips: How to Catch Bass
1. Scope Out Your Fishing Spot
Researching where you will be fishing is key if you want to be successful when bass fishing. With tools like Google Earth, USGS water flow charts and nautical maps for many bodies of water, you can familiarize yourself with just about any body of water. That includes picking out bass ambush points, ledges, shallow coves, etc.
It also is important to know where you are headed for safety’s sake. Whether you are working a shoreline from the bank or heading out on a boat, understanding where you are and the challenges your location can pose is vital to staying safe on the water.
2. Remember Bass Are Driven By Temperature
All fish to some degree are affected by water temperature. Because most fish are cold-blooded, their bodies will reflect their surroundings in terms of temperature. That affects their metabolism, which affects their appetite.
Generally, with bass, the warmer the water, up to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the higher the metabolism and the more they will be feeding. The chart below sums up bass fishing regarding fish activity per temperature range:
- Less than 40°F: Fishing will be tough as bass will be very selective in what they will expend energy on
- 40-49°F: Bass will bite on slower moving lures and go after what they perceive is an easy meal
- 50-60°F: With their metabolism starting to accelerate, bass will pursue baits but are still selective, although nothing like they are in water under 50°F; you can get some reaction strikes as well
- 60-65°F: Bass will go after just about any underwater bait and some topwater baits if they are presented skillfully; reaction strikes are a major part of fishing in water in this range
- 65-75°F: The bass are hungry and want to eat just about everything you throw; they will stalk, pursue, ambush, you name it, because they are famished
- 75-90°F: At this point, the oxygen in the water starts to drop rapidly; bass start to hunker down in deeper, cooler pools and come up out of those hiding places at night or on cloudy days when things cool down a bit
- 90°F+: Bass slow way down because of the warmth of the water and severely depleted oxygen supplies; they will expend as little energy as possible to get food
There are very few constants in life or bass fishing. Water temperature, however, is one of them. With very little variance, if you pattern lure selection, presentation and timing after the list above, your chances of landing a lunker are greatly improved.
3. Look For Cover And Ambush Points
This is partly why it is so important to scope out your fishing grounds before getting your line wet. Reviewing the contour of a body of water lets you see where drop-offs are, where streams empty into the body of water, and the natural flow of the submerged area.
That lets you select specific target areas to hit first, which improves your chances of landing a fish.
Additionally, once on the body of water, looking for submerged cover or drop-offs not obvious in a contour map is critical. It lets you find new areas to fish and figure out how to target the areas you already identified as possible prime bass hangouts.
Bass, more than most fish, take advantage of structure, drop-off coves, submerged stream beds, fallen trees, etc. They use structure to hide, for protection and to set up ambushes for food. If you can find structure in an area you are confident will have fish, you increase your odds of getting a strike.
4. More Expensive Is Not Always Better With Lures
One of the most effective fall bass fishing lures worldwide is a spinnerbait. It is literally a bent wire with a hook, blades of metal, and usually a plastic skirt. You can usually pick them up for around a dollar. Fished correctly, you can land trophy fish.
The same holds true for just about any artificial bait (lures). The technology behind most baits has been well established for at least 20 years. There are still new technologies that emerge, but for the most part, there is nothing new with bass lures.
There are also many different lure makers that vary in price. You can get a medium sized, square-billed crankbait, for example, at prices that run from a couple of dollars through $15 or $20. If you are a savvy buyer, you can get a $2 crank that is as effective as a $20 crank.
Experiment
Low-cost cranks can be great or absolute duds. The only way to find out is to try them out. Find a crank you think will work at the high end and look for one similar at the lower end. Buy the lower end crank and test it out.
Research
Some cranks are specialized and really difficult to use effectively. Others are easy. A shallow diving crank with a wide wobble, for example is fairly easy. A suspending crank with a moderate wobble is tougher. Do your research and look at multiple stores, both online and brick-and-mortar.
Read customer reviews. Look for articles in outdoor and fishing magazines on the more expensive lures and less expensive alternatives.
Plastic Bait
This holds true for plastic lures as well. While many major brands are indisputably effective, there are alternatives that are not as expensive, but just as effective if your presentation is decent. These are often located on the shelf at the bottom of a fishing tackle aisle. Try a few out and see what works for you. But there are two occasions when you should shell out for premium brand names.
Ned Rig
The reason the brand matters with a Ned Rig is lifelike appearance. A Z-Man TRD at 2.75” just performs better than a more generic brand. Any of the major brands with Ned Rig worms work, though. The reason some less expensive baits do not work as well are that they do not look real, do not sit properly in the water, or wear out quickly.
Smaller Worms
Worms that are too large for a Ned Rig, but under 5” generally work better when they are premium brands. This is primarily because of flexibility and presentation.
5. Match The Water Color
This is not advice to match the water color exactly, but rather to pick colors that work better in certain types of water. For example, for some reason, black seems to work best in very muddy water where visibility is near zero. Who knows why, but that seems to be the trend no matter where an angler fishes for bass.
Very Clear Water
In very clear water, presentation is key because bass can see just about everything pertaining to a bait. With that in mind, the best colors seem to be:
- Pumpkin green
- Olive green with chartreuse underbelly
- Brownish
- Bass patterns (greenish with white underbelly)
- Silvery-white
Clear Water
In clear water, bass can see a lot, but some vision is obscured by silt and debris. In that situation, try the following:
- Pumpkin green
- Off-white or pearl
- Silver
- Olive green
- “Smudgy” water
This type of water has significant silt, but visibility is still several feet, although everything looks blurred. For smudgy water, any colors that create a flash tend to work. These include:
- Pearl
- Red
- Orange
- Yellow
- Fluorescent green or yellow
Muddy Or Opaque Water
Muddy or opaque water (from algae etc.) is water where visibility is a few inches and never any further than a foot. At two feet, even brightly colored objects start to obscure. Colors that work in this type of water tend to be counter intuitive. They are:
- Black
- Dark blue
- Dark brown
- Dark green
No one knows why darker colors seem to work better in muddy water. One theory is that, when a bass sees them, they tend to stand out as “not belonging” to the bass. That does not explain, however, how a bass finds them in the first place!
6. Tailor Your Tacklebox
When a person first starts fishing, the tendency is to pile all the lures one has into one box. As experience grows, however, tailoring tackle boxes to specific types of fishing, conditions or lures makes more sense.
For example, when fishing in summer, the following types of baits work well on bass:
- Topwater
- Deeper diving cranks
- Jigs
- Plastics
While you may not want to have a tackle box for each type of bait, you may want to have one for cranks and topwater baits and another for jigs and plastics. One suggestion is to keep your lures and baits in several smaller tackle boxes and store them in a backpack. This lets you quickly access the box you need without having to lug heavy and bulky “catch-all” boxes around all the time.
Another tactic is to use separate smaller boxes and have a box of the same size oriented towards the fishing trip you are on. This lets you store tackle that you likely will use, but also have a “go-to” for the immediate task at hand.
How you break your tackle boxes down is up to you. One suggestion is to have one box for:
- Tactical for immediate fishing
- Crankbaits
- Plastics and swimbaits
- Spinners and spoons
- Topwater baits and buzzbaits
- Jerkbaits
- Hooks, jigs and weights
Breaking your lures down keeps you organized, and narrowing down what you want for each trip, thus reducing your load, gives you clear options and lets you store spares without cluttering your tactical box. A backpack also works because you can store just about everything you might need in other zippered compartments. This includes:
- Tweezers
- Forceps
- Food
- Water
- Knives
- Scale
- Raingear
- Insect repellant and sunscreen
- Flashlight
- Firestarter
- Fishing gear like line and reels
Tailor your backpack to your fishing needs. If you are camping, it is best to have a separate backpack for clothes, etc. This is because your fishing backpack will take a beating and, by the end of the season, likely be smelly.
7. Pace The Bait
The bait you present is part of the equation to get a fish to strike your lure. Another part of that equation is the presentation. There are a few key guidelines that can help you present the bait in a manner the bass will like, based on several variables.
Water Temperature
It is a myth that bass will not go after fast bait in cold water. They can and will if the bait is presented properly. But generally, bass strikes are driven by metabolism. That means the warmer the water the more aggressive they will become (that is why many fishers only fish topwater lures in warmer water).
While no fishing advice is universally standard, some general advice will work in the majority of the situations you find yourself:
- The colder the water the slower you need to retrieve your bait
- If you think you are going slow enough, cut your speed in half again
- In water that is in between warm and cold, a steady but slower retrieve will usually work better
- In warmer water, a staggered retrieve can entice a bass to attack
- In extremely cold water (40 degrees Fahrenheit and below), stopping and holding a position is the best approach
Cover
Many anglers view cover as a snag nuisance, but the reality is cover is usually where the bass are located. That means unless the water temperatures are in the feeding sweet spot (about 65°F through 80°F), getting your lure down in the mud is necessary.
That also means you will lose a few lures. It’s just the cost of doing business in bass fishing. Another risk with cover is that banging your bait against a tree, stump or rock can damage the bait and nick your line. It is a good idea to check out your bait and line about once every 50 casts to make sure both are still in working order.
One tactic when fishing cover for bass is to use a crankbait that has a bill designed for deflecting the bait off of submerged objects. This works in two ways to prompt a reaction strike:
- The banging makes a noise that attracts fish of all species
- The deflection builds movement upon the noise, prompting a bass to react at the combination of both.
Sandy And Clear
This is the fishing condition where presentation is probably the most important. Bass can see and feel a long way with little obstruction or distraction. That means they can pick up on anything that is “off” about a bait. When fishing in clear water with a sandy bottom, one suggestion is to use smaller, shinier lures that mimic baitfish.
Using smaller lures in clear water with a sandy bottom reduces the overall “footprint” the lure makes in the water. That means the fish has less to focus in on. It can also prompt them to go ahead and strike, whereas a larger lure that they could see clearly might spook them.
Wind
Many anglers hate fishing in the wind. The wind grabs lures, pushes boats into shore or more likely, trees on shore and rocks in shallow water. It also agitates the water, which makes it difficult for a fish to home in on a lure. A third reason is a constant wind or wind gusts can wear an angler out as well as be very distracting.
Wind, however, can be the best fishing environment to cast a lure into. Wind disguises a lot. It can obscure topwater lures, sure, but it also can cover a heavy cast or a lure that is mismatched to the water clarity. One tactic for fishing in wind is to use a faster retrieve. Another is to use topwater lures that have a lot of action.
8. Drop In Behind A Fish
Suppose you are fishing a topwater lure and a bass follows it or even gives it a half-hearted swipe. When that happens, drop in a sinking lure in roughly the same location. In the majority of cases, the bass will strike your sinking lure.
This happens because the bass is not sure if it wants the topwater lure because it is a lot of work. A lure dropped in on top of it, though, is another story, so it’s more likely to strike.
9. Stagger Your Retrieval
One tactic that works well across fishing environments is the staggered retrieval. Stop your retrieval and let your lure hang for a second or two. This works in just about any fishing environment or water temperature. The only time it does not work is if a fish is following your lure. When you stop a bait in that situation, often a fish will break off the pursuit.
10. Don’t Let Large Lures Scare You
Bass are extraordinarily aggressive, especially in summer and fall. During those times, it is not uncommon to hook a bass that is equal to the size of the lure you are fishing or even smaller. With that in mind, use larger lures as it will still get most bass to strike and will entice larger bass looking for a sizable meal to give your lure a look.
11. Flatten Your Hook Barbs
Barbs help hold fish to a hook, but also cause immense damage to fish, particularly if the fish inhales the hook or puts up a huge fight. Flatten your barbs on the hook shaft and point to accomplish two things:
- Removing the hook is much easier and less stressful for the fish, even if they inhale it
- You learn how to correctly play in a fish as it is easier for the fish to unhook themselves on a barbless hook (that means you will be more skilled when you hook a lunker)
12. Get Polarized
Polarized sunglasses can remove almost all the glare on the water and let you see what is underneath. That can help with bait selection, casting strategies and targeting. Use amber lenses for lower glare days, darker lenses for high glare and for dawn and dusk, as yellow lenses brighten things up a lot.
13. Dangle The White Fluke
The white fluke plastic bait is a killer for bass in spring and fall because it mimics how baitfish behave during those times of year. Fish with it by jerking it slightly and letting the movement of the bait do the rest. By letting it flutter on its own it will appear to be “dangling” in the water and bass will attack it.
14. Go Multi-Pole If You Can (Even If You Are Shore-Fishing)
Throughout a fishing trip, you will be faced with multiple, different fishing scenarios. Some will require a different bait than the one you are using. Take a few different poles with different lures on them to make it easier to match what the bass are striking. A good idea is to use poles outfitted for a crankbait, plastic, buzzbait and stickbait.
15. Never Rule Out Topwater
Bass usually will not go after topwater lures in colder water. Usually, however, does not mean never. If nothing else is working, an obnoxious topwater cast into shallower flats or where a river or stream meet a lake can still yield a topwater strike. It will not happen often, but it is worth the try when nothing else is getting the bass to strike.
16. Learn The Ned Rig
Sometimes bass will not strike at anything. For those times, use a Ned Rig. A Ned Rig is a stickworm pinched off from a longer bait and affixed to a small jighead. Fish it slowly, let it fall to the bottom and sit before lifting it slightly. Let it set for between 5 and 20 seconds. The Ned Rig is as close to a guarantee of a strike as you will ever get.
17. Knockers Attract Fish
A knocker is a bead that is strung through the line above a fishing weight. When the line is pulled it slides down as far as it can go and strikes the weight, creating a clicking sound. That sound seems insignificant to humans, but to a bass it is a sure-thing attractor. Use knockers when fishing plastics, jigs or anything else that sits on the bottom.
18. Fish The Weather
Fronts moving in will generally prompt a period when bass will feed. After a major front moves through, bass seem to take it easy for a day or two. High pressure to low pressure fronts seem to get more bites than low to high. In other words, you might see more success if it’s gone from sunshine to rain.
19. Match The Hatch
With bass, the goal is not to match whatever is hatching in a body of water so much as it is to match the food selection that is present, such as minnows, crayfish, and frogs. Take a few moments and study what is there and what is being eaten then pick your baits accordingly.
20. Lower Your Rod To Avoid The Jump
Bass are almost as famous as trout or tarpon for jumping free of the water and tossing off a lure. To reduce the chances of that happening, dip the tip of your rod beneath the water when you feel a bass start to rise to the surface. The new direction of the line throws them off enough to ruin their momentum and forces them to abort the jump.
21. Use Structure In Sunlight
Bass do not like direct sunlight. When the sun is relentless, they go into deeper water or anchor themselves to structure. To catch fish when the sun is high, look for structure, nooks, and rocks to target. Get your bait as far inside structure as you can. When the sun is bearing down, most bass will only strike at things right in front of them.
22. Use A Fan Cast Strategy
Another term for this is to fish the hand. Spread your hand out in front of you with fingers extended. Then cast in the direction of each of your fingers. This covers everything in front of you and on your sides. It is an easy way to avoid getting bogged down, covering a lot of water and sampling a swath of area to see if fish are hanging out.
23. Fish Bass Methodically
The fan method of casting is one way of fishing with method and precision. Another way is to use the same approach to depth and fishing in and around cover. Make sure you cover as much territory as you can. Also, make sure you saturate the cover with a variety of lures, particularly if the bass are not biting.
24. Remember Bass Can Feel You
A bass’ nervous system is extraordinary. In fact, it is so sensitive, it can “feel” just about everything you do on the water, even if you are on shore. So, do not worry about talking, but do worry about having a heavy foot, dropping heavy objects, or otherwise creating vibrations the bass can pick up on.
25. Bass Can See You
Bass have large, bulbous eyes that greatly expand their field of vision. They can also see in some color, probably quite a bit. Combine that with their nervous system and bass will know exactly when you are near. Be stealthy, and remember, if you can see a bass, they can probably see you as well.
26. Target Optimum Fishing Times
Making sure you maximize temperature changes throughout the year and target areas on the water that bass will congregate to is vital. In spring, shallows in late afternoon are best. In summer, shallows and moderate depths at dawn and dusk work. In fall and winter, look for creek entrances into rivers and lakes where baitfish will congregate.
27. Fish Shallow Water Early
Smaller ponds and lakes warm up faster than larger lakes or rivers. In early spring, start with the smaller lakes and ponds. By early summer, move to river tributaries, and by early fall, hit main rivers and large lakes. Then, reverse the pattern until you are fishing smaller lakes and ponds at the end of the season.
28. Always Target Rip Rap
Rip rap banks house buffets of food that bass like to hunt and eat. Crayfish, minnows, fry, frogs, and insects spend most of their time in the rip rap. Knowing that, target rip rap first, no matter where you go fishing. Rip rap banks are the best opportunity you will have right off the bat at catching hungry bass.
29. Floating Frogs Work Best At Dusk
You can occasionally get a bass to go after a floating frog at just about any time of the day. Dusk, however, is the best time to catch bass with them consistently. This is because bass will home in more on movement more than anything else. When using a frog at dusk, contrast is more important than color because it accentuates the movement.
30. Red Creates A Target
Red lures tend to increase strikes. Most anglers assume it is because the red reminds the bass of blood. Bass lack the ability to reason like that. More likely, red on a lure creates a contrast with the other parts of the lure, which attracts bass. Adding red to a lure can increase the strike ratio, but not because the bass thinks it’s blood!
31. Touch Up Lures With Nail Polish
Lures get beat up over time with a lot of use. They get knocked on wood and rocks and chip away easily. If the chip is small enough, a touch up with nail polish will restore it. It is a good idea to keep at least the primary colors in nail polish wherever you store your fishing equipment at home.
32. Learn To Flip And Pitch
Flipping and pitching are two skills that baitcasters need to learn as soon as they master casting. This is because they will use both skills just about every time they go fishing. Both techniques can get a lure into a tight area or skip the lure into place. Knowing how to do both expands your fishing capabilities significantly.
33. Inspect Your Livewell
Bass are known to throw up whatever is in their stomach when they are placed in a livewell. Keeping an eye on what shows up gives you a window into what the bass have been eating, at least for the last few days. That lets you match your bait to current eating habits, which will increase the appeal of your bait to bass in the area.
34. Watch Fish Reactions
If you cast a specific lure into an area and every fish bolts, you know at least one fish and probably many had a bad experience with that type of lure. If the fish have no reaction, you know they have not seen it before or for a very long time. It will also be obvious if the fish are attracted to a particular type of bait.
35. Face The Wind
Bass mostly swim with the current if they can help it. When they are battling a current, they tend to not feed. If you are on a body of water with no natural current, cast into the wind as that will always ensure your bait will fall in front of a bass. The exception to this rule is when you are in an area where bass can ambush their prey.
36. Use Line Purposely
Some fishers prefer certain types of line regardless of how it can affect fishing. Preferences are fine, but in some cases, the right type of line can make all the difference. Using braided line in crystal clear water, for example, can scare off fish because it is easily seen. Pattern line use to your environment.
37. Mimic Dying Baitfish In Fall
As the water cools, baitfish begin dying off. When they die, they will float to the bottom, lurch upwards periodically, and then flutter back to the bottom. Use spoons and spinnerbaits in that manner when fishing in late fall. Wait about 10 seconds between each hop to give the bass a chance to focus in on the bait.
38. Bass Fishing Has Six Seasons
Winter Bass Are Commitment-Shy
The bass are hunkered down deep in channels, into drop-offs and off of bluffs. They will usually conserve energy, but not always. Use fish jigs, Ned rigs, spoons and jerkbaits (suspended jerkbaits work well), but fish them very, very slowly. Sometimes it pays to wait a minute or two before you twitch the bait and be alert for very subtle strikes.
Pre-Spawn Bass Follow The Weather
Right before spawning, bass are on the move. Spring weather shifts affect water temperature and bass move to that. Suspending jerkbaits work well as do jigs and lipless cranks. Square-billed cranks work if you let them suspend with any current. If where you fish has no current, a very slow retrieve can trigger a strike.
Spawning Bass Are In Protect Mode
With spawning bass, you are going for mother bass that think your bait will eat its eggs, and amorous but starving male bass. Plastics fished slowly across nesting sites, hovering cranks, and darting jerkbaits are best.
Post Spawn – Hungry And Healing
During the post-spawn, female bass will hang around the nest but gradually move to deeper water as the weather warms. Male bass will protect the fry for a day or two and then do the same. Spinner baits, weightless plastics and jigs work best during this period as bass will strike out of reaction and after stalking.
Summer Bass Fishing
Summer bass fishing can be amazing, or it can be as frustrating as humanly possible. Bass will eat anything that moves and then disappear as they slink back to the deep to cool off. Virtually any baits work, and topwater baits are the most fun. But be prepared to shift baits in a flash once the water warms.
Fall Feeding Frenzy
This part of the year extends until the water temperature is in the low 40s. Fishing depends entirely on temperature as bass follow it from deep to shallow to deep again. The bass are also eating anything they find as they fatten up for the winter. Anything that resembles dying or migrating baitfish tend to work. Jerk-and-wait retrieves get the most consistent bites.
39. Use The Right Reel
Spinning and baitcasting reels play a role in any angler’s arsenal, although it is not necessary to have a baitcasting reel. In fact, if a fisher can only have one type, a spinning rod is more versatile and offers more in the way of finesse.
When To Use What Reel
Spinning rods offer more versatility in the sense of where you can fish them. They work in just about any fishing scenario and can be used in situations where finesse is critical. Baitcasting reels are better for long casts and for using tactics like flipping and pitching. Generally, it is best to learn on a spinning reel before migrating to a baitcasting reel.
Use 15 Lb. Test And Up On Baitcasters
This should be your rule of thumb because of higher line memory with lower lb. test lines and the tendency of baitcaster reels to overspin. Higher lb. test line does not tangle as much, particularly when there is overspin. When overspin happens, higher lb. test line slows the spin, usually enough so the drum and bait equalize, avoiding birds’ nests.
Tension Is Key
Most baitcaster reels have tension settings, and if they’re set up wrong they can damage the line drum or cause backlash. The ideal tension is where you get one or two spins beyond your end point when you let a lure freefall from the reel. Most beginners set their tension too tight and have overspin.
Use Drag Sparingly
If you fish for bass long enough, you will eventually need to use your drag feature. For most situations, though, drag is either not necessary or is overused, mainly because most bass are not large enough to snap a line. Overuse of drag can lead to a fish creating slack in a line and getting away.
Learn To Roll Cast First
When using a baitcasting reel, start with mastering the roll cast. This type of cast is difficult to mess up, helps contain overspin, and is a fluid motion that will generally prevent over-throwing. That means less tangles, bird’s nests and frustration. You can save all that for when you move onto trickier techniques!
40. Fish Shallow Water On Summer Nights
Fishing at night can be a lot of fun, but it also requires a lot of preparation. Learn your environment before venturing out and bring adequate lighting. Use floating lures in shallow water and focus on contrast no matter what type of bait you use. The more contrast you crate the better the chances of bass noticing your lure.
41. Look For Eddies
Eddies are the relatively slow moving side channels of water that run off of the main current and channel. If large enough, an eddy can even spawn a reverse current next to the shore. Look for eddies when fishing for bass in a river as bass will hang just off the main channel in eddies, facing into the current, waiting for a meal to pass by.
42. Target Current Breaks
Bass tend to find a safe harbor in current breaks, whether caused by bed variations, rocks, trees, or stumps etc. Target just ahead of a current break and let your bait float past them. This gives bass a clear vision of the bait as it moves towards them and gives them a chance to strike at the bait as it flows by.
43. Bass Temperature Matters
When you catch a bass, pay attention to how it feels to your touch, and if it’s warm or cold. Modify your fishing technique to match its temperature. For example, if you catch a bass that feels warm, you know you can fish pretty fast. If, however, the bass seems colder, you know that you need to fish slower.
44. Play The Sun
On sunny days, you have a natural lure in the reflection the sun will provide to just about any lure. Use that to your advantage. There is nothing more attention-getting than sun glinting off of a lure, particularly if the lure is being pulled through darker water or pools. Even a millisecond of glint can be enough to catch the attention of a hungry bass.
Final Thoughts
Bass fishing can be the most fun an angler can have when the bass are hungry and the presentation is perfect. The best tips a fisher can follow are to do your research before you cast your first lure, look for cover and match the water clarity. Do just those three and you should have a successful trip!