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Big Bass Baits
by "The Bass Coach", Roger Lee Brown
I must receive hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from anglers
all over the world (USA, Africa, Japan, Europe, Canada, Mexico,
Etc...) asking what type(s) of baits I use for catching big bass.
This is a BIG subject! for many anglers and I usually answer
these inquiries suggesting a few different baits that will predominately
perform for them catching bigger bass than they have caught before,
especially when most of them explain what baits they are already
using to catch bass. This is the easy part! but next, they want
to know how to present (or work) these certain baits around the
many different structures in the many unfamiliar bodies of water
that contain current, different water colors (stained, semi-stained,
muddy, and crystal clear), vegetation, water depths, rocky areas,
brush, cliff drops, and on and on. Yes, they seem to hit me with
about every scenario an angler would come up against on any body
of water.
In this article I hope to help some of the anglers that might
be wondering the same things all these other anglers are asking
about. One of the first things you need to know or at least understand
is that you will have slow days on any body of water at just
about any given time. This means that just because you may learn
different patterns & techniques for catching big bass that
will work great for you one day don’t necessarily mean that
they will work the same the next. This could happen for many
different reasons, but mostly because of the changing daily conditions
such as rain, wind, clouds, pressure fronts, clear sky situations,
water temperatures, just for an example. I teach a 3-Day Bass
Fishing School which is located in upstate New York on Lake Champlain
and Lake George which are two totally different bodies of water.
Lake George is a ultra clear lake when on a sunny day you can
see the bottom in 20’ + depths. This lake offers deep bluff
type fishing, weedy areas, many rock areas, different structures
in shallow and deep water, it contains many docks, sunken ship
structures, and there are some areas you can even find current.
Lake George is full of Smallmouth and Largemouth bass and any
angler can catch bass in numbers if they know what they are looking
for and the "how-to’s" of catching them. Many
anglers that I’ve talked with concerning a lake such as
this are not sure how to fish it, especially with the lake having
the ultra gin clear water it offers. Now, on the other hand Lake
Champlain offers just about any type of scenario an angler could
think of as far as bass fishing techniques go. You can find all
these things that are offered in Lake George in Lake Champlain
and much more such as; shallow and deep water areas, muddy, semi
stained, stained, or clear water color situations, shallow and
deep thin to thick vegetation areas, fall-downs, drop-offs, rocky
areas, bull rush and lily pad areas, channels, rip-rap areas,
different bottom contours, chestnut weeds (or grass), narrow
and wide open waters, water current, docks, Etc...(truly an anglers
paradise.) Now, the reason I am explaining this is because between
these two lakes, there probably isn’t any body of water
in the USA that won’t offer at least some types of these
areas except for tidal situations. Lake Champlain has an over
abundance of Largemouth and Smallmouth bass within it. I would
definitely rank both of these lakes in the top-10 of the bass
fishing lakes in the nation.
Next, I would like to explain one more thing before we get
started with some of the "Bigger Bass" type baits.
Although I will mention a few of the types of baits that I use
as well as teach my students and charter clients with, I am very
sorry but I really can’t mention the brand or the company
that manufactures these types of baits because of conflicts of
interest with many sponsored sites, but, I can inform you of
this information by contacting me by e-mail, letter, or phone.
I have several sponsors that supply all my baits and equipment
that I use and they all make a superior product, that’s
why I use them for teaching, chartering, and personal use! "they
get results."
Now, let’s get on with it! First, you want to make sure
you have the proper equipment to use with some of these baits
such as rods (the right size, action, and strength), reels (the
right speed and style), line, weights, colors, Etc. I personally
use a stronger line for most of my bass fishing, even in ultra
clear water situations. Many of my former students have learned
real quick that a 17lb. test clear transparent mono line will
catch just as many bass in clear water as a 6 or 8lb. test will.
With the right equipment I will use 14lb. test clear transparent
mono line (the smallest pound test line I will use for bass fishing)
for my cranking rod, 17lb. test clear transparent mono line for
just about everything else except for 20 and 25lb. test which
I use for my Jig & Pig combos, Carolina Rigs, and some Texas
Rigged baits.
Now, here are some of my favorite TOP-WATER "Big Bass"
baits that I strongly recommend to try.
1. A "full size" Zara Spook
2. A Buzz Bait
3. A "Soft" jerk bait
4. A Torpedo (Prop-Bait)
5. A large 6" Gitzit (or tube bait)
These baits have caught more larger bass for me and my students
and charter clients than most top water baits on today's market.
These other baits would be SUB-SURFACE "Big Bass"
baits that I would use should be worked under the waters surface:
1. A Jig & Pig combo (a jig can be used with several different
types of trailers) my personal favorite trailers would be either
a plastic pork chunk or a 4" twin tailed Hula Grub.
2. A Carolina Rig (rigging this rig properly is just as important
as what type of bait you would use with it.) My 2 favorite baits
I usually use with this rig would be a 6 inch Lizard and a 4"
Gitzit (or tube bait)
3. A Texas Rigged twin tailed Hula Grub or a 4" plastic
Crawl.
I certainly would use these baits anywhere in the world to
catch bass because they have proven themselves time after time
to catch the more quality and heavier bass. I had a student last
season from Arizona who attended my 3-Day Bass Fishing School,
and this certain fellow had been bass fishing for over 10 years.
He told me before he enrolled in my school that he fished for
bass just about everywhere in the nation (he’s retired)
but he never caught over a 3 1/2 pound bass. After spending three
days with him, teaching him things he had never tried, seen,
or didn’t know how to present, he caught 5 bass over 4 pounds
in one day! Then, a few weeks later I got a e-mail from him letting
me know that he won his first bass tournament ever, and with
a field of over 75 boats, and, using some of the techniques and
baits that he was taught at my 3-day school. I’m telling
ya, these baits mentioned really work! Even when I travel out
of state to teach seminars and demonstrate baits for bass clubs
I will definitely have these baits with me.
I love to see the look on women, men, boys, and girls faces
when they hook into a bass. It makes it worth it all just watching
people have fun and the excitement they experience is second
to none!..... I hope that this information will help many of
you beginners, novices, and even some of the pros by trying some
of these baits. Sometimes you may not get as many strikes with
these baits I mentioned as you would with different baits, but
when you do it’s usually a more quality and "Bigger
Bass."
If you have any questions concerning this article, the 3-Day
Bass Fishing School, or my Bass Charter Service, you can reach
me at: www.capital.net/~rlbrown - www.fishing-boating.com/basscoach
- e-mail at rlbrown@capital.net - phone (518) 597-4240 - or you
can write to: "The Bass Coach" c/o Roger Lee Brown,
243 Pearl Street, Crown Point, NY 12928
Until next time, take care & God Bless!
The Bass Coach...Roger Lee Brown |
