A Beginner's Guide To Bass Lures
By Don Applegarth
If you are just getting started in bass fishing, you are quickly
learning that the vast array of tackle available to bass anglers
is sometimes overwhelming. You have to wonder, "Wow, do
I really have to buy all this stuff to catch bass?"
While most lures do indeed catch fish, they are not all necessary,
and many can be added later as your success increases, and your
skill levels improve. Right now, it is more important to concentrate
on the basics, and make your lures selections as simple as possible.
While narrowing down your selections, might seem to limit
your ability to catch fish, it will in fact, actually help you
in several ways.
When learning a new technique, you need to use colors and
lures that you have confidence in, and that will allow you to
concentrate more on your presentations rather than your lure
color.
For years, I tried to collect as many different lures as
I could, in every color of the rainbow. I had a huge collection
of what ended up being mostly junk.
By eliminating the colors and sizes or styles I never used,
I was able to purchase duplicates of the ones I had the most
confidence in, and started throwing them more, and my success
grew. I knew when I chose a lure, that it was going to catch
fish. That added confidence helped me more than anything else
I could have done.
While I still have quite a few lures that I only occasionally
use, I still have confidence in them. Some examples of these
might be red crankbaits and traps. I use these almost exclusively
from late January through mid March, and then rarely if at all,
for the rest of the year.
Here are the basic lures that I have and use, and I think
they will help you to start building a good supply of lures to
cover just about any situation you might have to face. Once you
have a good basic foundation for your lure collection, you can
add or subtract from it as you see fit. The basics, are the "Go-To"
baits I use on new waters, and when I am searching for fish.
First, let's break the lures down into several categories,
and we can choose a few for each one. This will give you a broad
spectrum of lures and each will have some colors to handle any
situation you face.
CRANKBAITS
These are purely a matter of choice, and your individual
preference. Several manufacturers produce quality lures ranging
in price from under $4 each, to well over $20 ea. Remember that
Price does not always dictate the lure's ability to catch fish.
Certainly one would expect the quality to be better on the more
expensive lures, but sometimes a very expensive and natural looking
lure is less effective than a larger more brightly colored one,
such as when fishing stained and muddy conditions.
My selection of crankbaits is pretty vast, I admit, but I
have at least 4-6 of each of my basic colors, so that if I loose
one, I can just get another that is exactly the same, and continue
fishing with the confidence that I had with the other lure.
These are my choices, and you should make your own choices based
on the crankbaits that seem to work best in your area for you.
Sometimes in late winter/early spring, the bass here seem
to prefer a crankbait that has no rattles, and a more pronounced
wobble. That is when I choose a balsa crankbait, in a smaller
size. My choices are usually either a Bagley's Deeper Diving
Killer B II or a # 5 or # 7 Shad Rap. Both baits produce excellent
results, and some days the fish prefer one over the other. I
stick with a few basic colors as well.
For the Killer B's, I use a color called "Hot Belly
Craw" which has a dark brown back that fades into yellow
sides and belly, with a small amount of orange on it. They also
have black vertical lines along the sides (almost like the spots
found along the sides of a bass near the lateral line).
For the Shad Raps, the Crawfish color works well. It is a
brownish-red color, and can draw some strikes from fish as well.
Also, if you can find it, try using the original Rapala Perch
color. It has yellow and green stripes on the sides. These fish,
like crappie, are extremely active in cooler water, and bass
will feed on them.
I tend to use these baits in more open water areas early
in the year, around the mouths of creeks, and points on the main
lake. I often work them more like a jerkbait than a crankbait,
and fish will often come up in deeper water to take them.
Other colors I use in these lures are Tennessee Shad and
Silver Foil with a black or blue back for the Killer B's, and
a Natural Shad Pattern for the Shad Raps.
If I feel I need to switch to a more durable or a rattling
crankbait, I go to either a Bill Norman Professional Edge Series
Deep Middle N crankbait, or a Bandit Series 300 crankbait.
Both of those lures are small in size, as are the ones mentioned
above, and yet can still reach depths of 12-14' easily with 10-12#
test.
I like the sunshine gelcoat colors of the Norman's, and usually
throw a Lavender Shad color, or Tennessee Shad pattern. If the
water is stained or muddy, I will opt for more brightly colored
lures such as a Chartreuse/Blue Back or White/Chartreuse Back
for the same lures. Another new color I like in muddy water is
called Sour Grape, from Norman. It has a Purple back with Chartreuse
sides.
For the Bandits, I like the Crawfish patterns they offer,
as well as their Pearl White, and the Tennessee Shad.
Some people say why do you have both? Why not just one or
the other? Well, the Bandits are much smaller in size than the
Norman's, and often that can make a difference, even though both
will reach the same depth.
Later in the year, I usually start throwing more baitfish
colors, and experiment with sizes. As the summer comes, larger
baits seem to work better, and by fall, I will be using Bagley's
D B III baits or a Norman DD-22. These baits will reach greater
depths, and offer a bigger target to the bass. This time of year,
the bass are generally feeding on large sunfish. Like bream,
bluegill, etc., and the baitfish are usually as large as they
will get at this time. While any baitfish color that has a white
bass with a darker colored back will almost always draw strikes,
sometimes a small amount of Chartreuse also helps. This is especially
true when bass are feeding on bream or bluegill.
TRAPS AND OTHER LIPLESS BAITS
These lures can become some of the best baits you have for
quickly covering water and finding aggressive bass. All it takes
is a few colors, and you'll quickly build the confidence it takes
to use them.
I prefer the ½ oz size, but have found times when
the ¼ oz sizes work better, so I keep a few of each handy
at all times.
Best all around color is without a doubt, Chrome/Blue Back.
Others are Tennessee Shad, and Chartreuse/Blue Back.
The only exception to this is in very early spring. Then
I only throw one color. RED!
I have found that a red colored Trap can produce some of
the biggest fish I catch each year, and I use that as a confidence
builder to throw it.
There are several shades in red and orange and they will
all work. Just find a few you like, and after a few fish are
caught on them, narrow them down to one or two that seem to outproduce
the others.
I use the Excaliber Super Spot, in a color called Texas Red
mostly. It is still produced, but the color is not as good as
it once was. Originally, it had a gold foil finish with a red
back. The colors are still the same, but the finish is no longer
as bright (I think the removed the foil).
I make casts up onto shallow flats with these baits, and
work them back toward the drop-offs and creek channels. They
can be deadly around stumps, and rocks.
SPINNERBAITS
These are some of my favorite lures, and ones that I always
throw. It doesn't matter where or when I am fishing, I will have
a spinnerbait tied on.
I use a ½ oz size about 75% of the time, and will
switch to a 1 oz or larger if needed.
For starters though, the ½ oz size is hard to beat.
I use a white skirt most of the time, and will opt for a
chartreuse/white combination if needed because of heavily stained
water.
I use a Gold Colorado Blade on front, in a #3-4 size, with
a # 4 or 5 Willow Leaf in Nickel or Chrome on back. If I am fishing
Chartreuse/White skirts, I will use gold blades.
I use white blades on front and back with white skirt many
times as well. Those painted blades will draw strikes from fish
in both clear and stained water.
If it is very early spring or at night, I will change to
a single Colorado blade, and use the lure around heavy cover
or rock ledges. That single blade will really produce some vibration,
to draw bass out of heavy cover.
JIGS
These are also excellent choices, and can produce some of
the best fish you catch. They can be pitched, flipped, skipped,
and of course, cast into areas where you would never dream of
throwing other baits.
I use several styles and sizes of jigs for a variety of different
applications, but here are the basics.
I use a ½ oz Bass Browser with skirts in black, black/blue,
watermelon/red flake, and brown.
For trailers, I rarely use pork anymore, simply because it
is such a hassle. With the soft plastic trailers we have today,
I see no reason to. The soft plastics are salted, and extremely
soft, and fish will hold them about as well as pork. The exception
is when water temps are extremely cold (40 or below) and the
plastic becomes too stiff. Then Pork definitely has an advantage.
I like to use several different trailers for these lures.
I use a Yamamoto 3 series Crawfish, a 16 series Twin Tail Grub,
and sometimes a Zoom Pork Chunk (plastic Pork frog imitation).
For colors, I generally use something close to the skirt
color; for example, I like to use a black blue claw crawfish
with a black/blue skirt. I will also use the Pearl smoke blue
color (240) with the black/blue, or a brown skirted jig.
I also use several types of jigheads for working smaller jigs
over deeper water areas.
For more information about those types of heads, take a look
at the "Fishing Jigs" series written by Russ "Bassdozer"
Comeau, at the Inside Line Website (http://www.insideline.net).
This article is in four parts, and covers every aspect of jig
fishing in great detail. It is excellent reading for any bass
angler, no matter what their experience level.
WORMS
This section is going to include not only worms, but also
several types of soft plastic baits. The reason for this is that
many of these baits can be fished several ways, and can be some
of the most versatile tools you can own.
I recommend using several styles and sizes of worms, and
learning when to throw each one. I think the action of the bait
is often more critical than the exact color you are using.
Basic colors include a few dark colors, neutral or medium
colors, and some light colors to represent crawfish as well as
baitfish and sunfish.
I use worms that are 4-5" in length with straight bodies
and tails for much of my fishing in the clear waters here. These
small slender bodies not only represent much of the natural forage
of the bass, but also allow you to work thick cover more easily.
A large curly tail or ribbon tail worm, will become snagged more
easily, and end up causing more frustration to you in the long
run.
The 4" Cuttail worms from Yamamoto, as well as the Zoom
Finesse worms and Meathead worms work well for fishing deep thick
cover such as rocks and brushpiles in clear water.
For colors, I like Sand, Smoke, Gourd Green, Watermelon,
Watermelon/Red Flake, June Bug, Pumpkinseed, Green Pumpkin, and
Red Shad, as my basics. I use several others as well, but these
basic colors will cover about any conditions you are faced with,
as good starter colors.
Use a 1/0-2/0 Gamakatsu Hook, and a ¼ oz weight and
a 6mm Glass or plastic bead to rig these baits weedless, on light
line and spinning equipment. I prefer to use line that is in
the 8-10# test range, and the new flourocarbons are excellent
for this.
A good 6 ½- 7' Medium action Graphite rod, and a medium
sized spinning reel is all you'll need for this type of fishing.
Drop the baits down into the cover, and work them slowly
by shaking them or doodling them through the branches of the
trees and brush or bouncing them along touching the rocks along
a ledge. Often this is an excellent way to catch fish from deep
schools.
For fishing in weeds or other vegetation, I prefer to use
a worm with a big curly tail or a ribbon tail, such as the Zoom
U-Tail, Magnum II, or a Culprit, ranging in sizes from 7 ½"
- 10". Best colors seem to be shades of Green around green
vegetation, but sometimes a darker color like Junebug and Green
Pumpkin or Red Shad works well too. This is especially true during
low-light conditions, such as nights, or on overcast and rainy
days.
I use a lizard in a 4", 5", and 6" size about
75% of the time when Carolina Rigging. The added bulk of this
type of bait allows it to float more freely off the bottom, and
the added appendages are excellent for getting the attention
of the nearby bass. Good colors are Sand, Watermelon, Pumpkinseed/Chartreuse
Tail, Junebug, and Green Pumpkin.
Another good alternative to the lizards for Carolina Rigs,
is the Yamamoto Hula Grub, or the Senko in any number of sizes.
Somedays, the fish will want a larger bait, and on other days
the smaller ones might work better. These should be also the
same colors mentioned above.
There are several great soft jerkbaits available now, and
each can work effectively at times throughout the year. I have
found that these baits will take fish from early pre-spawn all
the way through early winter.
My favorites include the Yamamoto Senko in the 9 series (5")
size, along with the Zoom Super Fluke, and the Zoom Trick Worms.
The best colors for these baits have always been a white or chartreuse
color for me, although sometimes a "Shock" color such
as a bright yellow, orange, and even pink. Will draw more strikes
from wary fish that have seen the other colors.
I almost always use a 3/0-4/0 Extra Wide Gap Gamakatsu hook
for this type of fishing, and no weight. I do add a barrel swivel
about 8-10" from the hook to help prevent line twist.
The Senkos are extremely heavy due to their higher salt content,
and can be cast a mile without any added weight. They also sink
much faster, and have a very unique quivering and fluttering
action as the fall toward the bottom with a gliding motion.
The Flukes are more like a baitfish in shape, and you can
work them more quickly over shallow weeds, and heavy cover to
draw fish toward the top to strike them.
The Trickworms are somewhere in between, They are shaped
more like a Senko, but are much tougher and lighter, like the
Flukes.
Buzzbaits
These baits are useful at times, especially in the spring
and fall, and will draw strikes from bass that are roaming and
feeding aggressively. They allow you to cover water quickly,
and can catch some big bass.
I like to use them in water that is stained and around thick
shallow cover.
I think white is the best all around color, and will usually
produce well.
TOPWATERS
These are always fun to use, and are often an excellent way
to catch the biggest fish of the day. Best used during low-light
conditions, these baits can be found in a variety of shapes and
sizes.
For starters though, here are the ones you'll need to purchase
and then learn to use.
Original size Zara Spooks, in colors like Bass, or Shore
Minnow. Also a Clear one works well if the water you fish is
extremely clear.
Pop-R's are other baits you must have. Rebel makes these,
and there is a larger version with better hooks and finishes
made by Excaliber as well.
Chrome, and Bass colors work well.
Prop Baits like the Torpedo, Devil's Horse, and Crippled
Killer are also an excellent choice.
Standard baitfish colors work best for topwater baits under most
conditions.
Remember that a faster retrieve with lighter colored baits
works best in clear open water, and don't be afraid to work them
over deep water too.
A slower more deliberate retrieve with darker colors and
a bait that makes some noise works best in stained water, and
is usually better near some type of shallow cover.
I hope that this guide will give you a better idea of how
to select baits, when stocking your tackle box, and also when
making selections on the water.
Choosing the right bait, for the right application is important,
and will soon help you build confidence in your own abilities
to choose areas to fish, knowing that you have the right bait
for the conditions.
Trick'em and Stick'em…
Don
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