Bass fishing is a favorite American pastime. The fish is prized for its elusiveness and flaky, delicate texture when filleted and cooked. Bass are caught in rivers, lakes and streams across North America. Sportsmen and fishing guides have their own techniques to ensure a good landing of the bass on a boat or dock, or beside a river or stream.
Casting
Use bait-casting tackle because it provides better accuracy. Practice your casting on dry land before you go fishing. Try the rod a few minutes each day at home. Select a target in your backyard and try to hit it with the fishing lure. With practice, you will learn how to drop bait to the fish consistently on a precise spot. Casting accuracy and distance is particularly important when fishing from the beach compared with using a boat where you can move closer to the fish.
Trolling
If you have a boat or access to one, trolling is another sure way to catch bass. This technique is like leading a dog on a leash except you are leading a lure on your line to attract the fish. Trolling works well when you cannot see any bass activity in the water or when they are at deep depths. The trolling speed for a boat depends on how deep you want to fish. Slow trolling drops a lure deeper in the water and fast trolling keeps the lure on top. The main advantage to trolling is that it lets you cover a large amount of open water with your lures.
Jigging
Jigging involves an abrupt up and down jerking of the fishing line to mimic the pattern of a squid, a favorite bass food source. The lure for jigging is usually a heavy metal spoon (called the Shorty Hopkins) that you let fall to the bottom. Then you abruptly engage your reel, take up the slack on the line and use the tip of your rod to lift (jig) the lure a few feet up and down off the bottom. If you have access to a deep swimming pool, practice this motion at the deep end until you master the feel. Jigging can tire you out, but it is a good method to catch bass.
Bait
Bass tend to move over grass beds in a river when they are searching for minnows to eat, especially in summertime. Use a simple plastic worm on a number 1 hook as your bait. Use a light spinning rod. Cast the plastic worm upstream and let it sink to the bottom over the grass bed. As the bait moves downstream, take the slack out of your line until the fish bites. Let the bass run with the bait for about 10 feet before you set the hook.
You can also use live or natural bait to catch bass. Some favorites for bass fishing are marine worms like sandworms, bloodworms or ribbon worms. This type of bait is used on a spinning or popping rod with 15- or 20-lb. test line. Place one or two large worms on a number 2 or 4 Eagle Claw or beak-type hook. If worms are not available, you can also use small fish or crustaceans as bait.
References
- The Complete Book of Striped Bass Fishing; Nick Karas; 2000
- Practical Black Bass Fishing; Mark Sosin and Bill Dance; 1974
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