Artificial Bass Lures and How to Use Them
For over 22 years I have enjoyed the sport of bass fishing catch-and-release and reading numerous articles about bass in Field and Stream, Bass Masters, Texas Fish and Game, and numerous other magazines and articles.
By Joseph W. Perrault
Posted Friday, July 22, 2005
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When Rex asked me to go bass fishing, I thought that it meant that we were just going out to catch fish and some of them would be bass. When he told me that we would go in his boat the next morning, I asked him if I needed to pick up any supplies, and he said, "That is up to you, but I have plenty." The next day he supplied me with a rod that had, what he called a ¼ oz. hair jig attached to the end of the line. Then he opened up his tackle box as three trays extended a menagerie of different baits called lures. Having never seen so many different kinds of lures, I asked him what he was putting on his line, and he said, "a 5/16oz. Worm, Texas rig."
I asked him, "How do you fish this hair jig?" He said, "You just cast it out and reel it back in with a pumping action or steady retrieve. However, make sure that it doesn't hit the bottom because you will hang up." Throughout the day he tied on one lure after another leaving me with only questions about what he was doing and why he was doing it. By the end of the day, he caught 9 bass to my 1. Since I enjoyed bass fishing so much, I decided to buy myself a few lures that would catch fish and that would be the end of it. He advised me that Academy or Walmart was a good place to look.
The next day I went down to Academy's fishing section. Academy had lures for salt water and freshwater. There were three 40 ft. isles with literally thousands and thousands of artificial lures devoted to freshwater bass. I was mesmerized with all the different fishing lures, and I wasn't interested in buying just any bait. I was interested in buying that one bait that will always catch fish. With so many different lures to choose from, I had no idea what to buy. This started my learning experience. For over 22 years I have enjoyed the sport of bass fishing catch-and-release and reading numerous articles about bass in Field and Stream, Bass Masters, Texas Fish and Game, and numerous other magazines and articles. Through these readings and bass fishing experience, I've narrowed the field down to which lures work best and under what conditions. I've found that artificial bass lures are broken down by color, size, and type.
Since bass have rods and cones in their eyes just like we do, they see in color. Their lures come in an array of colors. However, I feel that the colors that work best are natural colors. These colors are found in their natural environment. It is contingent upon what a particular water supply contains for a bass's food source. Examples are: Worms are tan in color, Perch are a conglomeration of chartreuse, orange, green, black, and yellow, while Crayfish are brown, green, and red depending on the time of year, and insects are mostly black or brown. Colors that are bright work well in muddy water conditions.
The size of the bait depends on the size of the fish. If you are fishing in a lake that has a lake record bass of six pounds, then continually throwing large baits won't catch much. You need to scale down your approach. Conversely, when fishing in a lake where the record bass is 15 lbs., you need to scale up your approach. In the spring you need to match the hatch by scaling down and throwing smaller lures. It is the time of year when large bass feed upon hatchlings.
Bass can be found at different water depths. Since bass need oxygen to survive, the bass usually go where the richest source of oxygen is throughout the day. I have found that the hotter it gets the less oxygen there is in shallower water. Therefore, bass tend to move deeper as the day moves on. Also, bass seem to prefer water temperatures between 72 and 76 degrees. However, you can catch bass in shallow water when it's hot, but usually the smaller ones. Larger bass need more oxygen and prefer deeper water. Artificial lures/baits come in different types depending on the action and depth you want to fish. Some types of artificial lures are: jigs, worms, crank baits, spoons, rattle traps, spinner baits, and top water baits.
Jigs are either fished with or without a weed guard. Jigs with weed guards are usually fished on the bottom. These types of baits usually represent a crayfish. They are fished in a stop and pull retrieve, with the pauses long or short, depending on the action the bass are looking for that particular day. The size weight you use depends on how deep you want to fish it. The weights range mostly from 1/8th oz. to 1&1/2oz. Whether or not you use a weed guard depends on the action you're looking for and the weed conditions. If you are interested in fishing a jig off the bottom, a jig without a weed guard would work best depending on the vegetation. These jigs are fished in a pumping fashion. Raise your rod to an 11o'clock position and lower towards the water while taking up the slack. Then you repeat this procedure until your lure is retrieved. The speed is usually slow, but not so slow as to hang up on the bottom if you're fishing a weedless jig. However, if you're fishing a jig with a weed guard, use the same action but keep your bait on the bottom. This jig is less susceptible to hanging up. Fish usually strike weedless jigs when stopped and jigs without weed guards when steadily reeling in or stopping the lure.
Worms can be fished in a variety of different ways: When fishing a Texas rig style, the slip sinker is at the head of the worm. This lure is slow fished on the bottom with a pumping action. The depth is affected by weight and diameter of test line. It is usually fished in up to 10 feet of water. A wacky rig is fished with little or no weight hooked twice through the middle of the worm making a "U" shape. This style is slow fished on the surface or just below the surface of the water. Carolina rigs have the sliding weight attached 6 to 10 inches up from the hook. This style is usually used in deep water conditions from 10 to 30 feet. However, you can use this style in shallow water conditions as well. Worms vary in different lengths depending on the fishing conditions. Their lengths are from 4 to 10 inches. Fish usually strike worms when the bait is stopped.
Crank bait depth is determined by line diameter and the length of their bill located at the nose. The longer the bill the deeper the lure can go. Inversely, the shorter the bill, the shallower it can go. Crank baits float up slowly from the area of depth they are pulled down to or suspend. If they suspend, they are called suspending crank baits and are so labeled on their package when you buy them. Large ¾ oz. crank baits can be pulled down to depths from 2 to 18 ft. depending on the bill length. Medium ½ oz. crank baits can be pulled down to depths from 2 ft. to 14 ft. And Small ¼ oz. crank baits can be pulled down to depths from 1ft. to 10 ft. This bait is fished by reeling, stopping, reeling, stopping, etc. The strike usually occurs when the bait is stopped.
Spoons usually come in three colors silver, bronze, or gold and in a variety of weights from 1/8 to 1½oz. This lure is usually vertically fished, jigging it just off the bottom. However, you can jig them at various depths. These baits are usually fished at depths from 20 to 50 ft. Line diameter and weight affects your depth. You can get them with or without a weed guard. However, if you get them without a weed guard, you stand the chance of losing your lure by hanging up on the bottom. The fish strike usually occurs when your lure is stopped.
Rattle traps are hard baits which don't have a bill on the end of them. You can fish them with a slow or fast steady retrieve. The depth fished depends on weight, retrieve speed, or line size. Their weights usually range from 1/8 to 3/4oz.
Spinner baits are fished with a slow or fast steady retrieve. Their depth is contingent on their speed of retrieve, weight, and line size. This weedless lure is fished best just above the vegetation. Spinner baits range in sizes from 1/8 to 3/4oz.
Top water hard baits are fished on top of the water. You give the bait a short twitch and stop, twitch, stop, etc. If a strike does not occur, you move the lure to another area and do the same thing again. When the bait is stopped, the fish strike explodes on top of the water. This will make your heart pound with excitement because you see the strike. After you see the strike, wait about 2 seconds then set the hook. If you get too anxious to set the hook after the initial strike, you will pull the lure out of its mouth.
Even though I've bass fished for 22 years, I still love it just as much if not more than that first day with my friend. When we go out in the boat, he occasionally looks over at me and says, "It's show and tell time." He then pulls out a new lure that he bought the past week from the store and "shows and tells" about his new lure with an excited face. We still go out into his boat, or sometimes we take my boat. He still has a three tray tackle box only a larger one. When I look into his tackle box, I am no longer mesmerized at what I see.
Going into a Cabella's, Walmart, or Academy, I am no longer overwhelmed with all the different fishing lures because I have a better understanding of how they work. Every now and then I see a new lure. I look at it and determine whether this lure is designed to catch fish or catch me. I look forward to what the future of bass fishing will hold. My friend and I will grow old together doing what we love, and there will forever be that "Show and Tell" time for us.
Article courtesy of Joseph W. Perrault a Texas School Teacher
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