bass fishing

[balapickerel]

well well, it's been 13 months since i last caught a bass, and now, with just a little over a month left till bass opens up in zone 16, it's time for me to ask what would be the best lures to use on bass, seeing as i only have lures suitable for pike, muskie walleye and small trout, i'm fairly new to bass, but i will be mostly targetting fish from shore at lake wilcox and bala, so if there are any pros in those areas, your help is needed

thanks in advance, Will

 

[frozenfire]

bass eat everything.
whatever you have been using for pike and walleye will also work for bass.

some good stuff to have in your tackle box for bass:
plastic worms, grubs, lizards, etc.
poppers, xraps, shad raps, etc.
bass jigs
spinnerbaits... buzzbaits
for smallmouth, you may try crayfish imitations...cranks, tubes, etc. can't go wrong
the list goes on. so many different ways and presentations....
depends on body of water, depth you're fishing, structure...

since you're fishing from shore, access is limited, i suggest you go in search of new undiscovered bodies of water that may hold bass.
wilcox is heavily pressured...especially from shore.

 

[balapickerel]

i know that lake wilcox is heavily pressured, but it is a five minute bike ride from my house, so it's convenient, there is also another pond near my house that i've done some non-official reports on that might have some bowfin in it, and 20 metres from that, there is a creek full of brook trout, so really it's just a matter of time before i figure out how to catch in all of these places, but thanks anyway for the help!

 

[ec1]

Live bait is also a good choice if you don't mind the rehooking!
I've yet to have gotten a bala bass to hit a crankbait though.

 

[frozenfire]

Remember...it is the 4th saturday in june...the 27th to be exact...
don't want your report to be locked due to illegal out of season fishing like your last report :mrgreen:

There should be many small ponds in your area that you can try within biking distance.
If you have a small watercraft, you will have success at wilcox... if you had report access, you'll know that a member has gone out in float tube and has done well at wilcox

 

[balapickerel]

well ya... sry about that last report, i don't even remeber what i said in it :mrgreen: whatever, yeah i have a canoe that we've taking from the cottage so we can recanvass and paint it, after that i'll try to take it out on lake wilcox, then i'll see what i can catch, and don't worry, i have a printed copy of the regs in my tacklebox at all times now! but it'll still be about seven weeks before the canvass on the canoe has cured, so it's a looong wait before i'll ba catching good fish there

 

[diggyj]

My top baits for BASS are as follows:

Slammers when drop-shotting
Senkos for Texas Rigging Weightless 4" or 5"
Coffee Tubes or Mizmo Tubes
Strike King Crankbaits in series 1, 1XS, 4S
Reaction Innovation Beavers
Berkley Chigger Craws
Topwater baits like a Skitter Pop, Zara Spook, Tiny Torpedo, Hula Popper, Jitterbug.
Yum Frogs

Dirk.......

 

[balapickerel]

thanks Dirk, very precise, what type of structure do you fish with these baits?

 

[diggyj]

On Rice Lake it's:

heavy weedbeds - everywhere on RICE, weedlines - everywhere on RICE, rocks - sunken railroad tracks, sunken and submerged trees - a few spots around some shoreline and some islands, lillypads - few spots around some islands, docks - just about anything, tubes, senkos, chigger craws, cranks, beavers.

The thicker the weeds, the better. Great for rigging weedless Tubes, Texas rigging senkos, dunking holes with slammers on the drop-shot, cranking outside weedlines or around rock walls. The frogs rigged weedless in the lillypads. I don't have much luck using spinners so I tend not to use them a lot of the time.

Dirk.....

 

[balapickerel]

thanks, most of those areas can be found on the moon river, so i'll have some exploring to do

 

[efka]

well well, it's been 13 months since i last caught a bass...

that makes it april, but i hope you ment rock bass... but we'll leave it like this....

it's time for me to ask what would be the best lures to use on bass,

what happened to yout cotton balls ? write-off ?


anyways good luck, but bass is too easy to catch once you find it, but thats another topic.

 

[balapickerel]

lol, i meant 11 months, sorry, i'm brain dead by this time of year, just waiting till school is over :mrgreen:
and thanks for reminding me about the cotton balls, those are great fun...

 

[reefrunner]

Hey Bala,

Alot of good options here, but seeing as you'll be fishing from shore, I would recommend a Senko type bait as that is my "go-to" when fishing the situation. Personally, when fishing from shore, I use YUM DINGERS (more durable than Yamamoto senko IMO) usually 4 or 5 inch rigged weightless and texaposed. Basically, I tie a No. 2 or 3 "J" bass hook (the one with two 90degree angles from the eye) with a good palomar knot straight to my braid, for sensitivity. Rig the worm by piercing the tip with your hook point, exit the body of the work about a half inch down, run the attached halfinch up to the eye so the first 90degree exits the body, then rig the body of the worm halfway through piercing the worm just under the skin so its weedless. I like natural coulors ie, greens, browns, maybe a little silver flake to them. I thought I had a pic of how it is set up but it seems like I dont, sorry.

By the time Bass season rolls around the shorline weeds should be growing in and the bass love to hide in the stuff and ambush prey. Cast to edges first and then drop into the weed bed itself. Dont worry about torn and lost senkos on small nibbles, it happens ALOT, I've succesfully used small leftover pieces for bass and even the odd panfish. Here is a pic of a largie I caught fishing from shore last labour day weekend on the exact method I describe above. Caught maybe 12 that day, this being my largest of the outing, hahaha...mid day too.

Hope this helps, Good luck!

reefrunner

 

[balapickerel]

thanks! sounds great!

 

[disspatcher]

Smallies love picking up Senkos on the gravel/rocky Bottom too!
Pic of my pals personal best from last season.....

 

[diggyj]

SENKO's are often imitaded, but never duplicated.

It like the same for most things in todays society. You can pay for the real thing, or you can buy the similar knock offs for less money, bottom line the results just are the same.

Dirk

 

[David Kearney]

are or arn`t??

 

[diggyj]

aren't.......typing error..

Dirk

 

[David Kearney]

me too, typing error...lol!

 

[MCTFisher]

Soft Plastics. Throw some jig's and topwaters, even during the day these bait's get the bass going at that time of year.