Bass Fishing Tips from the Pros
Bass tournament pros know it is all about lure selection. Different waters and varying conditions require in depth knowledge of a wide range a lures and Bass feeding habits. Here are some of their inside tips for tournament success.
Pro Derek Yamamoto
To improve your success when fishing bass jigs, Yamaha Outboards Pro Doug Garrett recommends that you learn how the bait feels as it moves.
“This may sound funny,” he says, “but a lot of times, my strikes on a jig feel like nothing. If you know what the jig feels like as you fish it, then you suddenly lose contact with it, it’s generally a strike and you need to set the hook.
“Any time you’re fishing a jig and something about the feel changes, you should set the hook,” he continues. “You might hang up more than usual because you’ll probably be setting the hook more than you usually do. But you’ll also start catching more bass.”
Pro Eric Holtz
When you decide to fish a deep-diving crankbait this season, Yamaha Outboards Pro Eric Holts says you need to tighten up and get heavy.
“I like to fish deep-diving baits like DB22s and deep-diving Fat Free Shads with my drag tightened all the way down,” he explains. And I use a heavy rod, like the Falcon Expert Series 7-foot rod with a medium-heavy action.
“The tight drag helps me get a better hook set,” Holt says. “Once I’ve hooked the fish, I back the drag off and depend on the rod to fight the fish. If you try these tricks, I believe you’ll get better hook sets and land more fish when using deep-diving crankbaits.”
Pro Danny Correia
Many bass anglers think top water baits are lures that have to kept in motion. Yamaha Outboards Pro Danny Correia says that’s not always true.
“Over the past year,” he explains, “I’ve learned that when you fish over vegetation, you can slow the bait down a lot and get more strikes.
“I’ll use a Zara Spook or a Bass Giant Dog X, and I’ll fish it much slower than I do over a stone or gravel bottom … almost to a stop,” Correia says. “That presentation works a lot better for me over vegetation.”
Pro Alton Jones
Anglers who try for trophy bass in the spring already know that lipless crankbaits are killer when fished over the tops of weed beds. Yamaha Outboards Pro Alton Jones uses another trick to take the big ones on these kinds of lures.
“The Cordell Hotspot is one of my favorite spring lures,” he says, “but I fish it a little differently.
“I throw it into grass in about 5 feet of water, and I let it sink all the way to the bottom. Then,” he continues, “I rip it up out of the weeds and let it fall back on a slack line. Bass hit it on the fall, and I catch some real hogs with this technique. You can, too.”
Pro Carroll Hagood
If you fish bass on spawning beds, Yamaha Outboards Pro Carroll Hagood suggests that you really look around every bed you spy.
“The biggest bass are generally laying a few feet off the beds,” he explains. “When I’m sight fishing like this and I locate a bed, I take the time to really look around the edges of the bed.
“It’s imperative that you use a good pair of sunglasses like the Lure Eyes that I use,” Hagood adds. “You have to work at seeing these bigger fish, but you can do it … and you can catch them. You don’t have to just settle for the smaller bass that are right on the bed.”
Pro Dean Rojas
When it comes to regular success in tournament fishing, B.A.S.S. record-holder and Yamaha Outboards Pro Dean Rojas says that courtesy and common sense play big roles.
“They go a long way in this sport,” he suggests. “If you find yourself in an area that has several boats, it’s always nice to let everyone fish the area.
“The general rule is that if you get there first, it’s your area to fish,” Rojas adds. “But if you show up on the second or third day of a long tournament and other boats are already there, they usually will chase you out.
“You really don’t want to be fishing the area if you didn’t get there first,” he continues. “Displaying the kind of sportsmanship in just moving on is a key to success in a lot of tournaments.”
Pro Eric Holtz
In the fall, you can start catching bass in a hurry by finding the shad first.
“Bass are going to relate to the shad in the fall,” says Yamaha Outboards Pro Eric Holt. As soon as you find shad, you’re going to find bass right there with them.
Holt suggests you begin your search in the back halves of major reservoir feeder creeks. “I move through these areas until I locate the shad,” he explains. “When I find them, I pick up a spinnerbait with tandem willow leaf blades. Slow-roll a bait like this through those schools of shad, and you’re going to catch a lot of bass in the fall.”
Pro Frank Scalish
When bass are deep, Yamaha Outboards Pro Frank Scalish says you literally can spoon-feed them!
“Deep-water spoon fishing is an outstanding open-water technique,” he says. “I recommend a 3/4-ounce CC spoon, and I fish mine using 17-pound Super Silver Thread line on a 7-foot medium-heavy rod. This rig gives me the backbone I need for good hook sets.”
“What I like about this technique is that if you can see bass in deep water on your locator, you can catch them with a spoon,” he adds. “And the 3/4-ounce spoon is important because it will crash down on the bottom and make a lot of commotion, which is important.”
Pro Danny Correia
Although they look pretty similar, Carolina and drop-shot rigs are very different when it comes to presentation. The key word with a drop shot is slow, says Yamaha Outboards Pro Danny Correia.
“I drop-shot when the fish are holding really tight to cover, when they’re tough to catch,” he says. “To catch more bass when you’re drop-shotting, you have to slow way down when you find structure.”
“Let the rod tip and line tell you when you bump into a rock or stick or stump,” he adds. “Then, slow down and work that piece of cover. If you really make a slow presentation to the fish in that structure, you’ll catch more of them on a drop-shot rig.”
Pro Bud Pruit
If you like to flip for bass in heavy cover, you don’t have to wear yourself out using a heavy rod that feels like a telephone pole in your hands.
“Castaway Rods helped me build a lighter flippin’ stick,” explains Yamaha Outboards Pro Bud Pruitt. It’s a 7 1/2-foot rod, and it’s much lighter than traditional rods for this presentation.
“If you switch to a long, lighter flippin’ stick like this one, you’ll start having a lot more fun on the water.
“You can use the rig all day without getting tired,” he adds, “but you’ll still have all the leverage you need to pull bass out of grass, reeds and brush.”
Pro Brent Chapman
When Yamaha Outboards Pro Brent Chapman goes looking for fish, he doesn’t focus on cover.
“Any angler can find fish more quickly and more often by focusing on structure,” Chapman says.
“The most important element to locating the fish is finding the structure they’re relating to in a given lake,” he explains. “One you find the structure, you can focus on the available cover in those areas.”
You’ll be more precise in your fishing this way,” Chapman says, “and you’ll begin locating fish – and catching them – faster.”
Pro Clark Wendlandt
To catch more bass this summer, try starting out early in the morning with top water baits.
“I’ll throw a buzz bait or a chug bug, and just cover some water early,” says Yamaha Outboards Pro Clark Wendlandt. “A lot of times, you’ll catch a keeper or maybe a nice kicker, and that’s really what you want.
“You’re probably going to have to fish deeper structure later on, when things heat up and the sun climbs high,” Wendlandt explains. “So start your day early and fish on top. It’s a good way to catch more fish.”
Pro Danny Correia
To improve your success on every fishing trip, Yamaha Outboards Pro Danny Correia suggests you start paying more attention to the fish.
“Don’t go out there and dictate to the fish how they’re going to be caught,” he says. “Many people want to catch them on a spinner bait, for example, so they work really hard to make the fish bite the spinner bait when they could be catching more fish right off by using another lure.
“Instead of doing that,” he adds, “I know you’ll start catching more bass by trying different baits and different presentations. Let the fish tell you how they want to be caught.”
Pro Carroll Hagood
If you bass fish a lake with docks, Yamaha Outboards Pro Carroll Hagood says you might not want all of your crankbaits to run true.
“I will bend the line eye of one crankbait to the right when the lure when it’s facing me,” he explains, “then bend the line eye of an identical crankbait to the left when it’s facing me. This causes the lures to run to the right and left, respectively.
“As I fish around a dock,” he continues, “I can use those lures to literally fish up under the dock and around the posts it’s sitting on. When bass are holding tight to the dock, these lures often will get into their strike zones more effectively.”
Pro Brent Chapman
If you like fishing crankbaits, jerk baits and top water lures, Yamaha Outboards Pro Brent Chapman says split rings can become an important key to improving your catch rate.
“I add an extra split ring between the bait and each hook, Chapman explains. “When a fish bites and you set the hook, those split rings allow the bait to move a lot more freely, and that keeps the fish from gaining leverage.
“When a fish gets that leverage,” he adds, “it can throw the hook. So add some split rings to your favorite baits, and you’ll end up keeping more fish hooked on every trip.”
Pro Clark Wendlandt
If you follow the baitfish up creeks in the fall, you’ll start catching more bass more often.
“Shad are usually migrating toward the backs of creeks in the fall,” says Yamaha Outboards Pro Clark Wendlandt, “so I really try to concentrate on the creeks.
“I like a No. 5 Rapala Fat Rap because it’s an excellent shad imitation. I find a creek channel and fish that bait up toward the back of the creek.”
Wendlandt says he’ll also use top water lures in the backs of those creeks because fall bass hit them aggressively.
Pro Brent Chapman
If you fish clear water and like to use spinnerbaits and buzz baits, Yamaha Outboards Pro Brent Chapman has a way you can catch more bass on every trip.
“I have found that, if I thin the skirts on my baits out by folding 5-10 strands, I get a lot better action.
“This is a great trick to use when the bite slows down,” Chapman adds. “If you try it, I believe you’ll have a lot better success, especially in clear water.”
Pro Carroll Hagood
Yamaha Outboards Pro Carroll Hagood knows that size does matter when it comes to bass baits. And he’s learned that bigger isn’t always best.
“Even in Florida where big baits are extremely popular,” he explains, “I’ll go down in size when fishing conditions are tough.”
Hagood is quick to note that he doesn’t reserve the tactic to tough days “I like to use a big worm,” he says. “But even when that’s working, I’ll go down in size to try something different. If you don’t limit your options, you’ll catch more bass on every trip.”
