Lake Fork Guides

Bass Fishing For Beginners

As spring bass fishing begins, and really starts to heat up in many area’s, using the best bass fishing lures is of the utmost importance. In this article I will outline some of the more popular and effective bass lures for catching early spring bass, and with any luck you will catch a lake record. I think it’s important to point out that a lake record isn’t easy to catch, after all that bass didn’t become record sized by being easy to catch, but it is possible, and these bass fishing lures will help you on this quest during early spring bass fishing.

The bass fishing lures being outlined in this article are being listed in no particular order and are all effective. Remember, if you’re trying to catch a lake record any of these bass lures will work, but the biggest keys to success are practice and patience. The more time that you can spend using these lures the better. There is simply no substitute for practice and patience when it comes to bass fishing.

1. Crayfish Baits – Crayfish imitations of all kinds are effective during the spring of the year. In very slow moving to still water (such as in bays and coves) a slow moving crankbait is a very effective fishing lure. If there is a little current, soft plastic crayfish imitations are effective at catching spring bass. The key with fishing crayfish baits is to understand how a real (or live) fleeing crayfish looks in the water. A fleeing crayfish “jumps” and then swims backwards when startled. This means that your retrieve should mimic this action as much as possible.
2. Crankbaits In Crayfish Colors – Crankbaits that mimic baitfish, but that are dark red, red, and/or black/brown in color are excellent early spring bass fishing lures, especially when retrieved quickly through shallow water with a rocky bottom. Since bass like to key on crayfish during the spring a lure that is colored like a crayfish, but doesn’t necessarily look like a crayfish, can be quite effective. This is especially true as the water temperature rises.
3. Spinner Baits – As the water warms in the lake you are fishing, spinner baits will become more and more effective. Spinner baits are also an excellent way to locate feeding spring bass on a given body of water. Flooded brush is a great place to find bass in the spring of the year and a Spinnerbait fished over and through flooded brush is a very effective spring bass fishing technique. Spinner baits are great bass fishing baits at many times of the year, but the springtime seems to be especially good.

The bottom line is that these early season fishing lures will help anyone catch more bass in the springtime. Add them all to your bass fishing arsenal sooner rather than later. These baits should be a part of any serious bass fisherman’s tackle bag/box when fishing for bass, especially in the spring of the year.

Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com and an avid angler. He has more than 25 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and 15 years of business and internet experience. He currently raises his five year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country.

More Effective Bass Lures – http://www.jrwfishing.com/LargemouthBassBait.htm

What are some good tips for a long time bass angler starting to fly fish for trout?

I have been a long time tournament angler for black bass. But starting out (as of last week) fly fishing for trout, casting is ok, but it seems that is one thing that will always need improvement. Would love some tips on books, vids, what flies to use when, ect. I live in MT and have acess to great fishing, so any clues to a good beginner spot would be a plus, and let me know if you want to go fishing!

The internet is full of resources. Coming from a bass background, you may find the most similar and most forgiving set of flies to use are streamers like wooly buggers and clousers because nymphs and dries require more experience to drift without any drag. You can use a heavier tippet like 4x and tie on a lightly weighted bugger, then just work it like you would a jerk bait, jig or plastic worm – up down or across they all work. Try stripping line at different speeds or just letting the fly hang in the current when it gets below you and slowly strip it back. Use a short leader and tippet no more than 8 feet until you get comfortable. Even 6 feet can catch fish if you have trouble getting the cast down with a longer leader. Pay special attention to areas under riffles and it’s hard to go wrong. Use these in larger water if you can (2 feet deep is getting into good streamer water), then once you become more comfortable with casting a fly rod you might hook up with a fishing buddy to show you how to drift a dry fly. At that point you’ll just need to slow down your cast and watch how others fish – there is little substitute for direct observation. Nymphs are probably the most difficult because if you use an indicator you’ll get a lot more wind knots at first, and without one you really have to be familiar with presenting blind, drag-free drifts.

Bass Fishing Redneck Style!!!