Ten Things I Learned Bass Fishing This Year

①.  Sight Fishing Does Exist - You hear a lot about sight fishing but you don’t really believe you can catch a bass that you are looking at until you actually do it.  The trick is that not all fish that are up on their beds are going to bite.  So, if they won’t bite by the fifth cast or flip move on and find one that will.  Some fish are so aggressive up on the beds that you can catch the same one more than once.

②.  There Is A Frog Bite – There is nothing more exhilarating in any sport than watching a fish come up and take something off the surface (I think that is why I love fishing dry flies).  For me, there were two frog bites; one just after the fish moved off their beds and then later in the summer when the weather has warmed and there’s frogs and bugs everywhere.

③.  Paddle Tail vs. Skirted – The paddle tail frog got way more bites this year than a skirted frog.  I caught a few during the first frog bite that I noted above but as the season progressed they wanted the disturbance and “plopping” sound of the paddle tail frog.

④.  Rain + Cloudy Water = Worm Bite – I learned that when it rains and washes all that food into the ponds and lakes that the bass want a worm or a creature bait.  You can throw out the spinner baits, the top water frogs, Jigs, and the swim baits.  But your arm will just get tired reeling them back in without a fish on the end of your line.  I kind of knew this one from fly fishing small creeks but this bass season re enforced the concept.

⑤.  Clear Water and Spinners – I think that a spinner bait and buzz bait might be my favorite way to fish and when the water is clear these baits have been most effective.  I’m certain that the fish can feel the vibration in cloudy water but in clear water they can feel that and see the flash and the throbbing skirt. 

⑥.  Bait Casters Make Me Happy – I had a bait caster 25 years ago and was less than impressed and unable to master it.  This off season I ordered another outfit and vowed to give it another go.  I love it!  And actually prefer to fish with my bait caster over my spinning outfit.  Through spool design and breaking the ease of use is now incredible compared to what it was a quarter century ago.  Now anybody can enjoy the power, accuracy, and line pick up of a bait caster. 

⑦.  Don’t Bounce The Bait - Bait casters have come a long way but you still have to abide by the rules of physics.  If you hit the ground with the bait in the process of casting and abruptly stop the spool, you will get a backlash.  

⑧.  Small Ponds Hold Bass – The majority of my bass fishing this year has been on a small pond in the middle of my neighborhood.   The pond sure doesn’t look like much but it holds some pretty nice bass and a lot of them.  Don’t overlook those little bodies of water.

⑨.  I Like The Gap – Not the trendy clothing store but wide gap worm hooks.  I prefer the wide gap worm hook for all my soft plastics.  Traditional worm hooks tend to back out of the plastic and make it hard to maintain a good skin hook and weed-less presentation when Texas rigged. 

⑩.  Counterbalance – Bass fishing has been a nice counterbalance to my decade plus long obsession with fly rods and trout fishing.  It has kind of been the Ying to the Yang of trout fishing.  The big rods, line, and baits balancing out the delicate rods, leaders, flies, and presentations of trout fishing.