How to target bigger bass? 2025
GatorDr reply :
Hey guys, I'm a new bass angler and started a few months ago. There's a lake on campus that is filled with all kinds of freshwater wildlife and for centuries it hasn't been fished by anyone but it was recently allowed for students to fish there. This might've been a good and bad thing because I don't know if I'll ever get bank fishing like this ever again in my life but every time I'm there, I catch at least one 5-6 lber and tons around *** lb. Once every few days or so I'll catch something over 8.
The only bait I've used so far is BPS stick bait, mostly wacky rigged and that's what I've caught most of my fishes on. The water is brown and ranges around 3-4 ft in most areas I fish. There is a deeper channel that I cast out to and if the water is calm enough and my wacky rig can fall, there's a good chance to hook on to a lunker. The Stick-O worm is great but I tend to lose a lot because of the constant bite. Today I went through a whole bag fishing for 3 hours, so I think I need to give in and buy the o ring tool and use those. If they're biting, the wacky rig is great but I get a mixed bag that ranges from half a pound to 10+ pounds. I know that the big ones are out there and I was wondering if there's any lures or baits that can keep me from only catching >5 lb bass. It sounds crazy to have an issue with catching too many fishes but it'd save me some money. I would appreciate any advice and tips that you guys have!
edit: just wanted to add that the colors I've had good luck on is watermelon candy (green w/ red flakes) and june bug (dark blue with blue flakes). I mentioned the water depth and color but also the bottom is sandy for the most part with little vegetation, just algae-like stuff growing on the bottom. I have a lot of luck casting near these little islands of trees.
Glaucus reply :
Bigger spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and swim jigs. Bigger jig n craw. Bigger worms. Maybe swimbaits.
GatorDr reply :
On 4/1/2019 at 9:59 AM, Glaucus said:Bigger spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and swim jigs. Bigger jig n craw. Bigger worms. Maybe swimbaits.
Do you have any recommendations on jigs or craws? I've never used them before but I'd like to start! Also I'm using a 6" stick bait, should I try the 7" ones? Will those still work wacky rigged or should I fish them weightless? Thank you!
Glaucus reply :
On 4/1/2019 at 10:05 AM, Gatordr said:Do you have any recommendations on jigs or craws? I've never used them before but I'd like to start! Also I'm using a 6" stick bait, should I try the 7" ones? Will those still work wacky rigged or should I fish them weightless? Thank you!
Just go to Walmart or a chain store like BPS or DSG and get a Strike King 1/2oz jig in a natural brown/green color and another in black and blue. Pretty cheap and will make the selection easy for you. Get a pack of Strike King Rage Craw Lobsters in the corresponding colors to your jigs and put them on as trailers.
I'd get a pack of worms around 10 inches long. Maybe a pack of Zoom Ol Monster worms with the lightest bullet weight you can get away with.
Angry John reply :
Get a large wake bait or buzz bait. Even the smaller strikes will be more exciting. A slammer or a 316 or mattlures wake are all good choices.
Glaucus reply :
130 size Whopper Plopper would put on a topwater show too. That may have never seen one by the sounds of it.
GatorDr reply :
On 4/1/2019 at 10:50 AM, Glaucus said:130 size Whopper Plopper would put on a topwater show too. That may have never seen one by the sounds of it.
On 4/1/2019 at 10:44 AM, Angry John said:Get a large wake bait or buzz bait. Even the smaller strikes will be more exciting. A slammer or a 316 or mattlures wake are all good choices.
I forgot to mention this but alligators are a huge concern so I try to avoid topwater and even spinner baits sometimes brings a lot of attention. Today I had a 5' gator try to sneak up on me while I was reeling in my worm
Glaucus reply :
On 4/1/2019 at 11:00 AM, GatorDr said:
I forgot to mention this but alligators are a huge concern so I try to avoid topwater and even spinner baits sometimes brings a lot of attention. Today I had a 5' gator try to sneak up on me while I was reeling in my worm
Eh seems to be a common problem. I watch gators try to get Roland Martin's lures on YouTube all the time.
Hower08 reply :
Fish a 12" worm. Not saying you won't still catch dinks but your bites will be slightly bigger on average. Going up to a 7" bait isn't going to make a difference in small fish biting
scaleface reply :
I say dont eat and use that money to buy more sticko's .
NittyGrittyBoy reply :
Ok, timeout. Bigger baits do not mean bigger bass. Let's clear up that misconception
Drew03cmc reply :
Do you have pics? I'm asking because I find the numbers of big fish you're claiming to be a little unreasonable from a campus pond that is undoubtedly no larger than 5 acres.
With that said, I've caught my biggest on a chatterbait, 7" Triple Trout and several when younger on a 1/4oz Terminator T1 spinnerbait.
GatorDr reply :
On 4/1/2019 at 8:18 PM, Drew03cmc said:Do you have pics? I'm asking because I find the numbers of big fish you're claiming to be a little unreasonable from a campus pond that is undoubtedly no larger than 5 acres.
With that said, I've caught my biggest on a chatterbait, 7" Triple Trout and several when younger on a 1/4oz Terminator T1 spinnerbait.
It’s a 120+ acre lake so a bit bigger than a usual pond. The school also does a lot of research on the fishes in the lake, a lot are tagged. I can’t upload pics on my phone for some reason though, it says the files are too big. Here's a link to photos https://imgur.com/a/S1GSlWQ
On 4/1/2019 at 8:01 PM, NittyGrittyBoy said:Ok, timeout. Bigger baits do not mean bigger bass. Let's clear up that misconception
Well thank you for clearing that up, I didn’t know that. It seems like it would make sense lol
NittyGrittyBoy reply :
Drew03cmc reply :
On 4/1/2019 at 8:45 PM, GatorDr said:It’s a 120+ acre lake so a bit bigger than a usual pond. The school also does a lot of research on the fishes in the lake, a lot are tagged. I can’t upload pics on my phone for some reason though, it says the files are too big. Here's a link to photos https://imgur.com/a/S1GSlWQ
Well thank you for clearing that up, I didn’t know that. It seems like it would make sense lol
Looks like a fun spot man! Place has some pigs. If finesse is working, keep at it.
Glaucus reply :
On 4/1/2019 at 8:01 PM, NittyGrittyBoy said:Ok, timeout. Bigger baits do not mean bigger bass. Let's clear up that misconception
Small bass will hit big lures and big bass will hit small lures, sure. We're talking about specifically targeting big bass; doing that, increase your lure size. You're looking for those couple of bites rather than numbers. Try telling big swimbait fishermen who fish all day looking for that one bite that big lures don't mean big bass.
Drew03cmc reply :
On 4/1/2019 at 7:34 PM, scaleface said:I say dont eat and use that money to buy more sticko's .
Stik-os are on sale for $2.97 now.
ratherbfishin1 reply :
On 4/2/2019 at 2:54 AM, Drew03cmc said:Stik-os are on sale for $2.97 now.
Or you can buy the 200-something piece kit from Bass Pro for like $25
thinkingredneck reply :
There are some good articles on fishing for bigger bass on this site.
Fishingmickey reply :
Do you wonder about how many sticko-s that you've lost have gotten eaten by other bass?
GatorDr reply :
On 4/2/2019 at 3:16 AM, Fishingmickey said:Do you wonder about how many sticko-s that you've lost have gotten eaten by other bass?
Yesterday I saw that happened quite a few times. Worm flew off on a cast and a bass hit it as it sunk
NittyGrittyBoy reply :
On 4/2/2019 at 1:48 AM, Glaucus said:
Edited by NittyGrittyBoy
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J Francho reply :
I can assure you from experience, not too many sub 3 lb. bass will attack large profile, 9" swimbait. That might not sound like "big" considering the OP's claims, but they do help you locate and catch the largest fish around. It does actually select for bigger fish. I find that jig fish are often bigger, but those of us that have success with a jig are usually structure driven anglers. I've said this before, my PB NY state bass is 7-2 caught on a 10# Powerworm. My second largest, a 7-1, came on a 3/32 oz. wacky jig and 3.5" worm. Go figure.
EGbassing reply :
Fish right now. In Alabama right now the big ones are all in shallow cover and they'll smack whatever you throw in them.
WRB reply :
As long as you estimate the weight of the bass is as big as your imagination, accurate scale tends to shrink bass.
Tom
GatorDr reply :
On 4/2/2019 at 4:02 AM, WRB said:As long as you estimate the weight of the bass is ss big as your imagination, accurate scale tends to shrink bass.
Tom
I'll do a better job next time at documenting my catches with more specifics measurements and report back! I guess it does sound crazy but I have no reason to lie lol. It's a conservation area that is well monitored and nurtured by the university. During the weekly surveys researchers do, multiple 9-10 lb are caught and occasionally I've seen some over 13. These are electrofished, weighed, sometimes tagged or have certain tests are done on them so there's no imagination involved there.
Glaucus reply :
On 4/2/2019 at 3:49 AM, NittyGrittyBoy said:Did you learn that on YouTube?
I learn a lot from watching better anglers than myself on YouTube. I also learn a lot from this forum, social media, and time spent on the water. Is the video evidence method of learning a problem?
NittyGrittyBoy reply :
Nothing wrong with it at all, in fact I watch a lot of videos, read alot of articles, spend free time on here. I didn't mean it as insult or for you to keep it as one, my apologies.
I went back and read it, in context of other posts around it, and it definitely could be took wrong. I do agree with you, using bigger DOES eliminate majority of smaller bites.
I just didn't want the misconception that only bigger baits catch big bass. All baits have the potential of catching a big bass. It's right location, right time, right fish.
And again, I apologise if the post was taken wrong. I was typing it with a lol in my mind!
Glaucus reply :
On 4/2/2019 at 5:01 AM, NittyGrittyBoy said:Nothing wrong with it at all, in fact I watch a lot of videos, read alot of articles, spend free time on here. I didn't mean it as insult or for you to keep it as one, my apologies.
I went back and read it, in context of other posts around it, and it definitely could be took wrong. I do agree with you, using bigger DOES eliminate majority of smaller bites.
I just didn't want the misconception that only bigger baits catch big bass. All baits have the potential of catching a big bass. It's right location, right time, right fish.
And again, I apologise if the post was taken wrong. I was typing it with a lol in my mind!
It's all good. We're all on the same team.
My PB LMB was caught on a 3/16oz spinnerbait and my PB SMB was caught on a Ned Rig. Funny things happen. In the context of the OP I was definitely talking about targeting bigger bass and trying to eliminate smaller bass.
MountainMan83 reply :
You look like you're doing alright on those stick baits.
The first thing that came to mind is the monster reel N shad. I got two packs of these last year and must not have read the description, they're huuge. I was looking for a bigger style fluke because, who doesn't like throwing a fluke. I just haven't been to the right lake to fish these, but no doubt they should attract some big gal attention if the mood strikes. Mods please delete if the video is not allowed.
bh91 reply :
Harold Scoggins reply :
When I catch some of these in the creek behind the house, I'm going hawg hunting. (Video still by Greg Blanchard)
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