Fishing Q&A - Fishing help!! freshwater bass fishing! what to use as bait??

Fishing help!! freshwater bass fishing! what to use as bait??

hi, im from RI and i was wondering if someone could help me, i was wondering what type of bait to use if im fishing in a medium sized pond for mostly bass and i think some trout.....thanks!!!!

Public Comments

You have many options that have a proven track record. Take some live worms, plastic worms, and if you don't already own one try a Jitterbug "popping lure". I have also had some luck in Texas with spinnerbaits with various skirts hanging off of them. My High School friends and I once caught about 35 trophy sized bass (there were just three of us) just using the Jitterbug in a Michigan lake. Until we got tossed off a lady's private property, we were on the verge of a record setting adventure. Good luck, and if you aren't planning on eating them, please release them safely for another day.
Rubber worms. The best I have ever used is the natural color Bass Stopper brand. It's cheap and almost like cheating. I catch stuff all the time with that lure. A big hook with a big gob of nightcrawlers is good too. Also some crank baits work very well. Storm Hot&Tot are actually very good at reeling in big bass.
Plastic worms, spinnerbait, crankbait, and once the water has warmed (late spring) Buzzbait and frog baits work well.
Each kind of lure has certain times and places in which it is most effective. Careful bass fishermen, those who think about what they are doing and why, know that they can use the lures in their tackle boxes to work for them and that each one has an optimum range of service. Some lures work deep and some stay on the surface; some baits should be retrieved slowly and others should be burned along. So when the fish are deep, don't (in most cases) go with a surface lure. And when the bass are lethargic, don't make them chase a speeding bait. COLOR: As each lure has a job to do, each color has a purpose, too. While some research indicates fish respond better to some colors than to others and that water clarity has a lot to do with what color lure might work best, it ia beyond the realm of most fishermen to obtain a device that indicates the best hues to use. So stick with crawfish colored lures when working close to the bottom around rocks, stumps, and willows. Use a fish colored bait, such as one painted chrome or silver or gold or like a shad, when working around deep points or around schooling baitfish. Try bright colors such as hot pink or chartreuse when the water is stained to the point that visibility is less than 18 inches. But chartreuse also works well in water that is fairly clear, and it is an excellent choice in spinnerbait skirts. Some bass anglers prefer chartreuse spinnerbaits around weed beds (and many like black there), while others go with white shirted lures around wood structure. SPINNERBAITS: These are the most versatile of bass lures. They can be worked deep or shallow, slow or fast and in a number of motions. They are generally snagless, which makes them a top choice around weeds and submerged trees and willows. Use spinnerbaits generally this way: Try the inline models only in fairly open water, although they can fished among rocks with only a slight chance of snagging. Stick with the safety pin spinnerbaits around trees, willows, weeds, of all varieties, boat docks, stumps, flats, and long tapering points. A spinnerbait is one of the absolute best baits to use if the water is very dirty, especially in the summer and spring. The blades on the lures send out a lot of vibration as they rotate through the water and the action gives fish something to key on as they seek the disturbance in muddy water. Try a big cupped Colorado style blade when you seek to make the most underwater noise. On the other hand, when vibration isn't too important but plenty of flash is, try a willow leaf blade. The most popular sizes of willow leaf blades are No.4 to No.8. Since you'll be fishing a spinnerbait mostly around heavy cover such as weeds and wood, be sure to knock the lure into the cover regularly. That is, bump a stump or tree trunk with the lure and then let it settle a foot or so. Strikes from ambushing bass often will occur just after a spinnerbait hits a piece of wood then tumbles down. Too, you can slither the lure over snags that are out of the water and let the lure slip quietly into the water below the tangles to sneak up on lurking bass. Spinnerbaits and crankbaits are generally used to cover water quickly. Generally use a spinnerbait if the water is shallow and a crankbait if the water is deep. CRANKBAITS: Crankbaits are especially productive on active bass that are willing to run down a meal. When the crankbaits are working to their potential, they are digging their big plastic bills into the sand, gravel or rocks on the bottom, deflecting themselves off objects and bouncing tantalizingly in front of hungry bass. They should be used when you want to quickly prospect for bass along an underwater hump or reef, down a steep or tapering point, along the sides of a road bed or around a launch ramp. Some expert bass fishermen use crankbaits in heavy cover such as trees and stumps, but those are places where a beginner should take considerable care. Because they mostly are floaters, crankbaits will bob back to the surface if you stop retrieving them; but if a hook is stuck in a branch, the lure will be stuck and perhaps unretrievable. Try a crankbait in heavy wood only after you've had lots of practice in walking one along a lake bottom so you can learn how the lure works. Many fishermen use three color patterns in crankbaits: chartreuse or firetiger, shad or chrome, and crawfish or reddish orange. These colors will mainly get the job done whenever a crankbait will do it. Another selection of many anglers is the deep diving models over shallow runners because the big plastic bills on the deep diggers serve several purposes. They deflect off snags and they dig puffs and furrows as they nose down into the lake bottom. The result is an added attraction that might draw attention of a hungry bass. PLASTIC WORMS: Most anglers' favorite lure is the plastic worm. But it's not a simple stalk of colored plastic that it used to be. Now you have straight worms, snake worms, plastic lizards, curly tail worms, j-tail worms, and worms with holes, dimples, air pockets molded in, bumps and nubs and flavorings. Then you have the colors. Probably no other category of lure comes in as many colors as plastic worms. But if your just beginning to stock your tackle box, here's some simple advice. You'll need two basic styles: a straight worm for flipping and a worm with an action tail for more open water fishing. The j-tail and snake worms provide tantalizing motion in the water and they give off vibrations that draw fishes' interest, but they also can catch on small sticks, weeds and twigs and foul up an angler's presentation when he's flipping. As far as colors go, stock worms in black, blue, grape, and motor oil. And perhaps a metal flake variety in electric blue or motor oil. JIGS: They are great for flipping shallow cover or casting to deep structure. They are best fished when they are in close proximity to under water cover. There are two basic varieties: The open-hooked plain jigs dressed with marabou or plastic grubs and the bass-style jigs with a snag guard and a rubber or rubber and hair skirt. These often are tipped with a plastic worm or pork rind trailer to add bouyancy and action. You can fish plastic worms and jigs in much the same way. You should keep the lure in close contact with the bottom as much as possible, twitching it in short hops. The jig-n-pig is a top choice when the water is still cold in the spring. It is meant to imitate a crawfish, which is one of the bass' favorite foods. Many fishermen switch over to plastic worms when the water begins to warm around spawning season, but the jig-n-pig will produce fish all summer long for those who stick with it. Toss either a plastic worm or jig-n-pig into a pocket in a weed bed, next to the shady side of a stump or leaning tree, under a boat dock, next to a submerged rock, along riprap and near boat ramps and points. TOPWATER: The topwater bait is broken down in two categories: slow moving and fast topwater lures. Examples of slow movers are Zara Spook, Rapala floating minnows, chuggers and poppers. Fast baits are Jitterbugs, buzzbaits, and various propeller lures. Surface lures begin to draw interest just before the bass move onto the spawning beds and they'll continue to be hot until the water cools down in October or November. In the spring, try buzzbaits and the Zara Spook or Rapala near stumps or standing timber on shallow banks. During the summer, work topwater lures early and late in the day, or when the clouds are heavy and the wind is calm. Bass will move a long way to hit a topwater under such conditions. In the fall, try a surface lure near points and cover in bays made by creeks that feed a lake or reservoir. Buzzbaits work best when retrieved with a fairly quick pace. Allow them to bump the objects in the water just as you would with a spinnerbait. With a Spook or Rapala, however, a different approach is necessary. Cast one out and let it set until all the ripples from the splash-down are gone. Then twitch the lure slightly. Often the strike will occur then, but repeat the stop and twitch throughout the retrieve. Sometimes the strike will occur well away from the cover; sometimes it'll be right next to the boat. With a Zara Spook, each twitch should be made on a slack line. When you jerk the Spook, it'll dance right to left and stay within a small area for a long time. That give a bass plenty of time to get angry at the intruder. A strike under those conditions is a moment to remember.
If I was fishing in a pond that had bass and trout in it then I would try a swimbait that looked like a trout. Bass will readily take a trout and there are some awesome swimbaits on the market now that look just like trout. Be sure to use a fairly heavy test line for these lures because the bass you catch may be the bass of a lifetime. Try the link below.
Since everyone covered artificial lures im going live bait. Minnows ,small crayfish, night crawlers, grubs,caddis fly nymphs,hellgramites,leeches,and many many more just remember go with smaller size for trout unless it is insects like grubs,caddis fly nymphs and so on
I think BASS Fisherman has just about covered it. Mannnnn BASS, where were you when I first started fishin! ; )
omg i know this will sound weird but i've done this before ok i put slimjim on my hook and put it in the water and the next thing you know i caught a fucking fish.
You can never go wrong with live worms, especially in a pond situation. Live minnows should work as well. When using live bait, remeber to use gang hooks.....http://www.jrwfishing.com/gang_hooks.asp
The following link is to a lure i've had the best luck on a pond. I would recommend getting a couple, they're not really that expensive. http://www.landbigfish.com/tacklestore/showcase.cfm?PID=2938&SiteID=1212 Since there is trout in it, i would buy some senkos/dingers that would closely match the color of the trout. Bass do eat trout and this would work well. Here is a link to help you with that: http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/senko.shtml
Use rubber worms you can get at any outdoors store, or the fishing section at Walmart(they are cheap there). You can also use plastic baits you can get at stores. They resemble other bait fish, and they bite them.
Well it really depends on a couple things if the water is clear use darker more natural looking baits, muddy or stained opposite, Also see what kind of bait fish the bass are feeding on and use a bait close to that. Lastly this time of year remember to fish it slower where the bass are more lazy. After they go into spawn you can crank em.
The one thing any fisherman should always keep in mind is that fishing lures, rods, reels, etc. are all tools of the trade. You wouldn't use a wrench for a hammer(though I have at times) nor would you use topwater baits if the bass are 20' deep. You need to use the right tool for the job at hand. First get an understanding of where the bass "probably" are and use the lures designed to that area. If it is a sunny day and the sun is high in the sky, the fish are gonna be relating to cover and have a small strike zone. Conversely, if it's cloudy, the fish are gonna be out away from cover with a larger strike zone. The most important element to bass fishing is knowing the water temperature. That will also be the body temperature of the bass, which will tell what his metabolism is. How active he'll be. The colder the water the slower the metabolism rate, the less active the fish is gonna be. There are several good articles on my website about fishing in ponds, and the effects of water temp on bass. Go visit it at www.bassfishingtipsresource.com and check out some of the articles...