While it is possible to learn a great deal about Bass fishing without taking advantage of a structured program such as Bill Dance’s fishing course, it can take a lifetime to accumulate ( if you are like me it might take 2 lifetimes). The DVDs are full of helpful hints which you might never come across by reading fishing websites, magazines or books. And while talking fishing with your buddies can reveal a lot, you know very well that no fisherman tells all of their secrets.

The following are examples of bass fishing wisdom found in the Complete Bass Fishing Course:

• “When fishing a spinnerbait in clear water, it’s important to pay attention to the lures head design and color …….bass attack the head and skirt of a moving object and this is why spinnerbaits hook bass so well. The skirt is pulsating and the blade or blades become a blur, but the head basically stays still. I honestly feel bass zero in on the head, so the more realistic it looks, the more attractive it will be. Take the eyes for instance they are very important since bass use them as a focal point for striking. Even a touch of red on the throat or gills on the head can make the lure even more attractive.
It’s also important to remember when fishing spring clear water that too much flash from metallic blades can be a turn off and can actually spook bass.”

• “…when the daytime summer heat forces most anglers to surrender, I try to turn up the heat on those big “lunar lunkers.” Often the clear-to-stained waters that are toughest and most unproductive during the day are the ones that are best after dark — especially those times close to a new or full moon phase.”

• “There are five keys to topwa¬ter success that are impor¬tant to remember: the first concerns water temp and water clarity—slightly stained to clear water is best when the surface temp is above 65 de¬grees. Second, you should fish your lure as close as possible to an object or irregular fea¬ture. This can be either visible or submerged. Third, whenever possible, cast toward the sun. Fourth, establish a rhythm. It’s the rhythm of a lure that at¬tracts bass. And fifth, don’t set the hook until you feel the weight of the fish.”

By having the course available on both DVDs and CDs you will be able to tailor your use to your own preference and time availability. While it is nice to sit and watch a presentation which permits you to visualize new techniques, I find that having the material on CD permits me to listen during what is often nonproductive time such as when I am driving. The fact that the information is presented in relatively short segments means that even on short jaunts you can add to your bass fishing knowledge.

Combine the extensive knowledge of Bill Dance with his entertaining delivery and you have a product well worth having. Follow the link below to learn more about Bill Dance’s Complete Bass Fishing Course and the offer which will permit you to obtain a free copy of the first DVD of the course by paying only the shipping fee.

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This bait combination can be rigged in a variety of ways using skirted jigs with either round or football shaped heads and using varying weight jigs. The most common weights used are a 3/8 or 1/2 ounce jig. The variation in weight will change the rate at which the bait descends after hitting the water. Using a jig with a weed guard will also help to prevent snags and hang ups as the bait passes through cover.

The “pig” portion of the name comes from the attachment of either a trailer composed of a pork product such as Uncle Josh’s pork rind baits or an artificial product which has been imbedded with pork flavoring or scent such as NetBait  Paca Chunk Senior Softbaits
The presentation of the bait is an important part of its effectiveness. The bait should be either “flipped” or “pitched” so that it will drop straight down into the cover or along the side of a drop where the bass may be located. The majority of strikes will occur as the bait descends. As mentioned previously the rate of descent can be controlled by using various weight jigs. After the descent is complete the retrieval should be in short “hops” or spurts of movement separated by a few seconds of rest to mimic the movement of a fleeing crawfish.

Areas combining a rocky bottom with the presence of brush or downed trees are excellent sites to go bass  fishing with the jig and pig. The rocks provide a favored habitat for the crayfish and the brush can provide good cover favored by bass. While you will find bass in either of these environments, when they are found in combination you will have the best of both worlds.

Because a number of factors can influence the attraction of the bait to the bass you should vary your bait if you are at first unsuccessful with the jig and pig. By changing the weight of the bait as mentioned before the rate of decent can be changed. This can be especially important in colder temperatures when the bass is more lethargic and may respond better to a slower moving target. Changes in the color of the skirt on the jig can also make your bait more attractive to the lurking bass. By reviewing how bass view colors and the factors which can affect their color vision you can choose colors which will increase your catch.

A jig will often trigger a response when other bait or lures receive little attention from a bass. When combined with a pork trailer as described above this combination can turn what would have been a disappointing day into a day of bass fishing which will be long remembered.

The following are links to Items referenced in this post:


Bass Pro Shops XPS Professional Series Tungsten Jig

Uncle Josh Pork Baits - Craw Frog

NetBait Paca Chunk Senior Softbaits

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bassfishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.

The behavior pattern of the bass is more varied during this time than at other times during the year. There are several reasons for this. First, because spawning is spread over a period of time you will find fish in various stages of recovery. Normally after spawning occurs there will be a period of up to a week of inactivity followed by a period of “binge” feeding that may last a couple of weeks. A fish that has spawned 4 weeks previously will display different feeding and behavior patterns than a fish which has recently spawned.

After spawning the bass begin to migrate from the shallow areas where spawning occurs back to the deeper areas where they spend most of their time. The initial movement will be to the contour break closest to the shallows of the spawning area. There are a number of things which cause the big bass to linger near the spawning area. First, a readily available food supply will entice bass to remain in the areas where spawning occurs. Members of the sunfish family often are bedding during the bass spawning period. Also present are the young of amphibians which are developing in the spring. Add this to the large number of bass fry which are also in the area and there can be a virtual buffet available to temp the post spawn adult bass to linger in the spawning area. The second element which will encourage bass to remain in the spawning area is the availability of cover. Being basically a predatory feeder, abundant cover will provide opportunities for the “hunter” to await the opportunity to ambush his prey. When combined ample food and good cover act as a powerful magnet to keep large bass near the spawning area.

You should look for ways to adapt you fishing techniques to these early season conditions and behaviors to be most effective. There are several things you might do to accomplish this. Since much of the food supply during this period is young amphibians and developing fry from a variety of members of the sunfish family, using smaller sized bait than you would use later in the season will mimic the natural food supply more closely and appeal to the natural inbred instincts of the bass during this period. Using larger sized bait during this time may actually affect your fishing in a negative manner by being different from the food which the bass is programmed to seek by nature.

In addition to size, consideration should be given to the color of the natural food supply when selecting you bait. Most of the available food supply in this post spawn period is some variation of green or chartreuse. Also many will have a touch of orange as a minor color. By combining these color variations you will find your efforts to be more productive than color that are effective at other times of the fishing season. A wide variety of baits which can be rigged to work through cover can be effective in the post spawn period as long as you follow the size and color considerations presented earlier.

As conditions change the bass will begin to migrate into deeper water. This will be triggered by increasing water temperature, the natural preference of the bass for greater water depths than those at which spawning occurs and a change in the bigger basses food preference from those foods found in and close to the spawning area to a preference for shad which are found in the deeper waters of a lake. When this migration occurs it will be an indication that it is time to switch the techniques which are traditionally more effective in summer conditions.

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing skills. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bass fishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.

The depth you are fishing, water clarity, the amount of sunshine and the physical structure of the eye of a bass all impact how the color of a lure is perceived. The structure of the bass’s eye is the only one of these factors that remains constant.

The eye of a bass is similar to the human eye in some respects. Like humans the eye of the bass contains cones which provide color vision and rods which are responsible for black, white and gray vision. So if a bass can see color which color is the best? This is where things can get a bit confusing and where conditions begin to impact your success.

An objects color is the result of the color of light it reflects. As light penetrates water different colors are absorbed as the depth increases. As a result the colors which are visible at the surface of the water will appear quite different as the water gets deeper. By a depth of 17 feet all light in the red spectrum will be absorbed and with no red spectrum light to be reflected an object which may appear bright red on the surface will begin to appear as darkening shades of gray and ultimately appear as dark blue or black.  As the depth progresses the order of color absorption is a follows. The red spectrum is lost first followed by oranges, yellows, greens then blues. Just before reaching the point where all light is absorbed and only darkness remains everything exists as varying shades of dark blue or black. A white lure will move from white in appearance through shades of green then blue and finally black as it moves deeper. As you can see if you plan to fish at a depth greater than 17 feet a red colored lure will lose the attraction it has above that depth.

Water clarity can also have a big effect upon how colors are visualized by bass. Bass see colors very well at depths of less than five feet when the water is clear. In this type of condition bass are attracted to lures that have the same coloration as the bait fish of the area. This is usually some variation of silver or gold. As the water becomes cloudy (again in depths less than five feet) and visibility is reduced (to a range of 1 to 3 feet) brighter colors become more effective than silver or gold. Colors such as chartreuse and the shades of red or orange that display “neon” qualities become more effective in these reduced visibility conditions. Finally, when the water condition becomes muddy the best colors to use are dark colors such as dark browns, blues, grays or black.

As the amount of light varies from fully bright sunny days to dark gray skies the effectiveness of colors combines the qualities which have already been discussed. As the intensity of sunlight decreases the depth to which it is able to penetrate is reduced. This causes all colors to become viewed as gradations of gray at a more shallow depth than when viewed in brighter sunlight conditions. The reflective effect of the metallic colors is also reduced in low light intensity conditions. On days without bright levels of sunshine one would expect lures with bolder colors or pearl white to be more effective than the silver or gold colors that are “flashy” or reflective in strong sunlight. In extreme cloudy conditions or near dusk the darker colors recommended for muddy conditions may be most effective.

How many variations of color are needed to fish effectively? As presented above, at depths below approximately 20 feet all colors of lures will begin to have the same appearance with only variations in shade being apparent. This means that a light red lure will appear the same as any other light color and the same within the dark shades. While some variation in lure colors will be helpful, by considering the guidelines outlined in this article, it should be clear to the reader that it certainly is not necessary to try to accumulate a large collection of various colored lures. Rather than depending upon a large variety of lures that look the same, the reader should concentrate upon how the lure is presented to improve his catch.

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bassfishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.

Work to remove mistakes errors from your fundemental technique and  style . Skill and accuracy should matter more than power. It doesn’t matter how far out or how fast you can cast if you are unable to place your bait in the proper location. Casting, getting your lure,  sinkers, weights and leaders into the water, at the correct depth, imitating ‘prey’, and doing so with, spot-on accuracy, is the ultimate goal. Refining your ability to use a bass fishing rod to hit your desired spot with confidence is the most basic skill to refine and. Getting the hook out to exactly where you want it to be is what you should practice and strive for.  

Casting to your desired lure placement is one part of this process, getting the lure to the right depth quite another. Advanced bass anglers suggest using a countdown or counting method. This method is really quite simple. When your bait hits the water, start counting, 1000, 1000 and 1, 1000 and 2, 1000 and 3 and so forth. This will allow you to estimate the number of seconds it will take for it to ‘drop’ through the water. This will help you know better what you are doing. You will be able to tell when it hits the bottom or if it got caught on something in the process etc. By using this method you establish reference points for yourself on and in the water.  

Nothing can replace hands-on, bass fishing rod in-hand practice to develop you casting technique. Using practice-plugs in the park, or your own backyard improve your casting abilities once you are on the water, no matter what the body of water, or style of fishing you choose to pursue. By marking a target area and repeatedly practicing casting to it from varying distances you will soon develop a “feel” for your equipment and the amount of effort it may take to place your lure in “just the right spot”. While practicing your technique it will also be important to develop a consistent grip of your rod to ensure that the “mechanics of your cast are the same each time. This is much the same process that a golfer uses to develop a consistent and predictable swing of their golf club.

 As a general rule of thumb, a good arch in the air as a travel path en route to the water, is a good reference and goal as you set out to improve your casting technique and accuracy.  Line-control is crucial to avoid overshooting, while obtaining a gentler landing and slow flight to your target area. This can be accomplished by learning to “feather” your cast by  touching the lip of the spool with the tip of your index finger..  

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bassfishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.

One key to bass fishing is ‘predictable behavior’. The habits, patterns, life cycles, and the natural rhythm that is the life and nature of the bass are important. This means that Bass exist within a natural reality. Understanding it better, you will increase your chances of success.

Seeking protective cover, foraging amongst rocks, stumps, weeds, at times on the prowl hunting for prey, other times just ‘lunching’ around casually, all seem to be part of The Bass feeding rituals and repertoire. Taking advantage and considering this will benefit you greatly.

Understanding other factors like water clarity, time of day, subdued sunlight, water displacement and vibration sensing, noise sensitivity, all add to your “fish cunning” ensuring that you will increase your odds of hooking your next big one.

How the bass senses and prefers color and shade in the moment, can also help anglers increase their effectiveness. The choice and type of lure, colors and movement, bait etc. can all contribute a great deal to your attempts to catch fish.

Where the fish are… everyone will have an answer, or at least an opinion. Nevertheless, sometimes it is as simple as understanding the habitat and those that live and thrive in it. For example: the temperature of the water and available oxygen, dictate moving patterns and disbursement of fish species. Feeding habits and preferences are distinct and can be used to great advantage when trying to tempt a crafty lunker to take your bait. Familiarity with the Bass’ favorite places to hang around is critical to success: Bottoms, stumps, trees , logs, weeds and plants, contours, structures, travel-routes, creeks, shallows/deeper passages, coves, channels, bluffs, banks and shorelines – all can be repetitive clues on habitual, predictable behavior of the bass

 
Self-confidence, aptitude and the right attitude when fishing for Bass are crucial. In this battle to outwit your opponent, you will need every tool and trick at your disposal to make a successful catch. Never get discouraged, feel beaten or worse quit because the yield has been slim to none at all – those days happen to every angler. Most of the ‘experts’ came about their knowledge through reading, studying habits of their catch, in very similar fashion than what you are undertaking. Get to know your fishy friends a little better, study them until you know instinctively where they will be and where their favorite spots are. Knowing and going where the fish are becomes demystified and more exciting. It is now more than a hunch or random chance – it is a planned encounter where the watery predator, hunter par excellence, becomes the hunted! Nature beats to its own drum, you have to discover and enjoy the rhythm you are so intricately part of.

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bassfishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.

Most rods are made from either fiberglass or graphite. The materials are woven to form the material that a rod is made from. The finer the weave the stiffer the material. This stiffness is referred to as the modulus of the rod. Fiberglass rods have a lower modulus than graphite rods. 

Because graphite rods have a higher modulus than those made from fiberglass there will also be other characteristics which will distinguish rods made from the two materials from one another.

The graphite rod with its higher modulus will be a stiffer rod. This stiffness will give the rod greater sensitivity and more speed or action. The graphite will also produce a rod that is lighter in weight than one made from fiberglass.

The different potential combinations of the previously listed traits will cause different rods to best meet different conditions and bait types. Crankbaits and top water baits match best with a light weight rod due to repeated casting of these baits. this rod should have a moderate action.

Spinnerbaits work well with a light rod with good sensitivity and a medium soft tip.  

A stiff rod  with very fast action and high power should be used when fishing areas with  heavy cover.

The material of the handle also adds to the characteristics of a rod. In general a cork handle will add to the sensitivity of a rod. The higher the quality of the cork used for the handle the better the ability to feel subtle vibrations transfered from your bait throughout the line to the rod.

Based upon the information contained in this post, the next time you are in the market for a new rod you can give  consideration  to the traits of a rod and how they will permit the rod to best match your intended use.

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bassfishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.

While at first glance trolling can appear to be a less precise method of bass fishing, it require just as much attention to detail as any other fishing technique. When trolling large areas of water you should start in shallower depths of water closer to the shore line and work you way progressively into deeper water taking care to follow the drops and ledges along the submerged river channels.

When considering the equipment which is best for trolling there is a divergence in what is considered to be best. Some anglers make the case that a short stiff rod is best for trolling because it will permit better control of the bait permitting a more consistent speed as the lure passes through the water. Those favoring a softer rod do so claiming that the softer rod will increase the action of the lure due to changes in tension the increased flexibility of the rod transfers to the lure. Those favoring the stiff rod also maintain that stiffer rod will result in fewer snagged lures while advocates of the softer rod claim that fewer hooks are “torn out” when it is used. You will need to make your own decision in this area.

The choice of lure is also important when trolling. Unless you are fishing in very shallow water it will be necessary to use a diving crank bait. When fishing in areas where minnow or shad are the primary forage a long thin crank bait should be used to mimic the favored food of the fish. When fishing waters where the bass favor crayfish a shorter fatter bait should be the first choice. When the water is clear with good visibility lighter colored baits should be your first choice. In darker water you should switch to more brightly colored lures such as oranges, bright reds and chartreuse.

While reading information such as that included in this article will improve your success while trolling for bass, the best teacher is getting on the water and testing to find what works best for you.

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bassfishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.

In the spring bass lures such as the jig’n-pig will be quite effective as the bass shift toward shallow water, moving in and out of spawning areas.This is the result of the tendency of bass to forage on crayfish just ahead of the spawn period of the bass. This also means that the bass will be caught in water much shallower that an angler might expect based upon water temperatures. Also effective at this time will be baits which mimic tadpoles and other amphibians and reptiles that swim and crawl along the bottom.

The spawning of other species can also have an effect upon the type of bait which may be effective as well as the time of day when fishing will be most productive. In lakes with a carp population gold or bronze crank baits can be very productive as the bass feed upon the abundance of newly hatched carp.

Shad are surface spawners. They spawn at first light in the morning when the water temperature climbs to 65°F or warmer. The female swims along the surface trailed by 5 or 6 males. This shad convoy also parades right past hungry bass at prime feeding time during the subdued light of morning providing a quick meal for bass. A benefit of this shad spawning pattern is that  surface lures will be effective catching bass in early morning light.

The early morning spawning of shad and the feeding of bass upon the spawning shad means that the bass will not be active again for several hours. This will mean that it will be necessary to either fish for the bass after they become active again later in the day or postpone fishing for the bass until after the spawning season of the shad is complete and the early morning feeding opportunity has ended. 

As the fishing season progresses there are many other factors that have an impact on bass fishing and must be given proper consideration. Information about these things will be presented here in future posts.

KickTail XL5 Natural Shad Single Color 3 Set

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bassfishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.

Bass are cold-blooded.This means that the temperature of their body is the same as the surrounding water. The metabolism of the bass slows as its body temerature drops. This decrease in metabolism means that the digestion of the fish also is slowed in colder temperatures. It is reported that a meal which will be digested in four hours when the water temperature is 80 degrees will take four days to be digested when the water temperature is only 50 degrees. This decrease in metabolism and digestion results in a decrease in the need for frequent feeding which means the bass will not be as active in colder water temperatures.

Because bass are less active in colder water temperatures, the choice of lures used becomes very important if you are going to be successful in catching bass when the temperature drops.

Following cold water lure suggestions are taken from an article written by Don Wirth* titled “Cold Water Bass Lures”

Suspending Jerkbait
Seasoned bass pros like Larry Nixon swear by these minnow mimics in water as cold as 40 degrees. They work best in clear to moderately stained lakes.”Suspending jerkbaits, unlike most other bass lures, draw strikes when they’re sitting still,” Nixon told BASS PRO ONLINE. “In fact, that’s when most of your hits will come on this bait — when it’s hanging absolutely motionless in the water column.”

Jig ‘n Pig
When the lake is cold and stained-to-muddy, nothing works harder to connect you with a lunker bass than a jig ‘n pig. This reliable bass bait has accounted for many monster largemouths in winter and early spring.

Bass pro Ron Shuffield is an admitted jig junkie. “When the water is below 50 degrees, I feel more confident fishing a jig ‘n pig than any other lure,” he testified. “When rigged with a split-tail pork frog, it’s a near-perfect crawfish mimic. The heavy jighead bumps through submerged brushpiles and over logs with ease, and the jig’s rubber skirt and tails of the trailer flare out like the arms and pinchers of a live craw. This is the ultimate cold-water big-bass lure. I caught a 10 1/2-pounder on a jig ‘n pig at an Arkansas lake last January.”

Shuffield targets submerged wood cover lining reservoir creek channels and ditches in the dead of winter. “This pattern holds true everywhere I’ve fished for bass. Just run up a tributary arm and work your way back out following the old creek channel, pitching a jig ‘n pig to every stump, log and stickup you encounter. If you can find an underwater ditch, even better, because these subtle structures receive very little fishing pressure and can hold monster bass.

Ron fishes the jig ‘n pig on a 7-foot heavy-action baitcasting rod or flipping stick with 20 pound mono: “Jig fishing is not an ultralight game; you’ve got to hammer the fish and winch it out of thick cover.”

Shuffield’s bonus tip:“When fishing a jig ‘n pig in a laydown tree, you’ll hang up less often by swimming the lure horizontally through the branches rather than letting it fall vertically through them. Hold your rod at 10 o’clock and reel steadily, speeding up slightly if you feel the jig drag the tree. A swimming jig looks just like a moving crawfish.”

Strike King Kevin VanDam Heavy Cover Swim Jigs

This post has only touched the surface of the vast amount of information available to improve your bass fishing. The Complete Bass Fishing Course shares the bassfishing knowledge of the legendary Bill Dance on 12 DVDs along with 12 CDs. Click below to learn how to receive a free lesson DVD.