Catching largemouth bass on lures.

                                       




                       Lake Luxembourg and in the Neshaminy Creek.

         

One of the most enjoyable fish to catch anywhere is the largemouth bass. One of the most beautiful fish in freshwater, it's prized by anglers all over the world as one of their absolute favorite fish to catch. Now of course, you can catch them with a variety of live bait, night crawlers, red worms, minnows. Even crickets and grasshoppers work pretty well. But there's something kind of special about catching them with lures. I think it's because you must have a considerable amount of skill in order to get the bass to strike the lure and even more so to successfully land the fish. Full disclosure, up until very recently, I have never been very good with using lures. However, over the last year or so I've become rather adept at catching fish on spinners and wacky bait. I wrote earlier in another blog about the wonders of the wacky worm rig, so mostly I'm going to focus on spinners this time. There are all kinds of spinner lures out there. The ones that I particularly prefer to use are rooster tails and teardrop. Both lures work essentially the same in both setting up and casting. You may notice that most of them are too light to get a decent cast out onto the water with. The solution is of course to put smaller weights in front of the lure. Not so much that the fish gets suspicious, but enough that the weight will carry it a few extra feet out. Reel it in at whatever speed you think is appropriate to keep it off the bottom so you don't get snagged. Although keep in mind you will definitely get snagged from time to time and you will definitely lose quite a few lures when you do your fishing in this manner. I prefer, particularly when I have added a little weight to the lower to give it a sharp tug in order to straighten it out, then reel it in at a steady speed, occasionally giving the rod a quick jerk in order to create some tension in the water. Casting around logs and fallen tree debris is a good idea as bass love to hide under them. I've also recently learned that bass liked to sit on the bottom on occasion in the mud so scraping the bottom actually works sometimes as a lure technique, as long as the bottom is soft. When the fish strikes, it'll be hard and fast, so you better be prepared to set that hook as quickly as possible the moment you Feel that hit. Now, as I said, the bass is going to fight and fight hard, but I'm not just talking about jumping out of the water. They're also going to try to get under things like rocks and logs and other debris at the bottom of the water. So you're going to have to kind of direct their thrashing to your advantage. When all is said and done though, there is nothing quite like the thrill of landing a large bass








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