Quickly finding bites bass fishing can make your day a lot more enjoyable on the water. This post is for Mike who asked “When conditions seem perfect, and you can’t buy a bite, what do you do?” All of us have had days like this. I know I have. Well, here are a few tricks to help you get a bass “Kraked” even if it seems things should be playing in your favor, and when you don’t have a lot of time on the water.
When talking with your friends who don’t fish I’m sure several of you have heard this, “Fishing sounds fun, but I don’t have the patience for it.” I’m definitely not a very patient person myself. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie snowboarding, wakeboarding, and playing the drums are some of my favorite past times outside of fishing. Surprisingly though, for my lack of patience I get a massive adrenaline rush from bass fishing. You don’t need patience for fishing, you often just need to know a few tricks to turn time in your favor. If your fishing isn’t going as you anticipated, here are some things I’ve done to help find fish and get bites quickly while out on the water.
Setting an alarm on your phone or giving yourself a set time limit is an awesome trick. I’ve been using this a lot to help me switch it up and force myself to do different things. It’s been said, “Doing the same thing, and expecting different results is the definition of Insanity!” A lot of people I’ve fished with have a really hard time putting away those things that aren’t working. This includes me, especially if those types of things have worked in the past. Setting an alarm can be a great way to break this chain.
When you set an alarm it forces you to concentrate. It will help focus yourself on what you are doing at the moment. Plus, you can confidently move to something else if you didn’t get any bites when the time is up. If you have only an hour to fish, set an alarm at 20 minutes and try 3 different baits. Even if you have a full day, don’t spend longer than an hour doing something that isn’t working. Change location, or change baits every time your time limit expires or your alarm goes off. This trick will help you get dialed in quickly as to what the bass are doing.
Quickly finding bites bass fishing is often a process of elimination. Just like how your doctor determines what type of sickness or disease you may have. A doctor will run through the list of symptoms and rule out disease’s or diagnosis based on items that aren’t present. If you start out fishing deep, you can start moving your way up shallow. Oftentimes bass fisherman are so wired to throw baits to the banks, but the majority of the time they are often cruising around right under your boat. With a process of elimination starting deep and working up shallow you will have a greater chance of finding the bass, and getting them to bite.
I’ve had way to many instances where you fish along the bank pounding along. Then you decide to chuck a bait out on the deep side of the boat and immediately hook up! Sometimes this a good strategy to pull your boat up along the bank, and start fishing out toward the open blue water. Everyone starts off fishing shallow for bass, but be that guy that starts fishing deep at 40 ft. I’m sure you will start finding bass much quicker starting off in the waters less traveled.
It’s important to make sure you are moving. People who hang out with a pro fisherman for a day like Kevin Vandam always get blown away at how fast they go. Bass fishing is a lot like sales. It’s a numbers game. The guy who makes the most contacts closes more deals. Likewise the bass fisherman that makes the most casts and covers the most water usually catches more bass.
How do you fish fast? Use crankbaits, spinnerbaits and things with chuck and wind style retrieves instead of dangling a drop shot in one spot. If you are going to fish softplastics, start off with a finesse swimbait something that moves a little quicker. Also, keep your foot on your trolling motor. Move along quickly. Bass aren’t everywhere, so by moving quickly from spot to spot you will be able to run into them eventually.
Being conscious of speeding up what you are doing will get you more bites. Even something small like adding a heavier weight to your texas rig, so it can sink down quickly where the bass are can make a huge difference. Gradually, slow down if things aren’t producing. Also, if you catch a few along the way go back to those spots and slow down with soft plastics. Fishing faster can will help get you quickly finding bites bass fishing.
My dad has a shirt that says, “So many lures, so little time.” We live in a society where we get marketed too constantly, and wind up having so many baits in our tackle box that we never use them all. The less decision’s you have to make on bait selection the better. Take a bag and grab only the baits you have confidence in, and a few baits you want to try. By eliminating the paralysis by analysis you can get down to business quicker and focus on locating the bass first. This helps you not worry so much about what bait to use to catch them. I’ve found that the hardest part of bass fishing is often locating them, because their are a lot of great baits out on the market that catch bass.
Just like in real estate bass fishing is all about location, location, location. Concentrate your decision’s on locating bass by type of cover, how deep, pockets, or points. Opt for changing spots and depth first. Then choose a bait according to what works in those places and conditions. If you haven’t yet, take a read of my past posts on knowing what to use to help you focus on locating the bass first then selecting the right bait for the job.
Hopefully, these tricks will get you quickly finding bites bass fishing. If you only take one tip from this post, take the first of setting a timer. It really has helped me enjoy the moment more, and find excitement in changing it up. Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog to help elevate your fishing game, and please leave a comment about other tricks you’ve discovered to help you find and get bites quickly bass fishing.
As Always,
Stay Stoked!
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2 Responses
Nice work!!! You always have something new to say. Plus you are really a handsome fisherman!