I always hear about choosing lures depending on what the bass are feeding on. How do I determine this?
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How do I determine what the bass are feeding on?
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Look in the water near your fishing spot or if you see dead bait fish floating in the water or near shore. If no luck on that if you have a net take it for a couple of deep dips and see if you can get some bait fish. If there is a bait shop or marina near a shop keep would be glad to inform you what color is good in that body of water. If its craw fish good luck they change color so much even biologist have a hard time pinning them down.
Look around the area were the bass are, whatever they’re chasing, more than likely they feed on. Bass, are one species (especially largemouth) that eat a wide-variety of prey. Crayfish, worms, shiners, shad, minnows, etc. And, if you can’t see the prey that the bass are going for, notice the species. If you see a bunch of big minnows, the bass are probably not feeding on them. If you see hardly any minnows (sometimes they may be absent in the lake, stream, etc.) then they’re probably bass feeding on them. Same goes with crayfish, shad, shiners, etc.
And, if you can’t see them! (which, i pray to god you do!) use any shad, minnow, shiner, etc. pattern. Something gray, silver & blue mixed.
first, you need to know what forage is available in your lake. shad will go deeper in winter and the bass will follow them. try a jigging spoon beneath schools of baitfish. if you notice crawdads in your lake, a lure to resemble these should work. you won’t know positively what they are feeding on until you catch one or can see them feeding. here in so cal, we wait for the trout hatchery truck to show up. then use big trout pattern swimbaits for the bass that show up for dinner.
plastic worms work virtually year round. use assorted colors to match the forage base. crawdads, shad and fry of other fish, with a few blacks, browns, purples and your other favorite colors thrown in.
The best way I know to determine what a fish is feeding on is to catch a keeper and fillet it, then cut it’s stomach open and see what’s inside. Match your bait to what you find inside the fish. I have had luck with this in the past.
If the top of the water is moving in a certain spot, or seems to be flashing, that means that there are baitfish there. Also seagulls, ducks, and geese diving in the water also means that there are baitfish. You a crankbait that looks like a real minnow. If there is no sign of what the fish are eating, it is simply guessing. If you try a lure with no sucess, try another.
Basic Tips:
Cloudy Water- Dark colored bait (black, brown, dark blue)
Clear Water- Bright Colors (yellow, white, orange, light green)
When using artificial worms…
Day- dark (black, navy)
Night- light (white, grey)
Good Luck