LURE~FISHING FOR
LARGE-MOUTH BASS
by Tony Watson, & edited by Brian Barwell
LURE~FISHING
FOR
LARGE-MOUTH BASS
by Tony Watson, &
edited by Brian Barwell
INTRODUCTION
by Brian Barwell, Deputy Editor
While proof-reading
the draft of Tony's article, it very quickly became clear to me that, when it
comes to lure~fishing for pugnacious predators in Continental Africa, he's got
plenty of experience and advice to share. Although his 30 years' experience
includes, among
many others,
target species such as Black Bass (Large-mouth & Small-mouth), Tiger, King
Tiger & Kafue Pike, in this article Tony concentrates on big bad
Black Bass of the Large-mouth variety !
Big Bad Large-mouth
Bass ...
For lure-anglers, Black Bass are one of the world’s most popular fresh-water
species — indeed, in the USA, the Bass is pretty-much cult status. All
over the world, anglers in their thousands head for water in search of this
pugnacious species, which are most easily targeted from boats.
There are two main types of Black Bass, the Large-mouth and Small-mouth, the latter being the smaller in average overall size too. There are also many other species of Bass but in this article, I’ll be focussing on big, bad Large-mouth Bass.
My
own experiences of lure-fishing for Large-mouth Bass have mainly been in Central
and Southern Africa, the latter being a thirsty land with few major natural
lakes and rivers. Bass in Africa's smaller waters run to about 5 lb but in bigger
waters such as Kariba, Inanda and Natal’s Albert Falls, Large-mouth Bass
can often reach and even exceed double that weight.
Apart from these major venues, Bass waters are often artificial lakes and small farm dams of a few acres. Good Bass fishing can usually be had for the cost of a phone call to the farmer. Asked nicely, local angling clubs too, will oblige with a day on their waters. Angling shops will also pass-on a telephone number or two if you spend a bit of money with them.
LOCATION — Structures
& Cover
Large-mouth bass are cover-oriented fish — they use structures such as
rocks, weeds, logs, grass, and ledges, to protect themselves from predators.
Large-mouth Black Bass are similar to European pike, in that they ambush their
prey from heavy cover and will eat pretty much anything within range of their
huge mouths.
When it strikes at its target, a Large-mouth Bass engulfs a huge quantity of water, carrying with it the prey, and as the water is expelled via its gills, bony jaws clamp down on the doomed victim. Bass strike for many reasons— provocation, reflex, and its competitive instinct.
Although you might catch the occasional large-mouth bass out in open water, you will catch many more if you focus on cover (weeds, reeds & so on), sunken structures, and snags.
LOCATION — Temperature
& Depth
Water temperature is one of the other major deciding factors that dictate where
to find big bad Large-mouth Bass. When the water is warm i.e. above about 60
degrees F, they are most active, even leaving their cover and moving on to the
shallows to feed.
Bass are most difficult to locate when the water temperature is in-between these two relative extremes — it’s a matter of casting around every likely location and covering all the depths.
LOCATION — Weather,
Light values & Time-of-day/night
In warm bright weather, the early mornings and late evenings are top-water lure
time — poppers, frogs, prop-baits, chuggers, shallow-diving minnows and
crank-baits will all do the trick, and are certainly some of the most fun and
easiest lures to fish.
In bright sunlight, Bass will seek depth and cover. In contrast, often an approaching storm will bring them on the feed. These are the times that spinner-baits and soft plastic lures often deliver the best results.
TACKLE – Rods
& Reels
Most Bass anglers seem to
prefer a 5 – 7 ft bait-caster with pistol-grip, and multiplier reel set-up
because feel and lure control is more precise, although a fixed-spool reel and
spinning rod set-up is also adequate — if you’re interested in more
details, you’ll find plenty in my other article, entitled “Bait-casting
& Lure Control”, in the Lures & Lure-fishing Section,
TACKLE – Lines,
Monos & Braids
My two most favourite lines is
Shakespeare Omni Super fluorescent and Stren fluorescent line of about 14 lb
BS. With a fluorescent line, I find it much easier to track its movement, especially
if a Bass grabs my lure and swims-off sideways. Berkley
Trilene, another favourite of Bass anglers, is probably on a par with the Shakespeare
and Stren monos.
Editor’s
Note: With the advent of Spectra and Dyneema braided main-lines, many Bass anglers
have now changed-over to them from traditional monos. There are three main advantages
of these braids and their sibling fusion lines — high strength, low diameter
and near-zero stretch. This means that you can fish with a braid of 30 lb BS
that has the same diameter as the traditional 10 lb BS nylon mono, and the near-zero-stretch
puts you in much more direct contact with your lure.
Some leading Brands of braid are TUF-Line XP, PowerPro, Whiplash & Spiderwire. As long as you use the recommended knots for braid e.g. Palomar or Grinner, there are no problems.
TACKLE – LURES: Top-water
When the water
is warm and the Bass are very active, that’s the time to put on your top-water
lures such as Moss~Boss, Zara Spook, Jitterbug, Frogs, Pop-R, Skitter-Pop, and
the world beating Woodchopper dual prop-bait
As
well as the MossBoss, I also use weed-less floating plastic frogs over impenetrable
weed — to see a Bass smash through the weed and leap clear of the water
by a couple of feet, with your lure in its mouth, is very exciting.
Rapala jointed floating Minnows
J-9 and J-11 in silver/black, gold/black, Rainbow trout 
&
Perch patterns are also very good surface lures for big bad Large-mouth Bass
and if you want a plug that will run straight-and-true at a consistent depth
of say 1 foot below the surface, then look no further than Manns 1-Minus.
TACKLE – LURES:
Mid-water & deep-divers
Here Rapala plugs come into their own again with their deep-diving plugs such
as the Fat Rap, preferably the rattling version, my favourite colour being black/gold.
However deep-diving
plugs do have the downside that they are prone to snagging, and in such venues,
a change to more snag-less lures such as spinner-baits is always a good move.
TACKLE – LURES:
Soft plastic baits
During the hottest part of the day, a plastic worm can probably offer the next
best thing to a guaranteed catch. Fish it deep and fish it slow, your Bass will
soon be on the go. Chuck it in the reeds, and hold on tight! Totally weed-less,
the take is sometimes so gentle, you won't 
even
know the Bass has hold of it.
When you’re fishing with soft-plastic weed-less in windy conditions, if you have a choice, cast into the reeds with the wind in your face — the reeds bends towards you, making the retrieve a lot easier. Don't be afraid to strike the Bass firmly because they have very hard, bony mouths.
Heavily weeded waters are best fished with Texas-rigged or Carolina-rigged plastic, fire-tail worms and lizards and the like. Soft-bodied stick-bait e.g. Sluggo, Bass-Assassin are sure-fire winners too. Use a jerk-and-pause retrieve past rocks, lily-pads and trees.
Likewise,
Manns Jelly Worms and Berkley’s super range of soft plastic lures in Grape,
Black, & Petrol colours are usually the most effective. Plastic worms made
by "Creme" are also good. They do a harnessed worm in red with two
weed-less hooks and a little propeller in front — excellent!
TACKLE – LURES:
Spinnerbaits
Spinner-baits are brilliant Bass lures, not only for working through cover,
structures and other snags, but they are equally effective in open water when
Bass are feeding out in the open.
If you run your boat through surface weed and then come back twenty or thirty minutes later and fish the freshly-opened water, it often produces surprisingly good results. Altering the retrieve, fast or slow, constant or jerky, and paying constant attention to the lure will always bring more fish to the boat or shore. When teamed-up with a plastic or pork trailer, spinner-baits are one of the more effective offerings available.
As for which spinner-baits to use, twin-bladed versions of Northlands ReedRunner
and Bombers BushWhacker with white/chartreuse skirts are always a good bet.
Varying the V-angle of the wire frame will alter the retrieve characteristics, so a bit of experimenting can be a good thing……
IN CONCLUSION …
….. indeed, as with all forms of fishing, not just lure-fishing for Bass,
experimentation is the name of the game if you want to give yourself an advantage.
Large-mouth Bass with their pugnacious strikes and large mouths make for spectacular
sport with lures and if you’ve not tackled them before, I hope this article
has whetted your appetite to have a go at the very first opportunity you get
— you’ll never look back! And your Wish List will be the same as
mine .... to catch a big bad Large-mouth Bass as big as the one below!
Editorial
Comment
Thanks, Tony, for sharing with us some of your African lure-fishing experiences,
especially in pursuit of Large~mouth Bass. I must also especially thank our
Deputy Editor Brian "Bunny" Barwell for the excellet
job he's done in turning Tony's original text into a superb article.
Nick
Caine, Managing Editor.
Please e-mail any comments
or feedback to us,
Nick Caine (Managing Editor), or Brian Barwell (Deputy Editor)
NickCaine
@ Talk21.com
Please
click here to go back
to the top of this page
Please
click here to go back to the
Pick of the Predators Menu