Choose the best fishing lures when fishing for bass

 Your choice of fishing lures before you ever leave the house is one of the most important keys to success when fishing for bass. Your fishing lures are what the bass will see in the water and not having the proper lure for the conditions can make for a poor fishing trip.  There are probably as many fishing lures specifically for bass on the market as there are bass in the lake. So, knowing some basics about where you intend to fish and what time of year or even time of day can help determine which lures to try first. It is always essential to have lures for top water, bottom, grass, lilly pads, and even open water with you in your tackle box. I'm going to go over several lures or types of lures that can help ensure a more successful trip to the lake. If you are a BassPro, you're probably not going to learn much from this. However, if you're an average Joe like myself that likes to get out on the water whenever he can, there could very well be some helpful hints.

Cabela's Angler's Tote

 Top water fishing lures are used for, you guessed it, fishing the top of the water. My personal favorite is the buzz bait. This lure looks like a spinner bait (which I also love) but instead of a spinner it has more of a propellor looking device on it. When you retrieve it, it comes to the top and when the "prop" spins it splashes the water. Bass love this lure! The sound that it makes plus the speed at which you reel it in make this an almost irresistible target for them. There are a few things you need to consider with a buzz bait. You need to have the right color and make sure it's big enough to hook a big bass. I find that a bright green works best in the spring and early summer. It seems to be most effective in the morning and evening when the temps are not too hot or too cold. White also seems to be a good color later in the season.

Another very versatile top water lure is the frog. Frogs are very useful because you can use them around grass and lilly pads. There are many variations of the frog as well and I can't say that I've had much different results with any. I try to choose natural colors that may be a bit brighter than a real frog. When fishing lilly pads or grass, they can be effective at pretty well any time of day.

The popper is very effective lure as well. These tend to have the appearance of a smaller fish and have a flat front where you tie your line. I find them to be more effective in the morning or evening but in the right conditions can be used all day. It's good to fish these over some underwater cover. One thing to keep in mind is to let it sit for a second when it hits the water. Most of my success with this type of lure has actually been the moment where it lands in the water before I can even start my retrieve.

Open water fishing is a tricky tactic to use but can be very effective if done properly. This is a method that many pro's use when the shoreline is crammed with other boats or they're just not having much luck. Good open water lures include spoons, crankbaits, and tubes. Those are my personal favorite at least.

Spoons are a pretty basic looking lure. For most of my life, I never got them or knew how to use one. They look like a semi flat piece of metal with a treble hook at the bottom. Very basic looking! You can find them in many different colors and sizes but the best are probably silver or gold. Why you might ask? Because if you use them for what they were intended for that's all you need. They are supposed to be used in a manner to look like shad dropping down from the surface. I've never seen a green shad with black spots. Lets face it, darker colors won't reflect as well. I think the best size is around 4 inches. Be sure to learn the proper technique and best locations to know what you are doing. When mastered, this lure is a huge weapon in your arsenal.

Crankbaits are another good lure to use in open water. They typically look like a smaller fish and have a lip where you tie on to carry the lure down into the water. There are different sizes of lips at different angles to cause the lure to reach certain depths. Be sure to know which lure is for what depth. You don't want to use a deeper lure in shollwer water or else you may plow into the bottom or get stuck in the cover or grass your trying to skim over.

Tubes were a lure that I knew nothing about for a long time. I had no idea what they were for or how to use them. Now, I think they are very fun to fish with. They look like their name. They are a rubber tube looking lure that usually has a skirt coming off the bottom. You insert a weight and hook into them and sort of dip them up and down. I've caught some really nice bass with tubes and they have become one of my favorite lures. There are all sort of different colors and sizes for these as well. You can even purchase weights with little beads inside that cause them to make some noise while in the water. A little noise never hurts when trying to land that monster bass!

My favorite fishing is around the shoreline where there's lots of different cover for those sneaky monsters to hide around. There are so many different lures you can use around stumps and grass or over rocks that it just makes it fun. These are good places for spinner baits and worms. Both of these are my favorite lures to fish for two reasons. First, they're productive! Second, it takes a little bit of technique to make them productive.

Spinners are great! They aren't much more than a big hook with a rubber skirt around it and a shiny blade to glare and make noise. I prefer white and bright green skirts. I've always had good luck with these. I've also learned to use a big hook. If you want a big fish, you need a hook big enough to handle it. I recommend staying away from the dollar specials at Wal Mart. I'm not sure what it is, but they just never do much. One of my favorite manufacturers is Lunker Lure. They are usually around ten bucks or more, but are a quality lure that produces. These lures are awesome when you can skim them by a stump of under an overhanging tree.

Worms have to be the most used and most effective lure out there. They're great for grass, lilly pads, rocks, stumps, you name it. There are many different ways to rig them and they come in all sorts of colors. I usually find that grape colors work very well. Worms are great because you can rig them to be weedless and can get right into the mess of things where the bass are hiding. Normally, when all else fails, I go to the worm.

 Bottom fishing is kind of tricky but can be very productive. Worms and crawfish are great for fishing the bottom. Sometimes you may get lucky and catch a bass with another method and you may notice a small wound on the bottom lip of your fish. This is an indicator that it has been feeding on the bottom. If this bass has been, then others are too and you may want to give it a shot.

Worms are great and you can slow roll them along the bottom. This is sort of the same as when I was talking about fishing the shore line so I won't go into too much detail. I find the same colors tend to work with worm whether you are trying to fish the bottom or not.

Crawfish are a large part of a bass' diet. You can find many different styles on the market but I recommend a rubber crawfish that has a similar dark color as a real crawfish. Crawfish are only really red when you boil them. So go with a darker grey or brownish color if you can find one.