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Large Mouth Bass

(Please Note: Some of this information only applies in New York and/or the United States)

Looking for a fight... a slam-bang, no-holds barred catch. Well, this is the fish. Large Mouth Bass are one of the best, relatively easy to catch on most waters, and fun fish to catch.

The Bass season opens the 3rd Saturday in June and closes November 30. Fishing is god to excellent from opening day into mid-July. Fish the dawn hours into mid-morning. Fishing remains good from mid-July into early September, but tactics change: late evening and night fishing produces the big 7-9 lb. Lunkers. Come mid-September through November, we enjoy the best bass fishing of the season. During this fall period, the most and biggest fish are caught from dawn till noon, then mid afternoon into early evening.

Baits: 4-6" shiner, minnow, chub, crawfish, nightcrawler, frog , large leach.

Lures: Plastic worm, spinner bait, crank bait (plug), spoon, swing blade spinner, bass popper, surface plug, jig.

Largemouth can often be tricked into striking by working a lure   down on its "turf." Bottom bounce and create a noise with the  lure. Non-feeding bass will sometime "hit" these lures just to    get rid of them.

Check with local bait/tackle shops for recommended "hot" lures and colors.

1. Look for largemouth in shallow, weedy bay, coves and shore-line. Good habitat will have a gradual drop-off into deeper water with some shelving and list of weed pockets, sunken logs, and/or underwater rocks.
2. When night fishing, cast surface plugs in close to shore and retrieve across weed pockets, weed lines, over sunken logs, etc.
3. Vary your retrieve depending on the type lure you are using. Plastic worms should be worked extremely slowly. Crankbaits spinner bates, and spoons can be ripped through the water one time and moved tantalizingly slowly the next. Surface plugs at night should be worked slowly with twitch/jerk motion. Allow the plug or popper to lie motionless up to one minute between movements.
4. String one or two #8 red or chartreuse beads on the line, just above the bait lure. "old bucket mouth" sometimes finds these colors irresistible when nothing else works.
5. Plastic worms worked on the bottom along weed lines are irresistible to Largemouth at certain times. On the retrieve bring the worm back in a slow lift drop action, letting it pause on the bottom every few feet.l

This page was last edited: Thursday, June 24, 1999