Seasonal Lure Selection

Do you really only fish certain lures during each of the four seasons of the year? Sometimes going outside the expected can be a good strategy.
although for anglers there are only four seasons, for bass each season needs to be broken down into fish activity to understand the lure selection, size and colors.
Winter is probably the most limiting in lure selection of the seasonal patterns. Water temperatures drop down to freezing and the bass’ metabolism slows as well. Because of this, bass won’t move far or expend much effort to feed. Slow-moving baits and slow presentations work best. The standard lure selection for this time of year would be a jig with either a pork or plastic trailer. The new soft plastics will work in cold water. Texas-rigged worms and jigging spoons would be my second choice. Traditional colors for jigs are black/blue, black/chartreuse and brown, for worms, black/blue, green pumpkin or watermelon.
Spring needs to be broken down into four segments. Pre-spawn, spawn, post-spawn and late spring. During pre-spawn the bass are staging in the eight- to fifteen-foot area waiting for the shallows to warm. Crankbaits, Texas rigs, jigs, and Carolina rigs work well at this depth. During the spawn, while bass are on the beds, jerkbaits, floating lizards and worms rigged without weights, spinnerbaits, shallow crankbaits and lipless crankbaits are all good choices. In post-spawn periods bass move back to the same depth and areas as they were during pre-spawn and the same lures will work. In late spring bass are moving into shore early and back to the first structure change later in the morning. It’s about the same as an early summer pattern. Spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and lipless crankbaits are a good choice this time of year along with the other spring baits. Springtime colors should be shad shad and crawfish-related whites, white/chartreuse, reds and browns.
Summertime means hot days and higher water temperatures. Bass will move near shore early to feed and then return to open water around creek channels or deeper structure. They use these as highways to move from shore to points, humps or sunken islands. They will school together and chase the shad to feed on them. Summer is one of the best times for topwater schooling action. Traditionally this is the best time of the year for plastic worms, grubs, lizards and tube baits either Texas- or Carolina-rigged. Topwater baits are good early, spinnerbaits work well and Tailhummers and jigging spoons are great for schooling bass. Lipless crankbaits are a good choice also. Worms in black/blue, green pumpkin, watermelon, pumpkin/pepper, junebug. Chartreuse/pepper, chrome/blue, white/blue or shad colors for the topwaters, Tailhummers and jigging spoons, and white, white/chartreuse, and fire tiger for the spinnerbaits.
Fall means the air and water temperatures begin to cool and bass will spend more time shallower, feeding up for winter. Fishing in the fall can be more erratic than other times of the year because bass are undergoing a rapid transition from warm to cold weather. This means that some days you can’t get a bite no matter what you throw and others you could drop a bare hook in the water and have bass fighting to get there first.
During the fall bass will go on a feeding frenzy. This usually starts around the first really cool night (frost). Spinnerbaits slow-rolled deep and medium- and deep-diving crankbaits are good along timber lines, stump beds, drop-offs and main lake points. Jigs, as well as plastic worms, lizards and lipless crankbaits all are good choices. Colors for crankbaits should be shad, white, chartreuse, white/chartreuse for spinnerbaits and red shad, watermelon, pumpkin, junebug, and chartreuse/pepper for worms and lizards.
Now let’s talk about being different. You can’t change the way bass change their locations from season to season, but you can change the way you fish, the lures you use and the color patterns of those lures. Just think, the standard for years was a black and blue jig with a pork trailer. How many do you see now with a white jig with white plastic craw trailer? There are three baits that you can use at just about all depths, fished fast or slow and come in many different color patterns. You can use these baits all year long, they have caught all sizes of bass. The spinnerbait, Rat- L-Trap and plastic worm come in a large variety of colors, can be fished shallow or deep and are easy to use. You still need to use shad-, perch-, and crawfish-colors, but you can add something different to give you an edge. Try using a couple of red strands in a white spinnerbait skirt or blue strands in a chartreuse skirt. Use a hot pink or chartreuse marker on the tail of a worm. A worm or grub trailer on your spinnerbait or Rat-L-Trap in a contrasting color might make the difference. You need to put something in front of the bass that they haven’t seen before to give you the edge. Try to think outside the lines of tradition and be different. Be yourself. Use the lures you trust and have confidence in, no matter what the season.

Bass Habitats

Rivers

Rivers can provide excellent habitat for bass. Rivers are highly oxygenated and the oxygen is usually evenly mixed from top to bottom. Rivers often receive less fishing pressure than lakes. Temperatures in a river are moderate as compared with lakes. Rivers are generally slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer than lakes. Look for bass close to, but out of, the direct flow of the current. Shoreline objects such as stumps or logs serve as current breaks; bass will hold on the downstream side of these objects. Bars are good places to fish in a river also. As active fish will herd schools of bait onto these areas. River bends, floating cover, the bottom and the surface are other good bassin’ areas in rivers. Midstream structure, such as a large log or boulder in the middle of the current flow, can provide outstanding bass potential as the fish has a “conveyor belt” bringing food past.

They’re not necessarily any easier to catch than lake bass, aspecially since everyone can concentrate on the same targets, but at least you usually have visible casting targets and a water depth that’s comfortable.Very often it’s a shoreline fishery, current is usually more important in summer and winter , while backwaters area tend to be more important in spring and fall.Backwaters become important in spring and fall because most are characterized by shallow cover and abundant food, bass migrate to them for spawning as well as to prepare for the winter.

Target specific lures like jigs and plastic worms are the best choices for current conditions, but crankbaits, spinnerbaits and even an occasional topwater can be used.One of the favourite river current tecnique is fishing the outside bends of a river, especially spots where brush has accumulated.

Other places to look for current can be at the mouths of tributaries that flow into a river or in narrow cuts between larger areas of open water.When fishing river current, you can expect bass always to be behind something that blocks the current.