Bait Your Hook! A Guide to Bass Fishing Baits

Learning about bass fishing baits can be both fun and rewarding, not to mention highly educational. In order to understand bass fishing baits, we need to take a look at bass fishing itself and how it has become a competitive sport in North America and around the world. Its popularity is exploding with several fishing shows and contests giving away large sums of money for the biggest fish.

Bass Fishing

Bass fishing originated most likely in the Southern United States where bass was caught for food. It has since developed into a sport and a multi-million dollar one at that. The development of all sorts of fishing gear from equipment to rods to boats to reels and lines has helped turn the bass fishing industry into a blockbuster. Competitive bass fishing actually generates almost two billion dollars a year.

Nobody fishes for bass for food anymore in most circles; it is almost entirely a sport that involves "catch and release", meaning the fish is simply let go after it is caught and probably photographed and measured for contest purposes and sport purposes. Competition is the driving force of bass fishing now, so finding bigger and better fish is a craze that keeps many bass fishermen and anglers up all night.

Bass Fishing Baits

There are many bass fishing baits available to use. Bass prefer warmer waters, so finding bait that works with the temperature of the water is important. Use colourful lures and other tools to attract the bass and talk to other fishermen about their secrets. It never hurts to try new things, either. A friend of mine swears by peanut butter on his hook to capture some of the biggest bass in existence while others prefer traditional attractive lures that are small enough to resemble the size of the bass' main sources of food: the crawdad.

There are many anglers that swear by a so-called "million dollar bait" for bass fishing. This is known as the "JIG and PIG" baiting system. It involves using very specific measurement and proper luring techniques to catch some of the biggest fish around. It isn't called the million dollar bait because it costs a million dollars but rather because many first prize fisherman have used it to great success.

There are other bass fishing baits that work just the same, and once again finding the best combination of bait and lure tying is a matter of practice and hard work out on the lake. Persistence is key with fishing, and patience is a virtue.