Getting Started Smallmouth Bass Fishing Tips
New to the whole smallmouth bass scene and looking for tips on getting started in smallmouth bass fishing?
There are so many options and lures available that it is hard to know what to start with in terms of getting started with smallmouth bass fishing.
If you want to keep your expenses low and success rate high, I’d go with soft plastics and a spinnerbait on the side.
The plastics you should have would be a pouch of 4 inch Senko style stick baits, a pouch of Mister Twister or Kalin’s Grubs and a pouch of 3.5 in tubes.
Getting Started Smallmouth Bass Fishing Tips
I’ve caught bass – I fish mostly for smallmouths – on about every kind of lure and bait there is. My favorite? I really don’t know. Whatever is on the end of the line and is catching fish. However, if I had to advise a novice on how to get into bass, I think I’d tell him or her to get a good, stiff 7-foot rod, mount a quality medium spinning reel on it, load that with 8-pound test line, tie a jig head on – maybe 1/8 ounce except in deep water – and stick a Mister Twister on that.
I don’t fish Twisters much anymore, maybe because I got on a hot streak one time with hot orange Rapalas, but haven’t forgotten them because they’re simple, cheap and versatile.
Simple: One hook, which makes releasing fish easy and injury – to the fish and to you – less likely.
Cheap: You generally buy jig heads and Twisters in packages, but I think it works out to no more than 75 cents a lure. You’ll lose them and wear them out, yes, but I’ve caught many, many bass on the same rig, with nearly all the paint scraped off the jig head and the Twister ripped until it barely stayed on the hook.
Versatile. Lots of colors, with motor oil being my favorite, and you can drift them, bounce them, jig them, retrieve them fast and slow or stop and go, or add them to a spinner. Source
In addition to using grubs, I have written at length about tubes and how to fish them. To view these articles, please click here 🙂 You can view those articles here and the 4 or 5 inch stick worms can be fished wacky style (hook through the middle) by throwing them out a let them sink on a slack line or rig them weedless and fish them almost anywhere with little risk of snags.
The nice thing about getting started with this type of setup and lure selection is that it is simple and inexpensive if you get snagged and lose line or lures. The worst is losing a $15 jerkbait or $7.00 spinnerbait.
If you are getting started with smallmouth bass fishing and need specific tips, go ahead and post them here and we’ll steer you in the right direction. Gander mountain and Amazon have great selection of