Choosing the Right Bait
One of the great (yet frustrating) things about bass is that there are so many ways to catch a bass. Choosing the right bait is such a subjective topic that nobody can claim with absolute certainty to know the best bait or pattern. The truth is - bass are opportunists and will at certain times eat almost anything and at other times eat almost nothing. If you are a perfectionist, you are guaranteed to fail if you expect to make the right choice every time. You can do your homework and have a good knowledge of what should be the best choices, but you should be prepared for the unexpected. Otherwise, you may be the only one not catching fish.
Do your homework as much as possible. Keep up with the fishing reports, fishing forums, and the seasonal patterns (on this site). Work to build your confidence. Confidence is extremely important. It doesn't matter how much you read or watch on TV, until you actually catch a fish on a lure you won't have confidence in it. Our tendencies are to throw the baits that we have the most confidence in - and there is nothing wrong with that. However, I have a suggestion. When your confidence baits are working their best, that is when you should try other baits and locations. Don't wait until you can't catch anything on your go-to baits in your favorite honey holes before trying new lures and spots.
Fishing log history is probably the most useful guide to get a starting point on what baits to throw. A good fishing log can tell us exactly what caught fish under the same conditions. For example, say you are fishing Lake Fork in October. You just checked the weather forecast and it is supposed to be sunny. According to all the fishing reports, the water is clear. You know 4 bits of information you can search on. Go to the custom search option on the Basslog , then choose for the lake: Lake Fork, month: October, sky condition: sunny, and water clarity: clear. Next, you choose what results you want and whether you prefer numbers or quality fish. Then, start catching more fish by applying the same tactics that have been catching fish under those circumstances.
The Basslog can be as generic or as specific as you want it to be. The more details you know and apply, the more different ways you will be able to catch a bass. The great thing about bass fishing is that there are millions of combinations of ways to catch them. There is never a completely right or wrong way to catch them. In fact, in my video section, you can see a fish that I caught on plastic bag and a fish that I caught on a cigarette butt.