I've heard a number of anglers talk about figuring out what the bass are feeding on and then try to imitate that with their lures. How do you know what the bass are feeding on? I imagine the forage changes throughout the year - how do you go out to a body of water and determine the forage de jour? Especially as you go to new lakes?

Look for dead crawfish on the bank. Bluegill or other panfish in the water. Stuff like that. Google what’s native in the waters near your area 

Usually, if bass are feeding heavily on a particular food, they’ll cough one up after you catch a bass. It’s a good idea to peak down the throat of any bass you catch to see if there is something besides your lure in his mouth.

You can always ask folks at the marina/local DNR fisheries biologist folks - often they have an email on your states page and they love answering questions usually.

on top of the above, many states have fisheries biology reports posted on their respective websites.  They will do various sample (electro, trap nets, etc) that are targeted to multiple species, but usually the comments will have something about 'significant panfish population' or 'herring based fishery'.  Since you're looking for bass, electrofishing is the usual way to sample bass populations so you can get a feel for lakes in your area as well.  If your lake wasn't sampled you can at least understand the nearby ones for forage base.

 

Here is the link for PA as they have a particularly well organized one.  

https://www.pa.gov/agencies/fishandboat/fishing/where-to-fish/biologist-reports.html

 

And remember, bass are opportunists.  In some place they might specialize in one thing but for the most part, every lake has bluegills, crayfish, and 'generic' minnows (2-5" dark over light long skinny fish).  If bass are feeding on bluegills and a 4" shiner comes rolling along with a hook in it, they are going to eat it too.

 

 

10 hours ago, mk117 said:

I've heard a number of anglers talk about figuring out what the bass are feeding on and then try to imitate that with their lures. How do you know what the bass are feeding on? I imagine the forage changes throughout the year - how do you go out to a body of water and determine the forage de jour? Especially as you go to new lakes?

I carry about 200 lures and 80 different varieties of soft plastics on my kayak. I'm bound to run into the right bait one of these days. 😁

Bass feed on the same foods everywhere they exist. Crawfish, frogs (in warmer months) and smaller bait fish. Almost every body of water is going to have bluegills and crappie, so you know they're feeding on those. Then you just need to find out what type of other baitfish are in your waters (shad, shiners, alewives, etc). Try not to overcomplicate it. 

You can usually find a species list for a particular body of water published by the DEC, or your states equivalent government body that oversees natural resources. 
 

Coming from a northern climate with lesser biodiversity, it makes it easier to narrow it down. Yellow perch make up the primary forage in my lakes, followed by crawfish and golden shiners, and to a much lesser extent, lepomis. 

Sure fire way to determine the answer to your question is to check the stomach contents of a caught bass. 

59 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Sure fire way to determine the answer to your question is to check the stomach contents of a caught bass. 

Yep - save a few for the table and cut ‘em open, or you can use a large syringe and flush the stomach with water.

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Sure fire way to determine the answer to your question is to check the stomach contents of a caught bass. 

Aye - there's the rub. If you're not catching any bass you can't check their stomach contents.

 

I use a lot of online resources including DNR reports to see what forage is in they lakes they report.

 

In a small body of water, you may want to put a red worm on a tiny hook and see what bites.

Many days, I can see what they're feeding on. For example, I'll see bass chasing shad on the surface, smallmouth launching themselves to grab dragonflies, or bass waiting under bushes to eat bugs that fall.

What is the most abundant prey source easily available for bass to feed on? This is the question I try to figure out because each lake is different,

Preferred prey changes seasonally but there are always some prey type the bass in your lake targeting. Knowing what prey helps to focus on locations, depths, colors and lure sizes to start with.

Observation is your best tool, looking the water and listen for fish activity. After catching a bass smell it’s open mouth and look down the throat for clues, also gently squeeze the stomach for hard lumps indication crawfish or soft content first bait fish. Back in the day when we ate bass regularly it was easy to open the up the gut and see what the contents were.

 

I’m a fan but f the look 👀 in their mouth method… but you do have to catch that first fish.. 

 

Big minnow

 

little minnow 

 

small craw?

 

what I see more than anything though are antenna like 10:1… so when in doubt mimic a craw.

One thing I like to do before heading to a new body of water is to use Fishbrain (free version) to see what the brim look like in that lake. 

 

One thing I like to do on the water that I haven't seen mentioned is cycling the profile of the baits I'm flipping or dragging. I'll fish a craw style soft plastic for 10 minutes, then switch to a worm for 10, then a creature style, etc until I find one producing more than others. It won't tell you for sure what they're keyed in on, but it can certainly point you in the right direction.

 

On the most recent Bass After Dark Podcast, Dr Mike Allen said that in clearest lakes shad tend to make up about 20% of the forage biomass whereas they make up 80% of the forage biomass on more productive (aka dirtier, more nutrient rich) lakes.

 

I've also heard biologists talk about studies that show how an increase in turbidity tends to lead to a temporary increase in the amount of crawfish and bottom-oriented bait like gobies being eaten over pelagic species like shad. 

 

Knowing those facts leads me to lean towards starting with a craw style bait on clear lakes or lakes that are experiencing a temporary increase in turbidity and a shad or baitfish style bait in lakes that are consistently dingier. 

The bass on my lake eat everything except my lure.

On 5/21/2025 at 11:11 AM, Swamp Girl said:

Many days, I can see what they're feeding on. For example, I'll see bass chasing shad on the surface, smallmouth launching themselves to grab dragonflies, or bass waiting under bushes to eat bugs that fall.

Can you get one of those dragonfly eats on video?

14 minutes ago, Kev-mo said:

Can you get one of those dragonfly eats on video?

 

I could try. When it happens, they look like popcorn in a popper.

Dragon fly nymphs are Darner nymphs and look like a Ned rig, all fresh water fish eat them! If you see lots of dragon flies the nymphs are hatching., Ned rig time!

Tom

On 5/21/2025 at 7:55 AM, Kayak Koz said:

I carry about 200 lures and 80 different varieties of soft plastics on my kayak. I'm bound to run into the right bait one of these days. 😁

Traveling light? 😂😂

On 5/21/2025 at 9:43 AM, fishballer06 said:

Try not to overcomplicate it

A few years ago, I saw someone on the forum post some great advice. Start by trying to figure out if the fish are feeding "up" or "down". Meaning, start by throwing baits that are either near the bottom or near the surface and see which gets more action. Once you have that figured out, you can start experimenting with baits... but I'm convinced that the particular bait doesn't matter much. I could give a million anecdotal examples, but I believe that presentation (location and speed) of the bait is more important the bait itself. If you put a bait with the right action (flashing, thumping, twitching, hopping, dragging, etc) in the right place, it doesn't matter if it's a craw or a gill... it'll get bit. 

 

This is also why I tend to favor baits that are more ambiguous in design, meaning they could resemble "anything". Creature baits, worms, bugs, etc. in some combination of brown, green, and purple can imitate any of the forage that northern fish (I'm NY, you're MN) want to eat. Take the Rage Bug for example. If the fish wants to eat a craw, the Rage Bug looks like a craw. If the fish wants to eat a bluegill, the Rage Bug looks like a bluegill. 

 

Ps. The only exception is minnow-style baits like flukes, paddletails, and such. In these baits I tend to favor light colors because the young (3-4") of pretty much every forage fish is silvery-white with some sort of slightly darker markings. 

 

That's my advice, take it for what it's worth. 

On 5/20/2025 at 10:18 PM, Pat Brown said:

You can always ask folks at the marina/local DNR fisheries biologist folks - often they have an email on your states page and they love answering questions usually.

 

Our DNR has a Lake Finder section on their website and survey information is posted on there.  They conduct fishery surveys every few years (or more frequently, depending on the lake) and post them.  In addition to game fish, prey/forage fish are also posted.

 

Most of our weedy/smaller lakes here have sunfish as the primary forage base and the bigger smallmouth versions have perch.

 

Obviously bass eat a variety of other food too.

You're getting fantastic advice here.  I'll add just a couple more small notes.  Whatever the most prolific forage is, other animals feed on them also.  If you see a bird doing some fishing you can also see what it's grabbing in the water.  I see birds, minks, and snakes eating all the time.  Also, don't get completely focused on the forage.  One of my closest lakes has a huge population of gizzard shad and that is considered the primary forage.  A shad-colored crankbait does wonders there.  I also see the remains of crawfish on rocky banks in the mornings because raccoons dig them out of the rip rap all night long, so a jig is a great lure in the rocks.  BUT, the #1 fish catcher at that lake is a green pumpkin Trick Worm.  Why?  No idea.  But it's the hammer almost year round.