What I mean by the title is, you hear some people say "a bass is a bass and you can catch them the same way all over the US." Others, including some pros, have different tackle bags for different lakes or parts of the country depending on the tournament trail. For this question, lets stick with just Largemouth and to US waters. So for those of you traveling anglers, are the bass the same everywhere and the same tactics work, or do you have to switch it up from east to west or north to south or somewhere in between? I know there are many variables, rivers, highland reservoirs, lowland reservoirs, natural lakes, ponds, time of year, etc. Lets just say in general, overall, is a bass just a bass where ever you go?

 

I will say they are different from my perspective. I grew up in the northern plains. The northern bass seemed to prefer more spinners and spoons. Now I live in FL and the bass here seem to prefer soft plastics more. It could just be I am seeing things as an older angler, but they do seem different.

What do you say?

Different bodies of water set up differently geologically and geographically. Bass and other gamefish respond in kind - learning to adapt to their environment. Bass do not all behave the same. Not even in the same lake. There are ‘individuals’. I also believe bass in the northern part of the US trend more aggressive. 

I think that they have individualistic nature and they have regional quirks but they also are all bass. Hope that makes sense and helps. LOL

You could throw a whopper plopper all day where I fish and MAYBE catch one, @Swamp Girl can throw it 1/3 of a day and 37 

No, all bass are not the same.  Let me explain why I say this.

 

1) There are genetic differences.  Northern and Florida largemouth have been shown to be different.  There are also hybrids between the two.  It's also reasonable to think that if generations of bass live in a body of water that they may adapt genetically to thrive in that location

 

2) Much research has shown that bass have different levels of aggressiveness.  Even in the same body of water in the same location,  some bass are easier to catch than others.

 

3). Bass are versatile predators.  They eat baitfish,  crawfish,  insects, birds, and rodents.  They have a strong tendency to live in a defined range so they must find a food source that meets their needs.  The available food sources may change with the seasons,  time of day,  ect.

 

4) Every lake is different.  Different prey species,  different structure,  different cover,  and different competing species which affect how successful they will be in feeding. Bass might be successful as a pelagic feeders in one body of water and less successful in others due to competing pelagic feeding species like striped bass.  They must adapt.  

 

Never met a bass that didn't live in the water.  😃

A bass is a bass…..or is it! 
Actually Black Bass family including 8 or so species are Sunfish, not true bass.

LMB both NLMB and FLMB adapt to their specific ecosystem that supports them.

I fish a hand full of local lakes and each have different preferences regarding what lure and presentation they prefer, the size and colors.

Tom 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

You could throw a whopper plopper all day where I fish and MAYBE catch one, @Swamp Girl can throw it 1/3 of a day and 37 

 

Not any more. As you guys predicted, they've learned that lure. I'm catching them on soft plastics nowadays. 

 

As far as Mexico bass fighting harder than Northern bass, I can barely handle Northern bass. Now I'm afraid of those Mexico bass!

I fish 15 - 20 different lakes every year and if I cast a spinnerbait to a lay down, a bass is gonna hit it. 😄

Yes, a Bass Us a Bass no matter where you go. The same techniques will catch them in any body of water. BUT----you will have more success if you match your bait and technique to the specific area or body of water you are fishing.  For example, crankbaits, spinners and tubes work very well on the river I fish most often here in central New York. And I could use those same things to catch fish in a Lake in Florida. However, my success rate would go up dramatically if I used baits more appropriate to the Florida lake. So, yes a Bass is a Bass, but they are different.

When I fished in WA for northern bass I could always count on catching small to medium size bass, with the exception of winter and early spring.  Even in the hottest days of August the small bass would bite every evening.  The larger bass would be hard to catch, and only bite on certain days, but smaller bass could be found every evening, hitting the same old top waters in the same old location.

 

The first time I fished for Florida bass was on a private pond in Florida.  The owner of the pond had bragged up the fishing and I couldn't wait to catch a DD.  We fished for hours without even a strike.  I told him we should just go catch a bunch of smaller bass and give the big ones a try on another day. He told me that was what we were trying to do.  

 

I learned that day Florida strain largemouth are way different than northern strain.  I got skunked more times than I landed bass on that lake.  When I did land a bass it always seemed to be totally random, and I couldn't develop a repeatable pattern.  That winter I had access to many private ponds, all with good bass populations, and very light fishing pressure.  I did have good fishing from time to time, but I left firmly believing the bass fishing I had grown up with in WA was better than it was in Florida.

 

My skill of an angler had much to do with my lack of success in Florida that winter, and I can't in any way blame my poor performance on the bass.  I am simply saying that my average bass fishing skills were more than enough to get a limit of nice northern bass, but were not nearly enough to catch even a small number of Florida strain bass.  

 

When I started fishing for bass in Mexico, I witnessed the same behavior.  I catch many big Florida strain bass here, but I can't always count on aggressive smaller bass to bite any time I am bored.

 

I don't know if Florida Strain bass are smarter or just plain lazy, but I am convinced they are much more difficult to catch.   Especially small to mid size bass, that I always assumed would be easy to catch. 

 

While bass fishing in WA, I could catch all sizes of bass on a variety of hard baits.  I tried soft plastics, but never found them to be productive for me.  I new others that fished them successfully but they rarely out fished me, so I never bothered to learn how to fish them.  In Mexico fishing for Florida strain bass, It didn't take me long to learn, I could catch giant bass on on a variety of hard baits, but if I want to consistently catch bass, I better be throwing soft plastics.  I now fish soft plastics over 50% of the time, and probably should fish them more.  A bass is a bass is a bass, may be true, but  Florida strain bass love junebug  worms.  I still catch more of my bigger bass on hard baits, but numbers are far better on soft plastics, and there are days when no matter how hard I try, the only thing I can catch a bass on is a plastic worm.

 

I will also say, that the Florida strain bass in the Mexican lakes I have fished, fight way harder than the ones I have caught in other places.  I would compare their fighting ability to be equal to any small mouth bass I have caught.  If the bass in the lakes I fish is over 5 pounds it is going to go airborne, more than once.

 

One thing I know for certain is the Bait Monkey loves bass and bass fisherman equally,  no matter where they live.  North South or in-between that next bait a bass fisherman buys will be the magic one the bass can't resist.

@king fisher: Great post. Thank you. I learned a lot.

53 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Never met a bass that didn't live in the water.  😃

I have a few mounts on the wall, no water😎

1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

Never met a bass that didn't live in the water.  😃

 

I think @PhishLI's bass live in 100% weeds/0% water.

The Largemouth Bass who resides in the Gulf Coasts marshes with brackish water are in some ways a different fish than their kin in reservoirs. And even within the marshes there can be differences. Louisiana marsh bass found in marshes in Slidell and North Pontchartrain can reach 6lbs. 3lbs in Mississippi most of the time. Salinity amount is the key and the lack of abundant Redfish.

Good Fishing