2 hours ago, BahnzoBass said:

Fly fishing has taught me stealth, which I've learned is important for bass too. I always approach banks carefully and cast to them if I can before I stand there.

Bob and I wrote this article:

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/noise.html

When lightning is in the distance, GO HOME.

Go early and stay late

I’m pretty sure most of the rules are broken most of the time by fish except this one!

Let the fish tell you.

We want rules and short cuts and hacks for this and that and all the knowledge in the world is just a framework for guessing and the more days you fish the more you realize your guess is wrong and you have success doing something completely off the wall.

I have caught fish on slick calm hot days burning loud crankbaits in clear water.

I have caught fish on windy days in dirty water with tiny plastics.

I have caught fish in inches of water that’s near 90 degrees with no current anywhere at all.

I have caught fish in raging current that’s sweeping my bait faster than I can reel slack.

Point I’m trying to make is - just get out there and learn to efficiently eliminate unproductive patterns and spend your days asking the fish where they are and what they want with your imagination and your intellect.

Pay attention when you get bit. The fish are telling you that you are at the right depth and speed and size and area and you need to try to replicate whatever it is that made them interested.

To some degree, no matter how good you get at fishing, this is the essence of what good anglers have to do every time they fish.

Let the fish tell you.

My rule of thumb is don't forget your glove or your thumb will be swollen and scabbed:

@Pat Brown "Pay attention when you get bit."

I would add. pay attention when you don't get bit. Both pieces of advice are giving you information you need to catch more fish.

The Bass doesn't care what you spent.

Good Fishing

15 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

@Pat Brown "Pay attention when you get bit."

I would add. pay attention when you don't get bit. Both pieces of advice are giving you information you need to catch more fish.

@Pat Brown I essentially gave the same advice Pat did (sorry Pat) but what I'm saying is this. How many times have I said; I caught 'em on this spot- brushpile. point. bank. whatever, and I caught .em on this lure last week so. by God. they should be here, and bite the same lure, this week....and I ain't getting bit!

But, by God I'm gonna keep doing this till the cows come home, by God! 🥲

Being stubborn and not listening will cost you.

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

My rule of thumb is don't forget your glove or your thumb will be swollen and scabbed:

Yeah, but it hurts so good!

On 7/9/2026 at 11:20 PM, king fisher said:

1-If you catch a big bass, it is all skill. If your friend catches a big bass it is all luck.

2- If you don't catch bass, it is because you don't have the right lure. Buy more tackle.

3- If you do catch bass after buying more tackle, buy more tackle.

4- You can't own to many rods.

5- Bass bite better on cloudy days, except for the days they don't

6-Bass bite better on sunny days', except for the days they don't

7-If you are catching bass, it is the right moon phase, if you are not catching bass it is the wrong moon phase.

8-If you friend catches bass and you don't, it is because the moon shines on him a different way.

9- Only fish for bass on the days ending in the letter y.

10- Lake Menderchuck is impossible to find.

11- If purple is your favorite soft plastic color, you are old

12- If Green pumpkin is your favorite soft plastic color you are middle aged.

13- If you don't have a favorite soft plastic color, you are lying

14- If you have never had an argument over what line, or knot is best, you are not a bass fisherman.

15- If you put a Diawa reel on a Shimano rod stay away from any storm clouds.

16- No matter how much you pay for a lure, you must upgrade the hooks.

17-If you don't backlash your reel, you are not casting far enough

18- If you are not hung up, you are not bass fishing.

19- Don't set the hook to soon on a topwater bite.

20- Don't set the hook to late on a topwater bite

21- There is a world of difference between a green pumpkin with black flake worm, and one that is watermelon with black flake

22- Trout fisherman will fish pink worms, bass anglers fish bubble gum worms.

23- If fishing in the day time, spinnerbaits must be white with willow leaf blades, and if fishing at night, a spinnerbait must be black with Colorado blades.

24- Chatterbaits can be green pumpkin, but spinnerbaits can't

25- Black and Blue is a great color for jigs, but does not work with crankbaits.

26- Bass hide in shady spots under overhanging tree limbs, not in the tops of overhanging tree limbs.

27- Bass always bite on the other side of the lake

28- A day with one 10 inch bass is not a skunk, so don't lose it

29- Any day you catch more bass than lures lost, is considered a positive trade deficit.

30- If you pray a big bass doesn't jump, it is ok to curse when it does.

31- Bass bite at night, so do mosquitos.

32- You will never know what day post spawn turns in to pre spawn.

33- Most days all a person needs to catch bass is a 5 inch green pumpkin Senko. A good bass fisherman doesn't fish on most days.

34- You can bass fish, and you can do yard work, but you can't bass fish while doing yard work.

35- If you show your friends a picture of a 10 pound bass you caught, they will be highly impressed, if you show them a picture your freshly mowed lawn, not so much.

36- Bigger baits mean bigger bass, that 12 pound bass a kid caught on a crappie jig doesn't count.

37- Power fishing doesn't mean you have power, it only means you hate to use a dropshot.

38- There is always a need for one more rod reel combo.

39- Bass don't care how much a lure costs, but your wife might.

40- Mortgaging your home to buy a boat is sound financial planning, doing it to buy another glide bait proves you are way to late to worry about financial planning.

41- Wind from the East fishing at it's least, wind from the west fishing at it's best. Wind from the north or south you are fishing on the wrong lake.

42- Crankbaits catch bass, more crankbaits don't catch more bass.

43- Spinnerbaits work everywhere bass are found except the Tennessee River.

44- There are no rules in bass fishing.

👍This is all one needs to know

On 7/11/2026 at 6:39 AM, Pat Brown said:

I’m pretty sure most of the rules are broken most of the time by fish except this one!

Let the fish tell you.

We want rules and short cuts and hacks for this and that and all the knowledge in the world is just a framework for guessing and the more days you fish the more you realize your guess is wrong and you have success doing something completely off the wall.

I have caught fish on slick calm hot days burning loud crankbaits in clear water.

I have caught fish on windy days in dirty water with tiny plastics.

I have caught fish in inches of water that’s near 90 degrees with no current anywhere at all.

I have caught fish in raging current that’s sweeping my bait faster than I can reel slack.

Point I’m trying to make is - just get out there and learn to efficiently eliminate unproductive patterns and spend your days asking the fish where they are and what they want with your imagination and your intellect.

Pay attention when you get bit. The fish are telling you that you are at the right depth and speed and size and area and you need to try to replicate whatever it is that made them interested.

To some degree, no matter how good you get at fishing, this is the essence of what good anglers have to do every time they fish.

Let the fish tell you.

True, but I will counter with the old adage "You need to know the rules before you break them!".

I'm not necessarily asking for short cuts here, but there are certain long known ideas that fishers have passed down for generations. Sure, there's always exceptions to the rules, but they are passed down and known for a reason...they work.

If you asked me for some rules of thumb about fly fishing for trout (or spin fishing in ponds) I'd surely have a few to pass along that I've either learned myself or had passed along to me. And while surely I've caught trout when those rules don't line up, I'd expect to do better when following those.

I look at fishing as a puzzle waiting to be solved. One that's not only different from day to day, but from hour to hour. And I always start out with doing what I (hopefully) know works and then adjust (breaking rules) as required if/when those known rules don't draw bites. And that's all I'm looking for here. Since I don't have any mentors to show me the ropes, I'm hoping to get some ideas as to how people approach bass fishing. And then when I learn the basics, I can start breaking rules and learn to adapt.

I wish it was that way with bass - it just isn’t.

Get good at figuring out quickly what isn’t working and listening when they tell you what is and you’ll save a lot of time - don’t forget to have fun! 😉

8 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I wish it was that way with bass - it just isn’t.

Get good at figuring out quickly what isn’t working and listening when they tell you what is and you’ll save a lot of time - don’t forget to have fun! 😉

For me, the fun is trying different lures in different places until I crack the code. I wish I understood why bass suddenly shift in what they want and where they lodge. I do guess as to why they do what they do, but I understand that I'm just guessing. This is the lure that caught bass my last two trips, a 7" Deps Sakamata:

The photo doesn't really convey what a heavy slab of a lure this Sakamata is. You could catch muskies with it. That's a 5/0 hook for scale. I'm launching again tomorrow morning at the same place, my pond. Will it still work? Who knows?!?

Before @gim cites for a fashion code violation, I know that's a right-handed glove on my left hand, but the bass and hooks chewed through my left-handed glove and I'm frugal.

When you watch a Tacticalbassin video, and they say they want to keep things simple, they are lying. Nothing in bass fishing is simple. When they say they don't want you to go out and buy every lure, in the video, they are telling the truth. They want you to go out and buy 5 of every lure in the video.

1. Can't catch fish if you can't find them first

2. Bass don't read the same books we do

3. Bass don't care what kind of boat you have (or don't)

4. Fishing is better than cutting the grass

5. Everyone gets skunked every now and then

6. Location and presentation are more important than specific lures and colors

7. Always be learning

8. One bite can give them all away

9. Never compare yourself to social media posts about other people catching fish

10. Pay attention to the old guy with 2 poles and a handful of lures instead of the guy with a tackle store full of gear and baits on the deck of his boat.

There is no substitute for time on the water and you can’t catch them if they’re not there.

Buy less and fish what you’ve got to death. Each year or so there is a new craze where spending a mortgage on plastic lures is standardized. Don’t chase the “best” anything for bass fishing it’s almost certainly puffed up marketing.

6 hours ago, Glenn said:

Bass don't care what kind of boat you have

Amen. I have bought one new boat in my life, a solo Kevlar canoe at half price when the company was closing. I have bought more than a dozen used boats. They all caught fish. LOTS of fish. Thousands and thousands. None had electronics and none with motors had a new motor. Plus, the majority of my reels are decades old. Bass don't care if your equipment is shiny and new

One more rule: If you're still physically able, take the road less traveled. Be like @bp_fowler and spice your bass fishing with adventure. Or be like @Lottabass and launch your little boat at the end of the dirt road.

There are so many variables when it comes to bass fishing. There’s a reason there are hundreds of books written about the subject. What’s a “rule” on one body of water doesn’t work well on a different one. Conditions on a southern impoundment that may be one hundred feet deep 50 feet off shore are going to require different strategies than the boulder strewn lake in the Canadian Shield. “Rules” for fishing a big deep river and a shallow stream are completely different. The posters here fish a huge variety of waters and one person’s success and tactics on his home lake, may not work where you fish. This web site is a great place to get answers and help when learning to fish. By specifying the type of water, what kind of craft you’ll be using, and the time of year you’ll get more relevant information that will actually help you get more bass.

1 minute ago, Scott F said:

The posters here fish a huge variety of waters and one person’s success and tactics on his home lake, may not work where you fish.

So true. I'd be lost on @Lottabass's muddy pond and Al might be lost fishing my gin-clear pond.

That reminds me, I guess I do have one to give: "The longer you walk/hike, the better the fishing is".

9 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

One more rule: If you're still physically able, take the road less traveled.

Add 45 minutes to your day for the idiots you will encounter getting in and out of the boat ramp.

90% of the fish live in 10% of the lake/river.

If you are not catching anything switch things up, try deeper, try a new area or body of water, try a different lure, the main thing is change and keep fishing.

Report people on the water that are dangerous or disrespectful, there is no need for that.

Help others if possible: broken down boat, new boat owner, someone new to the sport.

Have a fun day out in nature, even if you catch nothing.

As a general rule, bass eat twice a day. Right before I get there and right after I leave.

46 minutes ago, rboat said:

Add 45 minutes to your day for the idiots you will encounter getting in and out of the boat ramp.

90% of the fish live in 10% of the lake/river.

If you are not catching anything switch things up, try deeper, try a new area or body of water, try a different lure, the main thing is change and keep fishing.

Report people on the water that are dangerous or disrespectful, there is no need for that.

Help others if possible: broken down boat, new boat owner, someone new to the sport.

Have a fun day out in nature, even if you catch nothing.

I love this post.

Don't hook yourself.

Don't hook anyone else.

Have fun.