Without getting too zen, I am wondering everyones thoughts on the idea that a bass is a bass no matter where they live and they can all be caught with the same types of lures.

Or, are they totally different like a northern strain and a florida strain or a Cali bass & an east coast bass must be fished different because they are truly unique in those locations. Or, even a bass in Mexico compared to one in Japan.

Your thoughts please. I think this may be an interesting subject because we all seek the same quarry in many locations around the world from stock ponds and rivers to huge impoundments.

I can't wait for WRB to answer this ;D

A bass is a bass regardless of it's location. LMB, SMB, SB and the other black basses all adapt to water ecosystem they are in. Every strain of bass has a genetic history; for example smallmouth and spotted bass prefer crawdads as a primary prey, baitfish secondary.

Largemouth, both NLMB and FLMB prefer baitfish and crawdads, depending on availability. All bass are opportunity feeders.

I have never fished in Japan, Cuba or S. Africa, have bass fished most of the states and several MX lakes and can tell you from experience bass are bass and can be caught using the same lures and presentation techniques from coast to coast.

WRB

^^^ Well said WRB!

In general bass are bass and will have similar basic behaviors. However conditions dictate specific behavior. Just like one lake can fish completely different then another thats close by the same goes for bass from different parts of the country or planit. Most lures that work well will get bit anywere but that doesnt mean they are a good choice in every lake.

They are the same in that they relate to structure, breaks/break lines and cover in pretty much the same manner. What I have noticed is that on some lakes certain lures will out produce others; example Toledo Bend is a plastics lake and if you want to catch numbers as well as size you had better be throwing plastic.

A bass will adapt to whatever environment it lives in. For example a shallow lake made up of mostly shallow cover will hold the lakes majority of bass in said cover. One with nothing but deep drop offs and points will most likely hold the fish in those areas. The lures used to catch them are basically the same everywhere. Although size, color and presentation may vary, a bass is a bass.

Bass behavior changes within the same lake, sometimes within an hour. Each lake has different characteristics and preferred prey that bass react to seasonally. Every lake goes through good times and bad times over a ten year period. The bass are still bass and haven't morphed into carp or catfish.

I agree and disagree with Catt's statement. If you believe a lake is a soft plastic lake you tend to fish soft plastics, however the fish may be on a swimbait bite and if you don't offer the bass a swimbait, you may never know. XYZ is a jig lake and ABC lake is a worm lake and over time that tends to be true. I also get locked into certain lures for each seasonal period for the same reason; I believe they are my best choice from experience. Sometimes we are right and other times wrong and someone catches a lot of bass on something we didn't believe would work. Bass are bass and we don't know what they want or where they are all the time, it's called fishing for good reasons.

WRB

WRB I highly disagree certain lakes do have certain lures that will on a yearly average out fish all other lures hands down. I could go back 37 years but the gap would only widen in favor of plastics. Keep in mind that under plastics you have Texas, Carolina, Wacky, Shaky Head, and Drop Shot ECT.  

Top tournament lures the last 10 years on Toledo Bend (239 tournaments) 1st 5th place

Spinner Baits 87

Crank Baits 103

Jigs 373

Plastic 596

The spinner baits & Rat-L-Traps are limited to late January March (pre-spawn)

I'm not aware of any tournament wins with top water lures

Catt we are saying the same thing. Over time a specific lake will tend to have a lure preference.

Most fisherman fish what is locally accepted as the preferred lure. You believe and statistics support that soft plastics; worms or all types, creatures and jig trailers, bottom lures are effective at TB ( and most bass lakes throughout the country) and I agree.

Where we may disagree is local fisherman using same lures can impact stats.

We (SoCal) had similar stats in most of our lakes, however the past 5 years swimbaits win more tournaments then soft plastics, because swimbaits catch larger bass overall and that fact has changed what top local fisherman use.

WRB