Youth Bass Tactics

It’s been 25+ years since I’ve bass fished and even then it was only chucking a Power Worm in Motor Oil color with a 5/0 hook and bullet sinker into the weeds and slowly cranking it back. However, we’ve reached the point where my 10 year old is bored catching bluegills and wants to start targeting bass. We were at a small local pond a few weeks ago and there were some teenagers actively fishing for bass so I asked them what they were using and they showed me a wacky rig setup. I rigged one up for my son and he proceeded to catch 2 in the remaining 15 minutes we had left. He is hooked (pun intended).

So now I need to know what other tactics you all would recommend that I try with him. More info on wacky rigging would be appreciated as well. We will be in the boat targeting them this weekend and for now he will be using his 6′-6″ ML spinning setup. Thanks in advance!

Get some nail weights and turn that wacky in to a neko.
Get some jigs and power baits throw the jig worm or tie it up as a Texas rig.
Creature baits on finese jigs and I like tube jigs.

Might have some difficulty with the ML setup but if its all you got, that’s how it goes.

Weeds are thick right now so something that can go through it without constantly getting hung up is a good idea. I second the texas rig.

Thanks Bearcat! I don’t speak bass so I’ll have to do a little homework to figure out what you mean by nail weights, neko and Texas rig.

gim wrote:

Might have some difficulty with the ML setup but if its all you got, that’s how it goes.

Weeds are thick right now so something that can go through it without constantly getting hung up is a good idea. I second the texas rig.

I could have him use one of my medium setups too.

That would be better. There is a summer patterns thread specifically related to bass fishing here. You should find some good info in there. People who regularly target them post their results and what’s working, etc.

Man that brings up memories of fishing the neighborhood ponds all summer when I was a kid. You can even still keep it simple with a spinner bait in the mix too

Jake – Glade to hear your son is interested in getting into some bass fishing. For someone his age just getting started out here are a few techniques I’d have him start with:

The wacky rig you already mentioned is a good choice. This is usually fished on what they call a stick worm type of plastic, but almost any straight type of worm will work. It involves hooking the worm in the middle of the bait. It is usually fished weightless with a 1/0 or 1 size hook. There are many different type of hooks sold for fishing them, some even have a weed guard to help it in weeds. Because it is normally fished weightless it is best used in shallower water in places like, along the bank, next to docks, on the edge of reeds or pads. He will need to learn to watch the line for movement or learn to feel the weight when the fish moves off with the bait. To much of a delay in detecting the bite will have many deep hooked fish. bass then to really take this bait in deep.

The Neko rig – Is nothing more than the wacky rig with a small nail weight inserted into one end of the bait, normally the fat end. This allows it to be used in deeper water situations. Its best used along weedlines in deeper water or out on rock humps. It can be a great summer time bait when many fish move to deeper weedlines and start to school up.

The Texas rig you said you fished when you fished bass earlier in your life is another great choice.

The Jigworm – This to me is the 1st bait a new bass fishermen should learn to use. It is nothing more than a 1/8 or 1/4 oz jighead with some type of plastic worm on it. It great start is a 7″ berkley power worm but almost any plastic worm will work. This bait can be fished in many different locations. You just need to adjust the weight of the jighead based on depth of water and wind conditions. The deeper the water and winder it gets increase the jighead weight. Fish this over weed flats, along deeper weedlines, almost anywhere there is not heavy weed cover. Because of the exposed hook it will not fish well right in weeds but is great on the edges.

For more of a chunk and wind reaction style of fishing its hard to beat a good old spinnerbait or the newer chatterbait. The spinnerbait can be fished fast or slower, it can be fished shallow or deeper. Once again just need to change the weight of the lure and speed up or slow down the retrieve.

These are all good baits to get him started. Once he starts to get more into it there are a ton of different techniques he can move onto.

Youtube is a great source of Info. There are a ton of videos on all the techniques I’ve listed. Have him sit down and watch a few and get out on the water and try them out. I hope he learns to really get into the sport. Its a great way for kids to spend time and use their minds to figure out solutions to things. If you can learn to catch bass on a consistent basis you can learn just about anything. Best of luck to him and you and go have some fun together.

As far as how to and presentations go I would suggest YouTube. That’s where I started when I got more serious about plastics for bass. You have to weed through some of the hype but there are many good “how to” videos.

The Ned rig is another easy one and can be used with your sons current ML setup. My kids love Ned rigging and they outfished me Sunday with it. Black and blue flake or white have been our go to colors.

Youbetcha wrote:

You can even still keep it simple with a spinner bait in the mix too

I would tie a spinner bait on and just cover water, if the weeds are thin in an area a crank or jerk bait will work too. When I used to fish bass I preferred power fishing and those were my staples. A medium or medium heavy spinning rod was all I used, never got into baitcasters.

You could get a 1/4 chatter bait, you will catch something.

Not sure if you are choosing the lake but if you are look at DNR reports and find a lake with a bunch of fish, so when they electrofish maybe they got 100 an hour that would be great. Numbers will make you and your kiddo feel like pros. Lures? Spinners if they are shallow and aggresive (you hear splashes shallow when you launch) senkos if they are not aggresive.
Good Luck!

Thanks all for the info! Time to teach this old dog some new tricks!

The further we get into summer, the lower the water O2 level gets.
Creeks or drain pipes emptying into a lake will increase O2 in that area which will attract bass. That’s why they hang out around shallow vegetation is for the O2.

Let em try some topwater lures that make a lot of noise. There’s nothing like a bass hitting a topwater lure to get your excitement level pumped up.