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What's the best bait for Newport Harbor?
In Newport Harbor, the most effective bait for bass fishing can vary depending on a few factors such as the time of year, the prevalent forage in the area, and the behavior of the bass. However, I can offer some general advice that may help you find success in those waters.
Firstly, considering the structure and typical harbor environment, finesse techniques can be very effective. A weightless stick bait, like a Senko, can be particularly useful when fished slowly around docks, pilings, and other cover where bass might be holding. The subtle, natural fall of a weightless stick bait often entices bites from finicky fish.
If you're targeting spotted bay bass, which are common in harbors, soft plastic swimbaits that mimic local baitfish can be a good choice. You can rig these on a jig head and bounce them along the bottom or swim them through the water column.
For topwater action, especially during low light conditions like early morning or late evening, a walking bait or a popper can draw explosive strikes from bass that are feeding on the surface. Given the typically calmer waters of a harbor, topwater lures can be very effective.
Lastly, don't overlook the use of live bait if it's permitted. Live bait such as anchovies, sardines, or even live shrimp can be irresistible to bass in a harbor setting.
Remember, the key to successful fishing is often adaptability. Start with these suggestions and let the fish's behavior guide you to what they're most interested in on any given day. If you notice baitfish activity, match your lure size and action to what the bass are naturally feeding on. And always be ready to switch up your tactics if one approach isn't producing results.
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Video12:34
15:01
Use THESE Tips to Catch MORE Fish from the BANK! by Serious Angler Network → Frogger like some type of buzzbait to swim around it or just a basic swim bait depending on what the forage is yeah and I'd say I'd add to that where there's a lot of bait options and we're going to get into like our top three that we would take to say a new body of water this time of year but they're it's like a process of elimination well where it's there's no electronics involved there's none of that so it's you're fantastic and it's a process of elimination of there's high percentage areas that you need to recognize whether it's lay downs it's isolated patches of grass it's docks that you're able to cast to uh whether they're standing Timber or not um and I'll say usually and more efficiently obviously in the dog days of summer sometimes you might want to impending what you have take it and start slow but I'd say this time of year start fast and slow down as you can kind of get hints and let the fish tell you one if they're even up Shallow yet or what they're feeding on that sort of thing but also where they want where they want to have that bait and how fast do they want it so you know I'd say starting off like Andy mentioned you could have a topwater walking bait or tap water bait in general like say a Chapo or a walking
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Video01:32
03:09
Fall Structure Bass Fishing | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → So jerkbait probably my favorite way to fish. And I'll throw a 6-foot, 8-inch St. Croix
Legend tournament, medium power, extra fast action. Extra fast is really key because to work that
bait effectively, you need a soft tip, but when the fish bites, you gotta have enough
backbone to lean into them and get the hook into them. So that's by far my favorite rod. 10 to 12 pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon,
7:1 gear ratio reel. That's my favorite way to target those bait
fish chasing bass over structure. The other thing too, that I think a lot of
time gets overlooked when you're out offshore away from, you know, shallow or water is topwater. You know, if you're in a clear water reservoir
or, you know, a lake, those fish will come up from a long ways and hit a topwater bait. You know, they’re conditioned, they're when
they're feeding on baitfish out there, they're looking up and they're looking for, you know,
a bigger one that got off the school. They're looking for a wounded one. They're looking for something that stands
out from that big ball of bait. So a topwater is a good way to draw a big
bite, you know, from those fish suspended over the structure. This is a Reaction Innovations Vixen. I do one modification on there that on all
my walking baits that it's probably not super well known. I put a double split ring on every single
hook and I put a number four Gamakatsu EWG Short Shank, and that's really specific.
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Video03:07
04:42
Top 4 Baits for Spring Structure Fishing | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → Once again, depending upon the depth and what
kind of structure I'm fishing. Half or three-quarter, typically a half. Another bait that is versatile, you know,
you can burn it, you can rip it outta grass, you can yoyo it, which is something that I
think is not talked about real often. It's kind of one of those techniques that
it takes a little while to learn how to do it, but it's really, really effective in the
pre-spawn period. So, you can cover a flat with it. Like I said, rip it out of grass, super versatile. You get a lot of reaction bites with a lipless
bait. So on that setup, I use a St. Croix Victory,
7-foot, 3-inch, medium heavy power. And it's a fast action. I like a little longer rod just for the pure
distance. You know, a lot of times if I'm on a long
point, you know, or there's, you know, a longer, bigger rock pile, I wanna be able to cover
that thing with a long cast. I'll typically use 14 to 16-pound fluorocarbon. I usually use, you know, the FC Sniper from
Sunline, and then I'll use a 7:1 gear ratio reel. In this rod, it's a little more parabolic
than a lot of rods, you know, in that mean heavy fast category, which I think is really
key with any treble hook bait especially with a Rat-L-Trap because they're kind of known
for losing fish. So there's kind of a fine line between using
too soft of a rod and too stiff of a rod.
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Video01:29
03:07
Top 4 Baits for Spring Structure Fishing | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → But depending upon how early on it is, sometimes
those fish are real lethargic. And that jerkbait, it has a lot of draw power. And you can work it erratically, you can work
it real slow, you can use a long pause and you can use that bait to, you know, get a
fish to come out of the brush pile, get a fish to come up out of the rocks. It's just super, super effective all year,
but especially in the springtime. As far as a setup, I use the St. Croix Legend
Tournament, 6-foot, 8-inch medium power, and it's an extra fast. And it's actually called the jerkbait rod
now. And I've used three or four different generations
of this rod. I've used a lot of different types of rods
for jerkbaits. This is by far the best one that I've found. It's a short enough length where you can work
the bait properly. It's got a soft tip, but enough backbone where
when you hang a big fish, you do have the power to fight them properly. I typically will run 10-to-12-pound Sunline
FC Sniper and fluorocarbon. And then I'll use a 7:1 gear ratio reel. So that's kind of an absolute staple for me
in the springtime. Like you will not find me on any body of water,
whether I'm in Florida or Wisconsin. I'll have probably three jerkbaits out in
the spring. The other big player is going to be a lipless
bait, you know, a Rat-L-Trap, whatever you want to call it. Usually a half ounce.
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Video51:12
53:39
Top Baits for Clear Water in the Southwest and Northeast by Serious Angler Network → out in the middle of a cove and you're in like 30 feet of water it's like there it goes swimming off yeah i mean it's a four and a half pound small mouth yeah i would i used to skip that bait almost exclusively on docks same thing stick a little nail weight in the back and you could get it out of baitcaster because it weighs so much so you can skip it with like dense plastic 15-pound test i'm like a 7-3 medium heavy you just freaking hit him with everything you have with the five ock because you need a massive hook to go in it yeah because they're so high they are so wide they're such a thick bait oh yeah i think that's what i love about yamamoto plastics is just so heavy yeah like it's just heavy and thick and uh they fall apart don't get me wrong you gotta buy a lot of them uh to go through fish but like something about that thickness too i mean you can absolutely when it's like even in a shallow water situation where you need to winch a fish out of stuff you can throw a weightless senko on a medium medium heavy rod with 20 pound and absolutely crack them because but you can still throw that thing on 20 pounds like very far very efficiently even a five inch senko six inch sink is also sweet seven inch
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Video04:27
07:08
5 Easiest Baits For Summer Shore Fishing! Beginner To Advanced Tricks! by TacticalBassin → don't be afraid don't be afraid to get aggressive with it too you can actually work it like a a a jerkbait a soft plastic jerkbait again these pawnfish shorefish are aggressive now benefit of fishing from shore you can get to places that a lot of guys on boats or kayaks can't get you can fish real slow around lay downs i don't you guys can't see over here but there's a big tree coming into the water so i could flip little baits in there but don't be a sleeper on the the weightless stick bait because again very very weedless very unintrusive and you can catch a lot of fish so that is the finesse setup that is typically what i'm going to throw a weightless worm and a texas rig either worm or creature bait depending on the fishery now let's talk about the fun stuff last subsurface bait and then we'll talk about top water now you can actually fish this as a top water but this is a must-have guys now i have five rods out here again if you're shore fishing pond fishing only bring a couple rods uh bring some rods that you have you know maybe one rod with braided line on it so you could throw top water a frog and and one with uh some mono or fluorocarbon on it that way you can throw your weightless stick baits your creature baits
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