New to bass fishing help

[Fishinrob]

hi , i am wanting to get into bass fishing but have to idea on what gear i should get , i want to go to sauvies island , can anyone tell me what i need to get started with ??

thank!

 

[Big3d]

I like spinnerbaits on sauvies where there are pilings, smack the piling with it as you go by. I would also maybe try soft plastics of some sort. Good luck.

 

[Feel That Bass]

sometimes it may take a little experimentation so that's why i'll just bring a little bit of everything.

soft plastics of all kinds and get a few different lures, etc.

i caught one yesterday on an old flashy blue fox spinner made for steelhead. spinners, spoons and rooster tails can pull out bass. you might also want to get yourself a double-jointed lure of some kind. i use the rapala one and it works pretty good every time. i have the brown trout one. doesn't seem to matter which one i use though. but like i say, just experiment with everything and you might surprise yourself.

if you feel you used a bunch of different lures and whatnot and nothing is happening, then id bring some worms. iv caught crazy big bass on the oldschool worm and hook.

as for gear, i use 10 pound test but that's just my preference for the weeds and snags that i often deal with. as for reels and rods, i just use whatever by personal preference, which could range from a silly little pole to a big ugly stick.

hope this helps at least a little

 

[Reel_Deal]

Not familiar with the area you are talking about but if you are going for large mouth bass then all you need is (in my opinion) #6 line, a variety of swim baits, plastics and ofcorse spinner baits (red and black or green and white) and as far as a pole go with a light medium action 6'6. If going for smallmouth bass then you can use practically any type of lure or even night crawlers and a light action pole. This is just my opinion and my 20 years of Bass fishing experience from the coast to coast. Good Luck :thumb:

 

[FishOutOfWater]

I personally would go buy a couple rapala floating minnows, probably size 7, which is not real big and not real small. This has been my most consistent lure, other than junebug purple senkos. I like gold/black back best. It is easy to fish and if there are fish in the area, there is a good chance one will take a swipe at it. Seeing as it doesn't dive very far, I rarely lose one to a hang up also, which is nice. Good luck.

 

[GungasUncle]

6-7 foot medium action spinning rod and 8lb test mono would be a good basic setup for river fishing for a newbie.

3 or 4 inch senko or other stick type soft plastics, some paddle tail or ribbon tail worms, some 2-4 inch grubs (I'd go with white, chartreuse, and black as my 3 top picks), and some 3 inch soft plastic tubes (for tubes I like pumpkinseed, watermelon, and smoke colors with metalic flakes imbedded)

For the rigging of the worms - I'd go with a "drop shot" rig - that's where your weight is attached at the bottom of the line, and a hook is tied on (preferably with a palomar knot, with the line run back through the hook eye to stand it off at 90 degrees from the line) above the weight - usually 12-18 inches above the weight. You can hook the soft plastic "wacky" style and pierce it through the middle, or simply nose hook it. Cast it out, let it sink, then play with your retrieve, anything from just shaking it in place, to hopping it, or slowly winding it back in. Let the fish tell you which retrieve they want.

For the tubes and the grubs - some 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jig heads - round or bullet head. For grubs just push the bait on right up to the head, being careful to get it just right and not interfere with the tail's action. For the tubes, slide the jig inside the hollow body and poke the hook eye out the side of the bait. Cast them out, and hop or swim them back nice and slow.


Some 1/4 ounce spinner baits, some large in-line spinners (rooster tail, blue fox, mepps), and some 2 inch crank baits would round out my mix.

Look for inlets, points, woody debris, current breaks, anything that might attract a fish and give them respite from the main current.

 

[mjans813]

6-7 foot medium action spinning rod and 8lb test mono would be a good basic setup for river fishing for a newbie.

3 or 4 inch senko or other stick type soft plastics, some paddle tail or ribbon tail worms, some 2-4 inch grubs (I'd go with white, chartreuse, and black as my 3 top picks), and some 3 inch soft plastic tubes (for tubes I like pumpkinseed, watermelon, and smoke colors with metalic flakes imbedded)

For the rigging of the worms - I'd go with a "drop shot" rig - that's where your weight is attached at the bottom of the line, and a hook is tied on (preferably with a palomar knot, with the line run back through the hook eye to stand it off at 90 degrees from the line) above the weight - usually 12-18 inches above the weight. You can hook the soft plastic "wacky" style and pierce it through the middle, or simply nose hook it. Cast it out, let it sink, then play with your retrieve, anything from just shaking it in place, to hopping it, or slowly winding it back in. Let the fish tell you which retrieve they want.

For the tubes and the grubs - some 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jig heads - round or bullet head. For grubs just push the bait on right up to the head, being careful to get it just right and not interfere with the tail's action. For the tubes, slide the jig inside the hollow body and poke the hook eye out the side of the bait. Cast them out, and hop or swim them back nice and slow.


Some 1/4 ounce spinner baits, some large in-line spinners (rooster tail, blue fox, mepps), and some 2 inch crank baits would round out my mix.

Look for inlets, points, woody debris, current breaks, anything that might attract a fish and give them respite from the main current.

+1

I just started bass fishing a few months ago and after a lot of trial and error, this description is literally what my tackle box looks like. I have found that the tubes and grubs rigged like described are my go to. Rooster tails will also attract any fish, it seems, when nothing else is working. Spinnerbaits work good when it is windy. Good luck and have fun!

 

[bass]

6-7 foot medium action spinning rod and 8lb test mono would be a good basic setup for river fishing for a newbie.

3 or 4 inch senko or other stick type soft plastics, some paddle tail or ribbon tail worms, some 2-4 inch grubs (I'd go with white, chartreuse, and black as my 3 top picks), and some 3 inch soft plastic tubes (for tubes I like pumpkinseed, watermelon, and smoke colors with metalic flakes imbedded)

For the rigging of the worms - I'd go with a "drop shot" rig - that's where your weight is attached at the bottom of the line, and a hook is tied on (preferably with a palomar knot, with the line run back through the hook eye to stand it off at 90 degrees from the line) above the weight - usually 12-18 inches above the weight. You can hook the soft plastic "wacky" style and pierce it through the middle, or simply nose hook it. Cast it out, let it sink, then play with your retrieve, anything from just shaking it in place, to hopping it, or slowly winding it back in. Let the fish tell you which retrieve they want.

For the tubes and the grubs - some 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jig heads - round or bullet head. For grubs just push the bait on right up to the head, being careful to get it just right and not interfere with the tail's action. For the tubes, slide the jig inside the hollow body and poke the hook eye out the side of the bait. Cast them out, and hop or swim them back nice and slow.


Some 1/4 ounce spinner baits, some large in-line spinners (rooster tail, blue fox, mepps), and some 2 inch crank baits would round out my mix.

Look for inlets, points, woody debris, current breaks, anything that might attract a fish and give them respite from the main current.

+2

Great advice for starting out. The one thing I would add is to fish the around rocky areas. Smallmouth love crayfish and there are ton of them in rocky areas. In the rocky areas learn to fish with as light of weight as gets you close to the bottom without hanging up. There are ton of nice shore accessible rocky areas along the Willamette: East side esplanade, Mary S. Young park, George Rogers park to name a few.

 

[Feel That Bass]

i really want to use plastics more often but i just don't catch as much bass with them as opposed to lures and live baits.

i must be doing something wrong lmao.

thinkin' of purchasing a variety of plastics and just go for it... im a n00b at understanding what colors to use for each location, etc. etc.. with me its a lot of trial and error... (still new to bass fishing in general)

thank you everyone for all these tips eace:

 

[bass]

For color of soft plastics I use a brownish/crayfish color almost all the time in the Willamette. Bass are constantly puking up crayfish when you land them.

 

[GungasUncle]

I like red/metal flake, browns, green, and dark blue or purple. "Motor oil", "watermelon", "pumpkinseed" are good color names to look for too. But if im fishing soft plastics I almost always start with a 3-4" senko wacky rigged in red with metal flake in it.

Tie up a drop shot (weight on ebd of line, hook above it 12-18") and then hook the worm through the middle, hook point exposed. Cast it out and slowly reel it back, or hop it, shake the rod tip, twitch it, or slowly drag it back to you. The thing is to maintain bottom contact with the weight. Takes will feel like tap tap taaap or just weight on the line when you take up your slack. Thats a good way to ease into fishing plastics.

The other good thing with dropshot - snags usually only result in breaking off weight (or sliding it off if you buy specially designed drop shot weights) - not your hook/lure.

 

[Feel That Bass]

:hi: thanks a lot Bass and GungasUncle! this helps a lot!

 

[schnur07]

I'm fairly new to bass fishing as well - only fished the last two summers/falls. I've had a lot of luck with just wacky rigging a a 6 inch worm (pumpkin seed) - no wieght, just the weight of the worm. I just cast it out and let it sit for 30 sec to a minute. Then give it a tug to pull it off the bottom and let it sit again. Don't expect a big tug on the line. Usually when I go to give it a tug to pull it off the bottom I feel a little something and then find out I've got one on. I've also had luck with drop shotting. I've seen other guys have luck with gold spoons/lures.

So what about time of year. I have not had much luck within the past week - just catching a few really small ones - on the willamette in Salem. With the water cooler is it more difficult to find them? I don't have a fish finder.