What Do Bass Eat? 7 Surprising Baits that Work Every Time

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What Do Bass Eat? 7 Surprising Baits that Work Every Time

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Last Updated on August 23, 2024 by Paul Clayton

Table of Contents

What Do Bass Eat? 7 Surprising Baits that Work Every Time

Every bass fisherman has asked themselves or someone else, “What do Bass Eat?”. We ask this question for an obvious reason: if we know what they eat, we can catch them more easily.

Key Takeaways

1. Understanding Bass Diet: Largemouth bass are predator fish that eat a variety of prey, including smaller fish, insects, frogs, and even small mammals and birds.
2. Effective Baits: Bass prefers bait that looks injured or struggling. Using diverse bait options and switching methods if one isn’t working increases the chances of success.
3. Feeding Times: Bass are most active at dawn and dusk due to their visual advantage over prey. Their enhanced low-light vision can also make night fishing effective.
4. Sensory Abilities: Bass use sight, sound, and smell to locate prey. Their sense of smell is less developed than their sight and sound but still plays a role, especially in murky water.
5. Spawning Behavior: During spawning season, bass are less focused on feeding and more on protecting nests, making them aggressive towards potential threats to their eggs.
6. Bait Selection: There is no miracle bait. The key to success is understanding the bass’s behavior and using bait that mimics the prey they are currently hunting.
7. Seasonal Changes: Bass eating habits change with the seasons, influenced by water temperature. Their metabolism slows down in colder water, leading to reduced feeding activity.

Even if we enjoy being outdoors and appreciate the time spent with nature, we would still rather not waste our time with little chance of catching a Bass.

It’s important to have a basic understanding of the feeding habits of the fish we’re looking to catch; this will save us time and money in the long run and increase the fun factor as we get more bites in return.

We don’t have to be experts on fish feeding habits or know what every fish likes to eat, but having a basic understanding will put us ahead of the pack and could dramatically increase our chances of success.

This video has been included to clarify the topic. Credit goes to TylersReelFishing

Largemouth bass are known as predator fish, which means they hunt and eat other fish, bugs, insects, and anything else they can wrap their mouth around.

Largemouth bass can grow significantly with enough time, food, and a suitable environment. They are best suited to warmer waters with plenty of hiding places where they can ambush their prey. They will naturally eat smaller fish, such as minnows and shad, but given the opportunity, they will happily take on larger fish, such as trout.

They eat fish, mice, rats, frogs, insects, and even small birds. I have seen a very large 14-pound or more Bass attack a duck!

Bass prefer to hunt and eat things that seem hurt or struggle in the water, as these are generally easier kills with less energy expended to secure a meal. Due to the bass’ varied diet, we have so many bait options, and they all play in different ways when in the water.

Despite their appearance, bass are pretty smart, so going out with the same bait daily will likely result in diminishing returns. The fish will learn to avoid what you’re offering them quickly.

When fishing, you might find that a plastic minnow works wonders. However, you’ll only get a bite the next day if you’re using a 9″ worm. At a basic level, if you’re having no luck with one method after an hour, try something different and see if that produces the results you’re looking for. B

ass in popular fishing spots are less likely to perform well to common fishing methods, and this is when you should try and mix things up a bit.

When do Bass Eat?

To maximize your chances of catching a bass, you need to understand when they like to eat.

Examining how bass eyes are designed can help us better understand the answer to this question.

A bass is characterized by very large eyes that protrude slightly from the side of its head. Its single large lens lets much light be captured from a wide viewing angle. Melanin coats the back of its eyes, helping it see better in bright conditions and when little light is available.

During the day, Bass have what is classed as photopic vision, and at night, they have a scotopic vision. This means that during daylight hours, they will see better colors and depth perception, and at night, their eyes will adjust to take in more light at the expense of depth and color.

Most experienced anglers will fish at dusk or dawn when bass actively hunt prey due to their visual advantage over prey. If you go out often enough, you’ll come across plenty of occasions where shad are being pushed to the service at dusk by hunting bass.

Can Bass See in the Dark?

There’s something magical about fishing at night, an experience completely different from fishing during daylight hours. We’ve already established that bass have a distinct advantage over their prey in low-light conditions due to their unique eye biology. But does that directly translate into anglers being able to fish at night for bass?

The short answer is yes. Bass are frequently more active at night when conditions suit their hunting style. This means that night anglers will have more success if they are well-prepared and have the right bait.

In addition to increased activity, you’ll probably find less competition from fellow anglers at night, so you should be able to position yourself in a prime spot more easily.

Contrary to intuition, a darker bait is better suited to nighttime fishing. If you’re not having any luck with darker baits, switch to another color and see what the fish responds to.

It’s worth remembering that fish are not the only creatures prefer nighttime. You’ll probably find a significant increase in insects, so top up on repellant or invest in a face net.

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Quietly Does It

We now know that bass have exceptional eyesight and can see well in light and dark conditions, but what about their hearing?

If you manage to catch a bass, you’ll probably find that there aren’t any obvious signs of ears, at least not the same as mammal ears. But, if you have any experience, you’ve probably had experience of bass being drawn to bait hitting the water, so what does this mean?

Bass locate and attack prey based on both sound and sight. Bass ears are located inside their head without any obvious outward signs that they have any at all, but the upside of this is that their whole body can act as a sort of sounding board, helping them locate prey in a 360-degree radius.

Bass can locate a frog plopping into the water and small fish jumping. They will also hear your lure as it moves through the water or when it breaks the surface. However, this also has a downside: If they can hear things hitting the water, they can probably hear you moving around or talking.

Even these small sounds can scare fish away. This is doubly important if you’re on a boat, as everything is amplified slightly due to the boat’s hull, motors, and gear. Moving around can easily spook wary fish, causing them to swim for cover.

Can Bass Smell Bait?

We’ve all come across sprays and gels that can be added to lures to entice the fish to bite, or maybe you’ve seen the plastic worms that smell like decomposing cat food. The question is, can bass smell and detect these things?

Bass have a sense of smell. However, the area of their brain responsible for smell is not as large as the areas responsible for site and sound.

This means that bass primarily relies on sight and sound to detect prey, with smell being a secondary method. In certain situations, smelly bait is likely an advantage. For example, if the water is murky, then bass may rely upon smells to locate a potential food source. Bass can likely smell better underwater than humans can above water, largely due to how smell permeates water.

A smell will linger far longer underwater than in the air and won’t dissipate as easily. The smells will likely stay around in still bodies of water for quite some time.

Bass have a well-developed sense of smell and can detect and locate baits based on scent. They possess a specialized olfactory system that allows them to detect and distinguish various chemical signals in the water, including the scent of potential prey.

When fishing for bass, scented baits can effectively attract their attention. Many artificial baits, such as soft plastic lures, are manufactured with added scents or designed to absorb and hold scent attractants. These scents can mimic the natural odor of prey, making the bait more enticing to bass.

The sense of smell in bass helps them locate and identify potential food sources, even in situations where visibility may be limited, such as in murky water or during low-light conditions. By using scented baits or incorporating natural scents through attractants, anglers can increase their chances of attracting bass and triggering a feeding response.

Spawning

Once a year, bass will come up from the depths to spawn, creating a new generation of mini bass that will hopefully grow into monster fish for us to catch.

But can you catch Bass when they’re in the middle of the act, and are they actively feeding during this period?

The answer is not a straightforward one, unfortunately. When spring finally comes around, and the waters start warming up, Bass will move into shallower waters and begin eating as much food as possible to prepare themselves for egg production.

High-protein food such as crawfish is the preferred prey, so you’ll probably have a decent amount of luck using a lure that looks like a salamander or brush hog. When they begin to nest, the male will first move into an area to clear it out for the female, and the female will then move in to lay her eggs.

During this time, bass will be very aggressive towards anything they think might threaten their eggs and nest, which you can use to your advantage. Casting your bait into a nesting area multiple times may be enough to provoke bass to attack your lure.

During the spawning period, which is the reproductive phase for bass, their feeding behavior tends to change. Both male and female bass become focused on preparing nests, defending their territory, and engaging in the spawning process rather than actively feeding. As a result, their appetite decreases during this time.

Male bass, in particular, become more preoccupied with guarding the nest and protecting the eggs once the female has laid them. They may display aggressive behavior towards intruders and strike at lures or bait out of territorial instinct rather than true feeding motivation.

Female bass may exhibit minimal feeding activity during spawning after depositing their eggs in the nest. They often remain near the nest, recovering and regaining energy after spawning.

It’s worth noting that while bass may not feed as actively during spawning, they may still exhibit some opportunistic feeding behavior if presented with enticing prey that comes close to their nests. This behavior is more likely seen in male bass, still focused on protecting the nest and territory. However, it’s generally less common for bass to actively pursue and consume food during this time than in other periods.

Why do Bass Eat My Bait?

So, why are baits and lures effective at catching fish? Baits and lures work primarily for anger, hunger, and curiosity.

When trying to catch any fish, a lure or bait that looks and acts like something part of their staple diet is a decent method of securing a bite.

This might consist of salamanders, shad, insects, worms, or crawfish for bass. When using these types of bait, it’s important to try to make it look natural or injured. Twitching the rod as you retrieve your lure can give the bait the characteristics of something injured, but experiment with various methods to see what works best for the fish you’re trying to catch.

When bass are in spawning season, you might have to be more persistent in a particular area. This is because the bass is more likely to attack lures based on protecting a nest rather than out of anger. If you can act as a persistent threat, you’re more likely to cause the bass to strike.

Do Miracle Baits Work?

We’ve all seen the adverts for miracle baits, and it’s difficult not to be drawn in by the amazing claims they make. If it helps me land a huge bass, then $19.95 is reasonable, right? We need to ask ourselves, do miracle baits work as described?

In my experience, miracle bait works as much as any other bait. The key to using miracle baits or any other bait is ensuring it’s what the Bass are looking for. I’ve used a miracle bait that was advertised late at night. The bait itself looked the part. It was a pretty convincing shad, and it was made of three movable parts. This means it looked like a shad swimming when it moved through the water.

Despite the lure looking the part, I had no luck using it over two weeks. Then, one evening, I saw Shad near the surface of the water being chased by something; I threw my lure out and had a strike on the first cast.

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The lesson here is that the lure didn’t work because the Bass wasn’t hunting shad during most of my fishing trips; as soon as they were, my lure worked.

I would suggest considering miracle baits, but remember that you must be aware of the bass’s behavior and try to mimic the prey they’re looking for. Any bait can work if you think about how you’re using it, and spending more on a lure won’t necessarily increase your catches.

Season Changes Affect What Bass Eat

You’ve probably noticed that the food available to us tends to change with the seasons, such as summer, fall, winter, and spring.

This is part of the natural growing cycle, and it might be more pronounced in colder climates with significant temperature changes between winter and summer.

Spring and summer might be filled with outdoor foods, picnics, barbecues, fruit, salads, and lighter food types. We may also eat later at night due to the longer daylight hours. In the winter, we might be inclined to eat earlier as it gets dark earlier. We might also eat foods that are more filling and warmer.

Just like humans, bass eating habits change with changes in the seasons. Like all fish, bass are cold-blooded, so temperature greatly influences how they behave and what they eat. When it’s spring, bass are more likely to be found in shallower water, but when it gets too hot, they retreat into the depths. When the surrounding water begins to chill, the bass’s metabolism will slow, meaning they don’t need to eat as much and are generally more sluggish.

Knowing how the temperature affects fish will allow you to judge better their location and how ferocious their appetite will likely be.

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Conclusion

Bass will try to eat almost anything smaller than themselves, including mice, rats, insects, crawfish, birds, other fish, and salamanders. They have fantastic eyesight, a sense of hearing, and can smell things pretty well.

Bass, both largemouth and smallmouth, are predatory fish that have a diverse diet. They are opportunistic feeders and will consume a variety of prey based on availability and their specific habitat. Here are some common food sources for bass:

Bass primarily feeds on other fish, including smaller species such as shad, bluegill, sunfish, minnows, and crayfish. They are skilled ambush predators and often target injured or weakened fish.

Crawfish are a favorite food for bass. These crustaceans are found in freshwater bodies and provide a high-protein meal for bass.

Bass are known to eat frogs, especially during the warmer months. They prey on adult frogs and tadpoles, as they are readily available in aquatic environments.

Bass will also feed on various insects and invertebrates, including insects that fall into the water, worms, leeches, and shrimp. They will opportunistically target these food sources when available.

If they inhabit their environment, bass may consume other crustaceans, such as shrimp, small crabs, freshwater shrimp, and crawfish.

When it comes to the timing of their feeding, bass are most active during certain periods of the day and under specific conditions:

Bass are often more active during low-light conditions, such as early morning and evening. They tend to be more aggressive and may feed actively near the water’s surface.

Bass activity and feeding patterns are influenced by water temperature. In warmer water, they become more active and feed more frequently. As the water temperature drops, their metabolism slows down, and they may become less active and feed less frequently.

Bass behavior and feeding habits can vary depending on the season. In spring and fall, when water temperatures are moderate, bass are typically more active and feed more actively. During summer and winter, when water temperatures are at extreme ends of the spectrum, they may be less active and feed less frequently.

It’s important to note that bass feeding behavior can also be influenced by local conditions, availability of food sources, and the specific body of water they inhabit. Observing local fishing reports, understanding the habitat, and experimenting with different lures and baits can help increase your chances of catching bass based on their feeding preferences in a particular area.

These make bass an accomplished hunter and should influence how you catch them. As the seasons and weather change, your tactics and baits should change to meet the bass’s needs at that time. Imagine the behavior of their favorite foodstuff, and you might find the fish you catch increases significantly. Remember that there isn’t one ‘best bait’; instead, think about what you’re doing, and you should have no problems catching monster fish when out fishing.

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