Bass Fishing Tackle

The bass fishing tackle world has shifted dramatically from live baits to artifical lures in the past ten years. This is especially true in the wealthy realm of the largemouth bass fisherman. If a poll was taken in the United States and a group of 100 bass fishermen from Florida to California were asked to raise their hands if they use artificial lures 100% of the time presently to bass fish, 75 hands would go up. The trend has a few factors as to the shifting of ideas and beliefs. Environmental reasons abound such as not depleting the supply of live bait or maybe there is the repetitive cost factor. Fishermen are more apt to pay 12.00 for a new Rapala than to pay 10.00 each trip out for a bucketful of wild Florida shiners. Every time especially during the hard economically challenging times we fish in today. The live bait is just old hat and too messy, expensive and down-right second to the speed factor of catching bass with artificial bait.

Artificial baits when used for the bass fishing sector is cleaner, more available and never die on the line. The artificial that is a relied upon success can be counted on in almost every application as a live bait would. Once the fisherman has a hit on an artificial, it is next to death for the live baits. What would be the pros for keeping a stinky bait bucket in the garage of your mother in laws house? Sure it gets cleaned out every time, sure mine too. The inside is cleaned with a non-toxic bleach cleaner as to not kill the bait once it is time to refill the bucket and go bass fishing.

The cost, the time that it takes to collect the live bait and then house them too? Keep them alive? Sounds too much like my ex-wife and children but that’s a different story and one that is not fit for the seriousness of the subject of bass fishing. Wrong time, wrong place. The artificial come in so many shapes and sizes that they are now a replica of every available bait source that the largemouth bass would desire. The lures come shaped like shiners, shad, bream and even the highly prized finger mullet . Yes, there is a lure for every application imaginable. The bass fishing a little slow on this early April morning? Need to pick up the pace and hook a few before taking it to the house? Toss that dead shiner that was hung to death on the end of the line and presently is being eyed by that fat-catfish on the bottom of the retention pond. As the corpse of the valiant but doomed shiner is removed and read the last rites before a burial at sea, err, lake, look at the shiny impairment device the hook. Say adios to the shiny piece of tackle it is 100 % artificial time. The bass are not a highly intelligent species and will hit anything that looks like the old live bait. Go artificial the next time Little Billy wants to go down to the pond and try to catch a few bass the new way, artificially. The shiner population says thank you! Bubble Bubble!