ADJUST TO FISHING KEY STRUCTURE
Unlike country bass that live in fertile, shallow waters filled with bass-attracting vegetative gardens, SoCal bass are more urbanized. They tend to reside in multi-family, high-rise structure made of rock. If you want to be consistent catching SoCal bass, you had better learn to fish deep structure, which is a lot more common than cover like weed beds, logs, or boat docks.
FORAGE ADJUSTMENTS
Bass may be bass everywhere, but they eat what is available. To find and catch SoCal bass, you had better learn what they are eating and where their food lives. Shad, trout, crayfish, and occasionally crappie, bluegill, frogs, and sculpin may be on the menu. Be ready to fish frogs in tulles along the shore one minute, and dropshot fifty plus feet the next minute.
CLEAR WATER ADJUSTMENTS
Sure, there are times for 65 lb braid when throwing a Snag Proof Bobby’s Perfect Frog in the shallows, but be ready to dropshot 4 lb test with small soft plastics like a Basstrix Bait Fry, or a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm.
Artificial lures fished on heavy line do not act or look natural to bass in crystal clear water. In Delaware or Maryland, a bass initially relies on its lateral line to
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find its prey, rather than use vision to determine what to strike. Bass only have a split second to commit; so line size or lure realism matters little. Because there is not an abundance of cover or stained water, finicky SoCal bass can often follow and inspect a lure before deciding to eat it.
WIND AND SUN ADJUSTMENTS
People flock to SoCal for the great weather, namely the sun. Because of the clear water and blue skies, sunlight penetrates the depths and allows bass to follow and feed on prey at great depths. This distributes bass over larger areas, rather than concentrating them against the shoreline typical in other regions. The best way to overcome the odds of sunlight penetration and clear water is to focus on key structure, areas with stained water from boat waves eroding the shoreline, or (best of all) fish where wind disturbs the surface.
Surface disturbance from wind achieves multiple conditions that improve an angler’s chances of catching bass. First, it creates some current, even in still bodies of water, providing predatory bass with an advantage over prey.
Wind also pushes zooplankton to the downwind
shoreline, which concentrates shad and other
baitfish to one side of the lake.
The waves created by wind provide additional
oxygen to the water, which stimulates baitfish and
bass activity, and the disturbance greatly reduces
visibility at depths which moves bass shallower
to feed, and improves visibility at the surface
because of the reduction of surface glare.
And finally, wind and waves create a lot
of underwater noise that masks
the presence of anglers and boats,
making bass easier to fool. If you
fish in SoCal, always pay attention to
wind, and fish it.
FLORIDA-STRAIN LARGEMOUTH BASS ADJUSTMENTS
A bass is a bass anywhere, but some are tougher to catch than others. Florida-strain bass are much moodier than northern-strain.
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