Bass Fishing In The Rain

Hello I'm Dwight Norris of fishingatwork.com and today we're going to be talking about bass fishing in the rain. Now if you've seen my the blog post about fishing in the rain you probably are wondering why am I talking about this, but bass fishing in the rain is part of this series. The fishing in the rain blog posts will be the top level.  the most important game fish for freshwater fisherman is largemouth bass.

So let's talk a little bit about that. First of all, you may go to the other post and actually review that first and all the things I've said about basic fishing in the rain and also the gear into some of those highlights as well. The first thing I want to get across is that bass fishing in the rain really isn't about the bass. It's really about yourself. About you getting out there and going fishing. Just because the environment doesn't suit you as a person or individual doesn't mean that the fish aren't biting.

If you lived underwater it's not raining. It's always raining because it's the water and the disturbance that the rain actually puts on the water isn't that much. The fact of the matter is if you want to use something that's a tough word, a bait, like a bass bait or a frog lure they may or may not see that.

They will see a disturbance on top of water. They're looking in that direction. It's like summertime, and they're sitting under a lily pad and it's raining and storming. You see repeated drops falling down all around them. All sudden they see this churn a difference difference in the water. They are able to decipher that with their lateral line.

They win on the fact that they can hear it. It's different than the rain that they're hearing. They go near it and they use their sight and the sight works. Pretty clear water for about 15 to 20 feet. So they can see that something's going on out there. It looks like it might be a school of minnows. It might be a frog, might be a rat, might be a lizard. Who knows. A small duck anything that they may want to get their mouth around and devour. So the fact that it's raining is really irrelevant.

Now what other characteristics or environmental issues do you have to worry about when it's raining? One is a runoff depending on where you are, you may be near some farmlands or chemical factories or other manufacturers that have run off that go from the factory. It may be dirt or manure or some kind of chemical from a chemical plant. Who knows not every place is highly regulated. And when that feeds into the system, or even this dirt in general, just floods into the river and it's murky is dirty, the fish have a hard time seeing what their eyes so they rely more on their actual other senses, which is the sense of sound or they use that like sense but they have like a electronic kind of thing going on.

You probably want those old electronic lures. That's like a type of sound. I click kinda like what the crayfish sounds like. That's another thing but they generally rely. They can't see so they actually rely on that. So you should clue in on that when that happens. It happens in your area because of the rain. Oh wow the river is really muddy right today you know because of the runoff like a matter of is brown I guess I'll this fish for catfish because they use their sense of smell anyway when it's even muddier it add all the use.

Don't be dismayed by the fact that catfish only smell. They do have eyes. They do use them.  They will chase minnows down if they have the energy. Usually when it's younger or it's like right in your face. Though they will chase an actual bait. Not everything has to be about cut bait. For bass fishing in the rain, they are forced to do the same thing if it's in that same environment.

Now in the muddy river, they will have to do the same thing. Catfish does know how to use the other senses. So you should remember that we use your bait selection. Now what if the rain caused another issue maybe it's not muddy maybe the fact is, it's it's causing a an abrupt amount of water to go down the river.

The flow has increased and it's even better when the flow is actually going out. It's really strong. That means that fish will have to take cover. If you know anything about fishing in the river for bass or really any fish don't like working that much. So they hide behind rocks to hide in the corners and the bends of a river because the flow either slows down or whips around the corner and leaves an open space where the fish are.

So let's say there's a corner like this and the water's coming around here on the right. Here is sort of a dead zone because the water is going so fast. Is that able to turn and get around here? It will actually sweep and like a wide angle turn. Funny enough the best place to see this is when you go on a lazy river. You're on a lazy river in your floating tube and having fun time trying to see where those dead zones are. You see people slowing down while you're flying past. You say "haha going faster than you man". Why was that corner slower than where I was?

Was there a jet there pushing me? Was it because of the bend and that's where a nice lazy bass will set and wait for the baitfish to fly around a corner? They choose the biggest one. Too small, too small, too small, big one! It bites it.. It's awesome though even more so that bigger bait was your super six inch long Rapala. The Rapala is in a significantly larger largemouth bass fishing in the rain. That's what we want. So we think about what other things to do. We are bass fishing in the rain so I stated before the other talk is about the fishing gear. The coats, shoes, and pants to keep you dry and keep you warm.

So you can go fishing now and not have to worry about your suit or whatever clothing your wearing while people at the office are dry. That's fantastic. That's great. There's many different companies. It's just too many to even think about. that's awesome you can go look at that. I'll have some link below and the video post or maybe in the description and while you're down there looking at the description subscribe if you'd like the channel like the channel I'm more than happy to answer any comments that you leave behind or any questions I don't answer and this video.

Back to where I was thinking. What else does that especially in a rain. Another thing is to think about all the different ways that you want to present your lure to fish. I believe there's a fisherman from way back called Ricky Cohen who's really into crankbaits. The reason he does this is it covers a lot of water, but it also allows you to see things that you can't see with your eyes. It's down deep and you may bounce off some stumps on a 5 degree angle slope that you didn't know there. We know how much largemouth bass love logs, stumps and structure. 

Not only do you have a nice point or a nice bank when it goes from high to low. We know those changes in depth are really good for holding bass at certain times of the year and certain temperatures. If there's actual structure their like logs, stumps of the kind of brush, man-made stuff, and you find that their are barnacles it could be bad. if it's like tidal water or the ocean there's definitely going to be some fish there. I think it will help you find that you'll have a nice big lip bill you will do a slow retrieve and go deep. Stay deep on like a wooden crankbait. The plastic crankbaits will go deeper and deeper and bounce off structure and you can feel whether it's there or not.

It feels different there's a hard bounce and goes clink and it bounces up and is keeps hitting it like you're getting on rocks or something or there's the drag. It feels like you're got stuck in the mud for a second. It's like that fish because what fish like. it's not a stop and go so you're able to really see and because of the bill and actually bounces off things.

So you are liable to get hung in it like you would have like a slower retrieve lure like a plastic worm and that enables you to learn a lot about where you fish daily. If you're about how to work the the actual shoreline and the deep structure as well to get a figure or imagine what the bottom looks like and why fish will be there and when they will be there and you can use that to your advantage.

So crankbaits are very good. If the weather's permitting like during a rainstorm you may want to go try something later. The sound of water hitting the top may sound loud to us, but down below where sound travels a lot more it's a constant sound. If you hear something obviously you can hear the door. It's something different it's not the rain and you expected what was that it was me knocking on the door and that's what they hear my down below. So like I said before, doesn't really matter that it's raining it doesn't hinder a largemouth bass from finding a lure, inspecting it, and then deciding it was going to eat it or not.

So in retrospect and in conclusion, you don't have to worry about bass fishing in the rain and fast fishing in the rain really isn't different. Bass fishing in the rain around for really anything isn't that different. Matter of fact sometimes it can enhance your fishing experience because you're taking one of those elements out. Your eliminating one of them so the fish don't have to rely on something else.

Maybe it's not sight. Maybe it's not sound. Maybe that sense of smell get them interested because of the rain. Then they have less things to ponder on. Less reasons to not eat your lure. That's what we want. We want them to not think about it. We want reaction bites. Reaction bites mean their just gonna eat it and think about it later. So take all these considerations into thought when you go bass fishing in the rain  and hopefully you'll be able to land a big one and no time.