9 Bass Fishing Tips to Level Up Your Game

There’s a short list of things that quietly separate anglers who catch fish from anglers who don’t. None of it is gear. Most of it happens before the first cast — or in the decisions made when the bite goes quiet.

Nine basics. All of it doable from the bank. The one that surprises most people is number nine, because when the bite gets tough, the instinct is to start marching and switching lures every 10 minutes. That move costs more fish than almost anything else on this list. Get these down and the water stops feeling random.

0:00 Do your homework before you leave the house
0:53 Find the cover, find the bass
1:31 Match the hatch on your specific water
2:14 Water temperature — and why the trend beats the number
2:49 How weather shifts the bass and what to throw when it does
3:26 Why wind is one of the best things that can happen to you
3:52 Be versatile — the fastest way to stall out
4:39 Learn your knots before you need them
5:10 Be persistent when the bite gets tough