When anglers talk tactics, one question often arises, whether the gathering is on a family vacation or around the tournament weigh-in stage. What size lure should I use? New anglers are puzzled by countless choices offered in catalogs, shops, and webstores. Even grizzled veterans can be bamboozled by their own vast collections of crankbaits, topwaters, and swimbaits.

After decades of fishing and studying aspects of bass biology, I offer one logical step in this decision process: Effective presentations start with understanding the seasonal cycles of bass and their food.

Bass eat whatever they can catch, with little discrimination except for times of target fixation, when a particular prey is so abundant that fish key on a visual or behavioral clue that is prey-specific. Bass fixated in this manner typically are “schoolies” working large schools of identical-sized shad, shiners, or other pelagic preyfish. Most other prey types are never so abundant in any one place or at any given time.

Size of the most abundant prey fluctuates in an annual cycle. As a result, there are seasonal differences in the size of prey that bass routinely catch and eat.

Winter

Once winter arrives, most available prey are adult-sized for their species because most small prey have been eaten. Surviving preyfish tend to be big, fast, wary, and experienced with predators. Prey are slowed by lower metabolism in winter but so are bass, so large prey become more difficult for bass to catch. Bass strike large prey only if they instinctively consider it both catchable and vulnerable.

Except for the most actively feeding fish, bass have a small strike window during winter, a limited range for pursuing and striking prey. As a result, anglers often must place large lures very close to individual bass to draw strikes in cold water. On the other hand, small and slow-moving lures typically work better, since they seem to bass more vulnerable and easily catchable.

But when you find concentrations of bass, multiple casts with large lures can be extremely effective, since your odds of placing a lure in the strike windows of individual fish are excellent. Examples include working large groups of deep bass with big, deep-diving crankbaits, outsize spinnerbaits, swimbaits, or spoons.

Late Winter and Early Spring

During this period, bass are increasingly active, but even fewer small prey are available, since last year’s crop of young preyfish has either grown up or been eaten. Bass activated by increasing water temperature and the need to gain spawning condition have a strong need for food. As a result, they prefer large preyfish and crayfish, if they can find them.

But prey of any size are scarce at this time. This scenario typically translates to good fishing, because bass now are actively hunting food for longer periods. Big jigs, cranks, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits are optimal lures for covering water to find numbers of scattered bass, or the large concentrations that sometimes occur at this time. This condition prevails until fish head to spawning areas.

Spawn Period

Once bass are nesting, defense not hunger is their primary motive to strike. Prey and nest-raiders remain relatively large, and the most threatening raiders are the largest. As a result, bed fishermen do well with large artificials that imitate nest-raiders.

Postspawn Period

Once off the nest, bass face a modified situation. Few small preyfish remain but they’re tightly grouped, since they’re also moving shallow to spawn. Crayfish move shallow, too, as warmer water also increases their metabolism, and they find live and dead prey most abundant in the shallows.

Even bass with deep home ranges tend to remain shallow for several weeks as long as sunfish or shad are spawning. Large lures continue to work, but smaller, slower baits are more likely to interest bass that are still recovering from the spawning rigors and not yet ready to chase prey. The early Postspawn Period can require considerable experimentation with lure size, color, location, and presentation.

Early Summer

At last, preyfish have spawned, filling the shallows with fry and fingerlings. But until preyfish reach about 11⁄2 inches, they aren’t good targets for adult bass. Tiny prey often escape through gill slits and require more energy to catch than they yield. Adult bass do eat concentrated mouthfuls of small prey, but tiny single preyfish and lures that match the size of the hatch usually aren’t worth the effort of a chase.

Medium-sized lures often work better than large ones, since they tend to appear more vulnerable and easier to catch than those that imitate large preyfish that often dodge attacks. For large lures to be most effective, anglers must work them in a fashion that makes them look injured and vulnerable.

Mid- to Late Summer

Deep-dwelling bass have moved offshore, while shad and other pelagic preyfish schools have formed. Baitfish leave shoreline cover to seek abundant plankton in open water near deep structures. In the absence of threatening deep-water competitors like striped bass, many bass move to deeper structure.

Bass at all depths now focus on pelagic preyfish, with optional snacks of crayfish. Throughout summer, prey increase in average size while numbers are reduced by predation. Because there’s ample prey, bass activity periods tend to be short and tied to times when prey schools are nearby, or when environmental conditions bring optimal feeding opportunities. Lure-size experimentation is required, since prey of all sizes and species typically are abundant.

Early Fall

Most small prey have either grown to medium or adult size or have been eaten. Older, larger prey also are fewer in number as predation and natural mortality take a toll. Exceptions are large species like gizzard shad that outgrow most predators’ ability to catch and eat them.

Medium-sized lures imitate the foods most bass are able to catch and eat. In many waters, pelagic preyfish migrate shallow if plankton is more abundant there, due to water temperature, winds, or nutrient inflows. Bass follow, so anglers should try to match the size and color of available prey in tributary arms and other productive shallow habitats. When the bass are neutral or inactive, however, a large, even gaudy lure may attract more attention and work well during this period.

Late Fall

Most preyfish are now fairly large, although some medium-sized prey remain. Bass once again require longer hunting periods to catch food, but mild water temperatures still allow them a full range of activity, so fishing typically is improved. Large lures become increasingly effective until cooling water reduces bass’ metabolism.

A special feeding opportunity is created after the fall turnover, if falling water temperatures cause a major threadfin shad die-off. While dead and dying shad are plentiful, bass tend to fixate on them, and lures often must closely imitate the dying preyfish.

Overview

There’s no season when a bass angler should consider selecting lures and presentation solely by size. In each season, a combination of factors determines which lure, color, and presentation works best. The size of prey is an important clue to what lure type is most apt to work at a given time. The most important single factor in lure presentation is the need to place a vulnerable and apparently catchable lure within the strike windows of individual bass.

*Ralph Manns, Rockwall, Texas, has contributed many features to In-Fisherman and Bass Guide on bass fishing and fishery science topics.