We're gonna talk about where to find bass,and methods and techniques for catching them.I like to catch them.Are you ready because we're gonna start right now.

You can find bass all over the place.I didn't do any research,but I bet you can find bass in every US state,except Alaska

Bass will live in tiny drainage ponds,or huge reservoirs.It might be in a small warm water creek,or a big cold river.They're like everywhere!There's a word for that ubiquitous,look it up.

So when you've located a piece of water that you would like to fish for bass.
Where should you look?I've got one word for you transitions,well 2 words I guess: transitions and structure.

Let's talk about structure first.You probably already know what this means:
peers docks down trees rock piles Lily pads.Anything that's in the water that's not water.It doesn't have to be big.One stick can hold a fish.

Bass are ambush predators.They sit and wait for prey to bumble along in front of them and then they attack.Bass use structure to hide,structure is a good place to find bass.

Transitions can be more subtle than structure,and tougher to figure out.
The transition is just where one thing changes into another,like the edge of a weed bed.Or where rocky bottom changes into muddy.Or weedy bottom.Or where shallow water meets deep water.I don't mean like a steady slope.I mean where you have shallow water.That ends in a drop off to deep water.That's a transition.That's a good place to find bass.Fish those edges and transitions
oh points and coves are really good too.

Before we go any further.I want to say that I know not everyone has access to a beautiful Bass Lake.Like this one where I am right now.This place has it all
weed lines down snags docks Mark brush piles everything.But I grew up bass fishing probably a lot like you.Just kicking it around the neighborhood.All you kids out there that are riding your bike.To fish a drainage pond,or sneak onto a golf course.Y'all are the real MVPs.

You don't need a sparkly bow with a 250 on the back,and a dozen rods laid out on the deck.That stuff is nice but most people don't fish like that.Don't believe everything you see on the gram.

Alright now let's talk about how to catch them.Like this get the fly in front of the fish's face.That's the hardest part.I'm not gonna cover all of the different ways to fish all of the different bass flies.

Put your fly in front of a fish and twitch it,and move it around and stuff.If you see a fish great cast to it.The fat end not the skinny end.But most of the time
you'll be fishing blind and just casting it.Stuff that looks good,like those structures.Transitions that we talked about,you'll have to get your fly close
the fish are not gonna move very far to eat.

So hit that dock with your fly,don't be scared to get caught in a tree.If you can get your fly way back there,into that thick stuff.You're probably gonna catch more fish.Landing your popper 5ft away from a stump.Isn't gonna cut it,hit the stump.If you're fishing something like a weed line or a shoreline.

If possible try to swim your fly,parallel to whatever you're fishing.It's better to swim your fly alongside that feature,rather than cast at it and pull it away.It keeps the fly in that sweet spot for longer.So you've found the right lake.You cast your bug into a sweet clump of Lily pads and twitch it around.A little bit what happens next.Well hopefully it's something like a toilet flushing in front of you.A woosh!Well you set the hook

You're not trout fishing here,so you're gonna have to break all those habits.
You don't have to set the hook immediately.A bass will chew on your fly for a bit and that's okay.They eat pokey things like crawdads and baby snapping turtles all the time.If they chomp down in your fly and feel the hook.That doesn't mean they're gonna spit your fly out.So you don't have to have lightning quick reflexes
but you can't just sit there all day.Before you set the hook.Just wait a second.That's all it takes.

Before you set the hook,this is most important when fishing surface flies.
These fish have big mouths.They're called large mouth bass for crying out loud！You have to give them time to close their mouths.Take that fly down.Just a little though not too much.

How do you set the hook then?Well your strip set don't trout set.Keep your rod tip low and pull back on the fly line with your line hand.Once you've got a solid hook up, you can bend the rod and the wood to them as they say.I know you might want to do that Bass master's Hook set.Because it looks super awesome.
But don't do it!