Bass Fishing Hacks
Simple Hacks and Tips to Help You Catch More Bass
How do you rig a lizard for bass fishing?
The three most popular ways to rig a lizard for bass fishing are with a Texas rig, a Carolina rig or weightless. The lizard was the secret weapon for many bass fishermen back in the 80s and 90s when Zoom lure company first came out with them but for some reason lizards are not as popular today.
This might be because of the advent of creature baits and the various other soft plastic baits that bass fishermen have access to these days. BUT do not underestimate the power of the lizard to catch some monster bass. You can catch lots of big bass all year long with a lizard bait in many different underwater scenarios.
I am a Bass Fishing Charter Guide on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been catching bass in the ponds, canals and lakes all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below I will teach you everything that I know about bass fishing with lizards.
Let’s get started.
Watch the video below and learn how to rig a lizard as a Texas and Carolina rig.
What is the best color lizard for bass fishing?
This is the question that most bass fishermen have about their plastic baits. What are the best colors for bass? It doesn’t matter if it is a worm, a lizard, a crawdad, a creature bait and anything else. When you go to the bait shop there might be 30 different colors to choose from. Trust me when I tell you that you only need 3 different colors to catch bass all year long.
You need to have something like a watermelon, a green pumpkin and something dark like black, purple, blue or June bug. Those three types colors are all that you need for every type of water clarity that you will be fishing in.
Watermelon is the color that the bass pros will usually go to when the water that they are fishing is clear. Sure they might have a watermelon red with some red glitter in the soft plastic but the main color will be watermelon. The light green plastic is more translucent for clear water bass fishing.
You would think that it is hard for the bass to see but they can find it no problem. Get yourself a couple of bags of watermelon colored lizards before your next bass trip. You will be happy that you did.
The next color is green pumpkin. Green pumpkin is the choice of the pros when the water is a little bit stirred up. It is very similar to watermelon but it is more opaque and darker green with a little orange in it. It is really hard to beat this color when the water clarity is somewhere in between clear and somewhat dirty. Get yourself a couple of bags of green pumpkin lizards too.
Last and certainly not least is the old faithful dark colored lizard. Some of the most famous bass fishermen from the 70s and 80s made millions of dollars fishing black, blue or purple colored worms. I think that dark lizards work better than dark worms because of all of the extra appendages that are fluttering through the water. Go get yourself a few bags of dark colored lizards for dirty water conditions.
Those three colors of lizard will work in every water color scenario that you will be confronted with. That is all that you need to catch a lot of bass on your next fishing trip.
How to Carolina rig a lizard for bass fishing
The Carolina rig is a favorite way for bass fishermen to fish a lizard over hard bottoms. This is a simple way to catch some really big bass in shallow waters all the way to deep water scenarios. You set up your lizard rig just like the video above shows and you are ready to catch some big bass.
One of the drawbacks of fishing with a Carolina rig is that it is hard to cast. Many Carolina rig specialists like to use a longer rod than normal. They will use an 8 foot rod because it is easier to cast a Carolina rigged lizard with a 3 foot leader set up. My Carolina rigs are always 24 inches or less so a regular 7 foot rod will do the trick but if you like longer leaders, then you should get a longer rod.
The best reels for a Carolina rigged lizard will have a 6:1 or low 7:1 gear ratios. You can use a spinning reel or a baitcasting reel set up for Carolina rig fishing with lizards. It is up to you.
The technique is very simple. Just cast out your rig and let it sink. Then just drag it slowly on the bottom with a pause every now and again. It doesn’t get much more simple than that. Your lizard will usually be floating just above the bottom to get noticed by the big bass that are around.
How to Texas rig a lizard for bass fishing
A Texas rig is about as simple as it gets for rigging lizards, Just put a bullet weight on your line before you tie your hook on and you are done. You can use a Texas rigged lizard in all sorts of scenarios.
You can pitch it to the shallows in the spring time; you can pitch it in the deep cover for big bass that like the thick stuff; you can pitch it into deeper water in the winter time when the bass are slow and lazy; The bottom line is that you can fish a Texas rigged lizard all year. That is why it is the most popular way to fish soft plastics.
The best technique for a Texas rigged lizard is the lift and drop method. Cast out your bait and lift your rod tip so the lure leaves the bottom, then let it drop back down and reel in the slack. Then repeat the process back to you and cast it out again. You will be amazed at how many bass this simple technique will catch for you.
Watch the video below for the Ultimate Buying Guide for Bass Rod and Reel Combos.
How do you swim a lizard for bass?
Fishing a lizard weightless is a great way to catch finicky bass. This is the simplest lizard rig of all of them. Just put your lizard on the hook and start casting. You can fish a lizard just like you would a wacky rig. A wacky rig is usually a senko style of worm with a hook in the exact middle of the worm.
You cast it out and let it flutter down to the bottom. You don’t twitch it or lift and drop or anything like that. Just cast it and let it sink and then cast it somewhere else and let it sink again. This is a great finesse technique for catching bass with lockjaw.
You can fish a lizard in a very similar way. The legs and tail of the lizard create so much movement that it will flutter to the bottom in a head first fashion very slowly. You can just cast the lizard and let it flutter to the bottom and then cast it somewhere else until you figure out where all of the bass are hiding.
You can also fish a weightless lizard like you would a frog on top of heavy vegetation. You can swim it over the holes in the weeds or between the lily pads to catch those big bass that are lurking in the thick stuff.
You can also pitch a weightless lizard up to the bass beds to catch those males that are guarding their nests. Salamanders are one of the enemies of bass eggs and will gobble them right up if the daddy bass is not diligently protecting his brood. Bass love to kill salamanders.
Just pitch your lizard up to the shallows and slowly swim it through the beds to get some explosive strikes during the spawn.
When is the best time of the year to fish a lizard?
You can catch bass with a lizard all year long. The best time to catch bass in general is the pre-spawn and spawn but bass need to eat all year long. They need to eat less in the winter but they still need to eat.
Spring time is the best time of year to catch some big bass in the shallows. Those big bass that want to spawn move out of their winter living quarters and towards the shallows. You don’t need a boat to catch them because they are right next to the shore lines of the lakes, ponds, rivers and canals all over the United States.
Those big bass have been away from most fishermen for the whole winter. They haven’t seen a bass lure in a while and are more likely to eat one in the spring versus the rest of the year. Spring is your best shot for a personal best size of bass.
Spring time is soft plastic lure time. This is the best time of year to pitch your lizard, worm, crawdad or whatever your go to soft plastic lure is. The bass want to kill anything that gets too close to their babies. You could probably put a piece of broccoli on a hook and catch bedding bass during the spring time.
What sizes do lizard bass lures come in?
The most popular sizes of lizard lures are 4 inches, 6 inches and 8 inches. There are some companies coming out with even larger sizes but the go to sizes are those three. If you ask me it is hard to beat a 6 inch lizard for all around fishing purposes.
Yes, you can nitpick and say a smaller one will work better in thick stuff with a Texas rig or a larger one will work better in the summer months with a Carolina rig, but a 6 inch lizard works all year in all conditions.
I hope this article has convinced you to start fishing with lizards because you will be glad that you did if you don’t use them already. Lizards will continue to catch big bass if you learn how to use them correctly.
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