There are many different techniques when it comes to bass fishing, but here are a couple that all anglers should learn to use.

First, would be a jig, which I believe is one of the most versatile baits out there. There are many different styles and types of jigs.  You have swim jigs, football heads, flipping jigs and many more. There’s also many companies that produce jigs, but at the end of the day when you are just getting started, any jig will work. 

You can fish a jig in almost any cover. You can fish it on the breaklines with a slow hopping retrieve. It could be flipped in pads, rice, reeds, or lay down trees. It is one of the best and most popular baits for fishing docks as well. 

The next technique all anglers should learn to use is a wacky rigged worm, or a neko rig. A wacky rig is one of the easiest and inexpensive techniques out there. You take any soft plastic stick bait and a small 1 or 2 sized hook. The neko rig is basically the same thing, you just add a nail weight to the fat end of the stick bait. 

Neko and wacky rigs can be fished in the same locations. They are very good early spring baits when the spawn is happening. They can be fished around docks and lay down trees. They work well on the edges of pad and rice flats. If you find a breakline that doesn’t have super thick heavy cover, they will work well.

The third technique I think all anglers should learn to use is some sort of bladed moving bait. This could be a chatter bait or a spinnerbait. These are two baits that are excellent in the spring and in the fall, when water temperatures are about 50 degrees to 65 degrees. They will work still in the warmer water, the fish will just be a little more picky with what they want to eat. 

These two baits work extremely well in the springtime when the pad and rice flats aren’t fully grown in. You can swim them across the tops of the vegetation that is there. If you ever have a time when you can see baitfish surfacing, that would also be a good time for one of these 2 baits.

Another technique all anglers should learn is a top water frog. Like the jig, there are several different producers of these and a few types: popping frogs, walking, and gliding. All of these are very good options and will all catch fish. I personally prefer a SPRO walking frog. Topwater frogs will produce all year and will be one of the most visual and exciting bites you get.

Frogs are really nice for working pad and rice flats.  They slide right over all the cover and very rarely get stuck. They also work fairly well on shallow open water flats of grass or around lay down trees and docks.