How to Choose a Bass Lure: Season, Temperature, Clarity

The short answer

Choose a bass lure by working through four conditions in order: water temperature, which sets how fast and how deep bass feed; water clarity, which sets color and noise; light and time of day; then depth and cover. Start with the lure the table suggests, then change speed or size until bass respond.

This guide builds a decision table and a short routine from state wildlife agency pages and bass-fishing publications, so you can run it at the ramp or on the bank.

It covers largemouth bass first, with notes where smallmouth behave differently. It does not explain what each lure type is; our guide to the types of fishing lures does that, so keep it open if a name below is new.

What you need

A water temperature reading. A fish finder or boat display, a pocket thermometer, or your state agency’s weekly fishing report (Iowa’s agency, for one, offers a “Sign up for the Weekly Fishing Report” list).
A small spread of lures that reaches the surface, the middle and the bottom. Kayak Angler’s bass guide says bass anglers “should amass an arsenal of lures for bass in active, neutral, and negative feeding moods.”
A fishing licence. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says “First, you’ll need a fishing license,” and “Every state has slightly different rules, so look up your state for state-specific requirements.”
A life jacket on, in or near the water. The National Park Service’s fishing safety page says: “Always wear your U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket when you are on, in, or near the water.”

The decision table: season and water temperature

Water temperature is the first filter because it decides where bass are and how hard they will chase. The rows below are starting points taken from the state agency pages named in each row, not guarantees; bands that no agency gives are marked as our reading, and temperatures vary between agencies and between lakes.

Season and water temperature	What bass are doing	Lures to start with
Winter, below about 50°F (10°C)	Iowa DNR: “Bass feeding is greatly reduced below 50 degrees as they become tired.” MassWildlife: bass can be caught “in deeper water using slower action.”	Slow lures in deep water. Mystery Tackle Box, a tackle retailer, suggests a jig hopped along steep rocky banks or a slender crankbait with a subtle wobble.
Early pre-spawn, warming water, about 50 to 55°F (10 to 13°C) (our reading of Iowa DNR’s 50°F feeding line and Oklahoma’s 55°F line)	Moving from deep winter areas toward spawning areas; Oklahoma’s wildlife department says the biggest bass become active as water stabilizes at or above 55°F (13°C).	Large-profile swimbaits, jerkbaits, lipped and lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits retrieved slowly (Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation).
Pre-spawn, about 55 to 62°F (13 to 17°C)	Iowa DNR: bass “move into shallow water to actively feed” and “become more aggressive.”	The same family, now with more speed: Iowa notes that cruising females “often hit faster moving lures.” MassWildlife suggests jerkbaits with long pauses or a slowly crawled jig.
Spawn, about 62 to 65°F (17 to 18°C) and up	Males guard nests in shallow water; Iowa DNR says “Fishing success drops quickly in the spawning season.”	Pitched soft plastics such as lizards, tubes and craws, with long slow retrieves (Oklahoma). Expect single fish, not groups.
Just after the spawn (a week or two)	Oklahoma: a “post-spawn lull” when “the bite can be slow for a week or so.”	Iowa: slower lures that “can suspend and be paused for long periods of time,” fished on the outer edges of flats.
Late spring into the 70s°F (above 21°C)	Oklahoma: some bass form loose schools in open water and over vegetated flats; others hold on docks and cover.	Topwater in the low-light hours (Oklahoma); work docks that have vegetation and a quick change in depth underneath.
Summer, water above about 75°F (24°C)	Iowa DNR: “Summer is the most difficult and challenging time to fish for largemouth bass.” Bass feed shallow early, late and at night, and deeper in between.	Topwater, buzzbaits and frogs in the shallows early and late in the day; jigs, soft plastics and crankbaits for deeper fish (Kentucky DFWR).
Fall, cooling water, 70°F (21°C) down to the mid-50s (about 13°C)	Iowa DNR: below 70 degrees bass “move back into shallow waters” and “feed aggressively to prepare for winter” as water falls from 60 to 50 degrees, but at the low to mid-50s “bass will return to deep waters.”	MassWildlife: “switch back to some of the same approaches used during the spring,” and in-line spinners work in spring and fall when there is less vegetation. Once the water reaches the low to mid-50s, switch to the winter row.

Oklahoma’s 6 to 20 feet (2 to 6 m) applies to pre-spawn bass in general, not only the first weeks, and Iowa DNR adds that bass stay in deeper water before spawning and “move closer to spawning areas as the water warms to about 55 degrees.” For the pre-spawn rows, our early spring bass lures roundup compares picks.

Temperatures are Fahrenheit as the agencies give them; the Celsius figures are converted from those. The rows describe largemouth. MassWildlife notes that in summer, smallmouth “spend bright daylight hours in deeper water and move to shallow water to feed in the evening and overnight,” so shift your smallmouth plan deeper and later; our river smallmouth lure roundup covers that fish.

Ready to buy?

When the water cools into the low 50s, in late fall or winter, and the table sends you to slow, deep lures, our roundup of bass lures for winter compares ten picks.

Choose and adjust on the water, step by step

Read the water temperature

Take the surface reading where you will fish, then find the row in the table. Water at 50 to 55°F matches two rows, so choose by season and direction: warming in spring means the early pre-spawn row; cooling in fall means the fall row’s low-50s line and the winter row. In the cold rows, start slow: Oklahoma’s agency advises “Keep your retrieve speeds slow especially in the early days of the pre-spawn period.”

Judge the clarity

Look at how deep you can see a lure. Clear or lightly stained water calls for natural colors; stained or muddy water calls for more vibration and either brighter or darker high-contrast colors, depending on whose advice you follow (details in the next section).

Note the light

Dawn, dusk, overcast and night each change the lure; see the sections on time of day and after dark below.

Pick the depth and the cover

Match the lure to where bass hold: shallow grass and wood, matted vegetation, or deep points and ledges (see the cover list below).

Make the first casts with one lure

Only cast where fishing is permitted, and keep the hooks away from people: the National Park Service lists “Don’t get hooked, prevent and treat fishing hook related injuries” among its fishing safety tips. Fish the lure at the pace in the table for a dozen casts or so before judging it.

Read the bites and adjust one thing at a time

Change speed first, then size, then color, so you know what made the difference. The list after these steps says what each kind of bite is telling you.

Release the fish with care

Oklahoma’s wildlife department says: “Fish should be held in a horizontal position with two hands; one under the bottom jaw and one wrapped around the tail.” It adds that big bass cannot support the weight of their bodies with their jaws extended when held vertically.

If the bites tell you something

Fish following but not biting: Iowa DNR says soft plastics “can slow down and catch fish that short strike” a hard bait such as a crankbait or spinnerbait.
Tough bites: Kentucky’s agency says “Tough bites may require lighter line and weights with smaller plastic baits.”
Fish chasing hard: Iowa DNR says to “increase the speed of retrieve if bass are aggressively feeding.”
Fish not interested: Iowa DNR advises “If the fish are tired, use very subtle baits,” and Kayak Angler suggests Ned rigs and slider worms for “less active bass tempted by slowly falling lures.”
Not sure what they are eating: Iowa DNR says “Match the size of natural baitfish or crayfish the bass are eating.”

How clarity changes the choice

Clarity changes the color you tie on and how much noise the lure makes. Iowa DNR and Bassmaster, the magazine of the B.A.S.S. tournament organization, agree on blades and vibration but not on color: Iowa DNR wants brighter colors in stained water, while Bassmaster’s pros go to dark soft plastics.

Water	Color	Size and vibration
Clear to lightly stained	Iowa DNR: “Use natural color lures that match colors fish usually see when fishing clear to lightly stained water.” Bassmaster says pros favor watermelon soft plastics in clear water.	Iowa DNR: smaller, thinner blades and a smaller bill. Bassmaster: nickel blades in clear water, willow-leaf blades when it is clear and warm.
Stained	Iowa DNR: “Brighter, more vibrant colored lures are needed to lure bass to bite when the water is stained or turbid.” Bassmaster pros go to green pumpkin, black and blue, or junebug.	Iowa DNR: larger blades that make more vibration. Bassmaster: gold blades, and Colorado blades in cooler, stained water.
Very muddy	Iowa DNR groups stained and turbid water together: brighter, more vibrant colors.	Iowa DNR: “If the water is very turbid, bass must use the vibration and noise a lure makes to find it,” so favor wide bills and big blades.

For spinnerbaits, Bassmaster’s pros call chartreuse and white “the universal color.” Do not over-think color, though. Bassmaster reports that its pros agree “knowing the water, learning where fish will be during certain times of the year or under certain conditions, is far more important than the color lure you try to feed them.”

Time of day, depth and cover

Light changes where bass sit, and cover tells you which lure can reach them.

Dawn and dusk. Kentucky’s agency says “Look for bass shallow early in the morning and late in the evening. Fish deeper as the day progresses.” It adds that farm ponds will produce at the same times.
Bright midday. Virginia’s wildlife agency chief of fisheries writes that “When it gets bright, bass seek shade,” and he moves to matted vegetation, where “Frogs and toads really shine.”
Overcast. MassWildlife suggests “using bright colored lures when the sun is shining, and dark colored lures when it’s overcast or dark.”
Shallow wood, docks and scattered grass. Surface lures and buzzbaits early; Mike Bednarski, Virginia DWR’s chief of fisheries, says he does best between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m. with topwater around scattered vegetation “in 1 to 5 feet of water.” That is his own method, not an agency rule.
Deep points, ledges and other deep structure. Kentucky’s agency recommends “jigs, soft plastics and crankbaits for deeper water fishing.”
Not sure where they are. MassWildlife calls a lipless crankbait a way to find fish in a new waterbody, because it can “target fish both deep and shallow depending on how fast you retrieve.” Kayak Angler also says spinnerbaits, swimbaits and crankbaits “can cover lots of water.”
Crankbait bills. Mystery Tackle Box says square bills “work well around wood” and round lips “dive the deepest.”

Fishing from shore follows the same logic: Virginia’s agency says shallow summer bass can be caught “from a boat, kayak, or even from shore,” and Iowa DNR says rip-rap along the dam and the edges of vegetation beds hold actively feeding bass in summer. For soft plastics at any depth, our bass fishing worms roundup compares options, and our bass fishing tips for beginners covers the basics of reading a lake.

After dark

Iowa DNR says “Bass move into shallow water near shore to eat in the early morning, late evening and night,” so the shallows stay worth fishing once the light is gone. Two changes follow:

Lean on vibration and silhouette. FishUSA, a tackle retailer, writes that “At night, bass rely less on sight and more on their lateral line to detect movement and vibration in the water,” and that dark colors “silhouette better against the night sky.” That fits Iowa’s turbid-water advice: big blades and wide bills.
Go dark in color. MassWildlife’s staff suggest dark lures when it is overcast or dark.

Rules on night fishing, boat lights and licences are set state by state, so check your state wildlife agency’s regulations before you go. Put the life jacket on before you leave the ramp.

Topwater, briefly

The agencies cited here mostly place topwater at dawn, dusk and in low light. Kentucky’s agency lists “Pop-R, buzzbaits, weedless frogs and weightless senko-type baits” as good topwater choices, and MassWildlife says the Rebel Pop-R “is a classic standby for early morning and evening topwater fishing.” Oklahoma’s agency says the late spring is when to start working topwater baits “during the low light hours.” Our roundup of bass topwater lures compares specific picks.

Mistakes that cost bites

Fishing fast in cold water. Oklahoma’s agency says to keep retrieves slow early in the pre-spawn, and Iowa DNR says feeding drops below 50 degrees.
Expecting a crowd on the nest. Iowa DNR: “Bass are solitary, lonely spawners, so don’t expect to catch several at one place.”
Changing color before speed or depth. Bassmaster’s pros rank knowing the water above lure color.
Skipping shade and depth when the summer sun is high. Virginia DWR’s fisheries chief says bass seek shade when it gets bright, and Kentucky’s says to fish deeper as the day progresses.
Holding a big bass by the jaw. See the release step above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What lure should I use for bass today?

Take the water temperature, then the clarity, then the light, and read the matching row of the table. Start there and adjust speed before color.

Q. What lure attracts bass the most?

No single lure wins everywhere. Mystery Tackle Box, a tackle retailer, calls skirted jigs the “undisputed champ” of year-round baits, but Bassmaster’s pros say knowing the water matters more than the lure’s color.

Q. What is the hardest month to catch bass?

It depends on the lake. Iowa DNR calls summer “the most difficult and challenging time” for largemouth and says “Starting in late June through late August or early September, the water temperature tops 75 degrees.” It also says feeding is greatly reduced below 50 degrees.

Q. What lures work for bass in winter?

Slow lures fished deep. MassWildlife says bass can be caught in winter “in deeper water using slower action”; our bass lures for winter roundup compares picks.

Q. What about striped bass?

Striped bass are a different fish, and the table above is built from largemouth and smallmouth pages. In Kentucky’s Lake Cumberland, the state agency says “Finding schools of baitfish is critical to catching striped bass.” Check your state agency for local stripers.

Q. Do I need a licence to try these lures?

Plan on it. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says “First, you’ll need a fishing license,” and “Every state has slightly different rules, so look up your state for state-specific requirements.”

Sources (11)

Outgearly Team

Written and reviewed by the Outgearly Team. See the About page for how we work.