Anglers and bass fishers have long relied on lizards to staple in their tackle boxes and diets. You can use lizards from spring through fall, but they are most effective in the spring. Largemouth bass like these baits a lot.
It has become very popular to use plastic lizards as soft-plastic bait. The weight and bulk of these worms allow them to be fished weightlessly in shallow water.
That being said, we are not going to talk about plastic lizards. Instead, we will be focusing on live lizards.
For this technique, you should use it during the summer when it is easier to find lizards on the rocks. The early morning hours, in the evening, and late at night are usually the best times for the fish to bite.
Why Lizards?
Many parts of the country are abundant with salamanders, newts, anoles, and other scurrying reptiles, and when they make their way to the water, bass makes quick work of eating them.
Springtime is when spawning takes place, and eggs are produced when spawning takes place. Essentially, this means food for salamanders. The bass’ responsibility is to guard their beds against predators, especially lizards, which will be swallowed whole by them.
As mentioned before, another reason why bass love lizards are that they are protein-rich and move slowly in the water, which makes them easier to catch.
Why Would Anyone Use A Lizard As A Fishing Bait?
A decent-sized animal swimming at the surface will attract the attention of carnivores such as bass, pike, and many others. Many underwater predators prey on lizards and salamanders as they tread water.
Many people think of salamanders and newts as terrestrial creatures, but they are aquatic creatures that hunt tiny bugs and bits of the detritus in water.
Lures made from artificial lizards are most often used. In addition to saving actual lizards from being used, these products sometimes come with neat little extras like enticing scents or flashy speckles. You can easily reuse them because they are rubbery and tough.
In addition to being buoyant, some of them can be used to simulate small swimming lizards, although most ‘lizard’ lures are used to simulate salamanders that seek out detritus.
Many people using live lizards on a line are those who have caught them, and not many compared to the large fishing community. The reason for this is that fish view lives bait as most realistic because it’s actually alive.
It may seem as if some consider this a significant factor, but I find it extremely unnecessary, unethical, and ineffective.
The lizard will have a very unpleasant final experience during which it will bleed out, run out of energy, or collapse from shock before it totters out.
Catching Live Lizards
The best place to find lizards is along a rocky shoreline. Get as close to lizards that are basking on rocks as possible and throw a towel over them. As soon as the lizard lands on the towel, it will be trapped, and you will be able to pick it up.
Afterward, you can chuck the hook into the water after running the hook through the lizard. Hooking them is best done through the belly.
Launch your lizard into the water using a rod and reel. When you use this technique, you let the lizard’s kicks do all the work and have him sit in the water until he sinks.
Within seconds of hitting the water, the bass will crush the lizard. The rod that you’re using must be holding tight to this rod of yours, as they hit hard on this technique! I find this method interesting.
How To Rig Live Lizards?
Using lizards as bait gives anglers a wide range of options, including how they can rig and work them. When working with lizards, the Carolina rig is the most popular choice, as it can be moved carefully and slowly through the water.
As the sinker impacts the bottom, it will produce dust and make noise, which will entice fish to investigate the disturbance.
A Texas rig is necessary when the cover is thick. Using this tactic, the lizard will be punched through thick cover to the bottom, where it can find lizards.
The same applies to rigging lizards on jig heads, such as football heads. A bed can be picked apart like a Thanksgiving turkey with this setup, and you’ve got a bass assassin at your disposal.
Hook Placement For Lizards
- Towards The Hind Leg
A hook placed here won’t be able to escape the tough tissue here, so a lizard cannot escape it. In addition, hooking it through the lips will result in it living longer. •
- Through The Lips
If small plastic stop tabs have not been attached to the hook, then a lizard will squirm out of the hook and off the hook through its lips. The tabs must be placed above and below the lizard’s lips like bread and butter on a sandwich on the hook.
How do you get these tabs? These can be cut from the tops of the food containers found in supermarkets nowadays. It’s a pain in the neck, to be honest. Glue them behind the leg and call it a day.
You should avoid lizards with a length greater than five inches. The longer the lizard, the more chances you have of getting a “short strike.” Rigs for live baiting lizards
- Split-Shot Rig
- Slip-Sinker
What Time Of Year Can You Fish With Lizards?
It is possible to catch some savage strikes by fishing for lizards in spring near shallow cover. Post-spawn, or later in the summer, you can still expect hard strikes when fishing Texas or Carolina rigs. The good thing about lizards is that you can tie them on almost throughout the year and almost anywhere.
However, as tempting as it is to use live lizards, if you don’t feel at ease during fishing with a live lizard, do some practice fishing using artificial lizard baits.
Final Words
Lizard baits are available from a variety of companies, and virtually every plastic manufacturer has lizard designs in its offerings. To begin, I suggest you start with your favorite brand or scent.
Those who have never used a lizard before should start with natural-looking colors, such as black, green pumpkin, and watermelons seeds. The natural colors of these colors can be used anywhere and can provide satisfactory results.
Those who would like to catch bass should appeal to their biological instincts, and nothing screams “attack me” as loudly as a lure that mimics an egg predator.
You should pick up a few lizard baits if you haven’t done so before and take advantage of the bass’ spawning instincts before the end of the season. You know lizards are one of the favorite lures to the anglers who want to catch giant bass in the pond.
You will be glad you flipped it and dragged it across the bed, provoking that vicious strike. And that’s all there is to know about fishing with live lizards.
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