Bryan Thrift joins The Bass University to provide a seasonal breakdown of when, where & why to throw big baits. Like many other anglers, Bryan Thrift appreciates the big-fish-catching capabilities of big baits, but also the artistry and attention to detail employed in the creation of these baits, often by local lure artisans. Not every day is ideal for fishing a big bait, inherently, you'll almost certainly get fewer bites. In a tournament situation, you may get fewer bites than you need to catch your limit, so you need to select the right times to fish big baits like glide baits, large swimbaits, mop jigs and other large lures. As you might imagine, when fishing big baits, you're targeting big bass, so these are lures that Bryan fishes primarily when he knows the majority of big bass will be in a predictable area. He also needs to know that the body of water he's fishing has a population of big bass large enough to merit fishing these big lures. 

  • 0:17 Big baits are fun and unique
  • 1:16 Big baits in fun fishing vs tournament fishing
  • 6:41 Where majority of big fish need to be for Bryan Thrift to target them with big baits
  • 7:18 Big baits on heavily pressured waters
  • 9:09 Does the lake produce big tournament bags of bass?
  • 9:40 Winter big baits - where, when & why to fish them
  • 24:30 Prespawn big baits - where, when & why to fish them
  • 40:53 Spawn big baits - where, when & why to fish them
  • 45:13 Post spawn big baits - where, when & why to fish them
  • 56:05 Bryan Thrift's Magdraft Deep Swimbait Trick
  • 1:00:28 Autumn/Fall big baits - where, when & why to fish them
  • 1:05:10 Giant topwater baits
  • 1:11:37 Prespawn time to start fishing big glide baits
  • 1:14:34 Getting big bait chasers to bite
  • 1:17:20 Big baits in a tournament fishing situation
  • 1:23:07 Lunar tables and fish committing to big baits

Related Bass Fishing Topics

autumn big bass bryan thrift chatterbaits football jigs glide baits jigs post spawn pre spawn spawn swimbaits topwaters winter

Bass University Annual Membership Sale