The Bass Fishermen's Guild have long guarded their secrets for catching bass, but just as there has been a trend in magic of magicians revealing how they did a trick, so too have Guild Bass Fishermen begun to reveal what techniques and bait they use.
Fender Precision:
The standard method is slow trolling with a speckle-patterned 3 oz. spoon (the heavier the spoon, the better the tone of the P-Bass you'll catch). NB Very IMPORTANT: Liberally smear the spoon with bacon grease.
If given a choice such as this, always go for the more speckled option!
Speckled = the traditional red-diamond is quite good;
Striped = increased deadspots on the neck.
Fender Jazz:
Jazz basses tend to ignore whatever works for P-Basses. The method Jazz basses respond best to seems to be jigging.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] A 9 oz Jig suitable for catching a Jazz with Olympic White finish (colour of the bass isn't necessarily always dependent on the colour of the jig or lure, but it helps).
If you intend to play a lot of solos on your Jazz or play anything like Jaco or Rocco, stick to short-stroke jigging (use chicken grease on the lure); If you play a broad range of musical styles and still get to solo on occasion try short- & long-stroke jigging (olive oil on the lure); If you're a roots-music player and/or stick to roots and "meat & potatoes" type of playing you won't go wrong with long-stroke jigging for your Jazz (lanolin as the base smell).
Curiously, the aforementioned techniques for Fender Jazz will not work on other Jazz basses such as a Lakland, though you could experiment with the type of lure and odorant (bacon grease perhaps?).
Music Man Stingray:
The MM Stingray is pretty straightforward to catch, so it's a wonder non-guild Bass fishermen didn't figure this out sooner.
Shrimp.
It is simply the most efficacious way to catch a MM Stingray, bait hooks with shrimp and you'll have a Stingray hitting your line in no time. Now shrimp-shaped plugs can work, too, but they need to be soaked in shrimp brine before use, so why bother – use fresh live shrimp for the best tone!
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Well...
That's all the info I have at the moment. I'll come back and post on the somewhat more rare bass catching techniques such as those for Gibson SGs and the delicate hollowbodies of Hagstrom and Guild.
Good luck catching your Bass!
