Do Bass eat snakes? Turns out they do!
Ever see a snake swimming across the water? Despite most snakes being accomplished swimmers, they look pretty vulnerable, don’t they? I’ve always thought there’s no way an opportunistic fish like a bass could pass up such an obvious meal.
Yes, yes they do.
There’s actually snake fishing lures on the market. They do a good job of imitating a snake swimming across the top of the water. The Savage Gear 8″ Floating Snake (Amazon Link)
Proof that this snake lure catches bass.
The thing with fishing snake lures is the bite can be intermittent. You’re likely to catch fewer, but bigger fish fishing a snake lure than other more traditional lures.
You can also use non-snake-specific lures to imitate a snake swimming across the water. It’s not an exact match, but it still catches bass. If you rig a plastic worm weedless it will do a good job of imitating a snake by swimming along (or just below) the water surface.
Most plastic baits aren’t fully buoyant, but you can keep them on the surface. The way you fish this rig is to keep your rod tip high (not quite vertical, but close), and reel in fast enough that the lure doesn’t have time to sink.
When & where should you fish a snake lure for bass?
Dawn, dusk, and night fishing tends to be more productive for topwaters of all variety. That being said, the video above proves this lure works in the middle of a relatively bright day as well.
As for time of year, snakes become more active in warmer weather. The hotter the weather, the more active snakes are and the more snakes you’ll find swimming across the water. This is the best time to use snake lures. In my area, this would be July and August. The effective months would stretch longer the further south you go.
This type of lure is more geared towards largemouth than smallmouth bass, and the water you should fish it in is no different. Snakes rarely swim in fast current, so try fishing this lure in slack water that you think bass are holding in. Along weed lines, by downed trees, and along drop-offs by shorelines are all good spots to try fishing a snake lure.
Snakes aren’t the only reptile that bass will eat. It’s well known that they eat lizards (specific critter people are referring to is usually an amphibian) and even turtles. Bass diets are only really limited by what fits in that big bucket mouth of theirs. They not only eat things larger than you might think, but smaller than you might think as well.
What else eats snakes?
Honestly? Most predatory fish species big enough to view one as a meal.
In my area, pike and musky come to mind. Members of the Esox (Pike and their relatives) genus are highly predatory and will make a meal of most appropriately sized critters. Given that fishing for pike with topwater is so fun, a snake lure would be a blast to target these fish with as well.
Even fish you wouldn’t think would even consider a snake a meal will eat snakes. Take this brook trout for example with a half-digested snake hanging out of its mouth.
