Category: The Fishing Archives

Well hello my friends – I hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas!

We sure did…

We’ve now entered into that weird week between Christmas and New Years Day. Many businesses close down. Many individuals take this time off to reflect, watch sportball, go through their movie collection, lounge around… or in some cases: plan.

If you’re a planner like me, this is the best week to get ahead of everyone else – while they’re sleeping off their eggnog comas!

It’s 5 degrees here in Illinois at the time of writing, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the best ways to target bass. Let’s jump back in with this important concept:

Bass are Most Sensitive to Baits Moving Horizontally

“You sure?”

“Yup.”

“How?”

“‘cuz science.”

I was flipping through the pages of In-Fisherman the other day (yes, an actual physical magazine, which is something I highly recommend) and came across a sidebar by Ralph Manns. These smaller side-sections may seem less important than the main articles, but it caught my eye. The title?

Bass Vision & Presentations

Well… that’s generic enough.

Upon closer inspection, it quickly became apparent that what this blurb lacked in quantity, it made up in quality. It starts like this:

Dr. Keith Jones, former director of the Pure Fishing Laboratory, noted that “Many fish, including black bass, appear to be more in-tune with objects moving horizontally than vertically.” He suggests bass may maintain a sharper memory for lures retrieved across their visual fields than lures drifting or falling from above.

Now, we discussed the rest of this sidebar at length in a recent article:

We hit two main conclusions after going through the content – but I wanted to bring up one more important idea.

Manufacturers make a lot of money off of their hard baits. Cranks, plugs, jerks – there are about a billion varieties of hard baits that move across the horizontal plane.

Every year, we hear about the “hot new bait”. Pro anglers and weekend warriors alike start buzzin’ around the ramp, bragging about all the fish they’re landing on the NEW & IMPROVED XYZ.

If bass really have a tendency to prefer horizontal baits, and they also have a tendency to learn and avoid dangerous horizontal baits, it would make sense that a new / popular crankbait would have a limited window of productivity.

The bass simply aren’t conditioned to it.

Yet.

This is very good news for tackle manufacturers.

This also lends itself to the popular idea of “old baits becoming new again”.

If an old bait is made well – if it accurately represents forage, or better yet, an easy meal, there is a good chance that at some point, bass that have been conditioned to a bait may succumb to it again after a certain amount of time has passed.

Therefore, it makes sense for anglers to collect new baits, test (then re-test) old baits, but at the same time discard the least effective baits in search of a collection of producers.

Soft plastics and vertical presentations may provide a certain level of consistency, or longer periods of productivity if the theory above is true.

This reminds me of a mutual fund.

Are you going to have runaway, explosive growth with mutual funds? No, probably not. Are they something you want in your portfolio because historically they provide safer, more consistent gains?

Yes.

Hard baits are closer to speculative investing or individual stocks – they have a chance to be explosive. Hard baits can allow you to move fast, and if you find the right one at the right time, you can land fish after fish after fish. Many of us have memorable “crankbait days”.

I can’t really recall my last dynamite “Senko day”…

They exist, of course… but… maybe they’re more consistent and therefore less memorable? Maybe they’re less explosive?

Hard to say.

The bottom line is this:

If we’re going to collect hard baits and test them, we need to make sure we throw away the baits that don’t work well. This will help us avoid becoming collectors, or incorrectly placing our focus on stockpiling stuff. The baits that we do keep must only be the ones that we’ve had success and built confidence with. This will help us select effective hard baits in the future – maximizing our time on the water.

As a Minimalist Fisherman, maximizing our time on the water is key… and sometimes “maximizing our time” can mean different things… see below:

Time to start planning for 2023.

It’s going to be a great year!

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

One of the things that has been on my mind a lot lately, is how well largemouth bass can see.

My bank bite has been non-existent, and this has led me to explore new, challenging locations… one of which is a remote pit / quarry lake with ultra clear water. It’s been extremely challenging – but also – extremely rewarding.

Here’s HOW I’m fishing pits & quarries:

Here’s some of the FISH I’m catching in pits & quarries:

… and this right here is a little note on largemouth bass vision that has helped me fine tune my presentations!

Many fish – including bass – appear to be more “in tune” with baits moving horizontally, as opposed to vertically.

This comes from a recent article within the pages on In-Fisherman. Dr. Keith Jones, the former director of the Pure Fishing research laboratory, suggests that because of this – bass may maintain a sharper memory of lures retrieved across their visual field (horizontal), than lures dropped from above (vertical).

This opinion stems from research performed by two Japanese scientists (Kawamura, G., and T. Kishimoto). Their measurements show that in largemouth bass, the visual axis, along which the lens moves for focusing, lies in a roughly horizontal plane.

Since cone cells are the primary receptors of motion, and the cell pattern of largemouth bass favor the horizontal axis over the vertical, the conclusion is that bass are more sensitive to horizontal motion.

Dr. Jones also notes that there is a tendency for vertebrate brains to match memory capacity with sensory strength. We remember the things that we sense most strongly.

This, combined with the placement and orientation of the eyes, can help explain why largemouth learn to identify and avoid widely used crankbaits and other horizontal presentations – but they seem to have a harder time learning to avoid plastic lures presented vertically. This may also explain why those vertical baits don’t seem to need to have such a lifelike appearance.

That’s all well and good… but what does it mean for fishermen?

Two things:

1. Bass may react to horizontal baits, but they may also be quite picky about them. Look for horizontal baits that are not widely used, especially if you are fishing pressured water. Modify your baits. Do something different. Learn how to work the baits in a way that is convincing and lifelike to the fish you’re targeting.
2. If you’ve ever looked at a Senko and said “what the heck does this even resemble in the water?!“, you’re not alone. It resembles something edible… and if the theory on horizontal vs vertical vision above is true, it helps explain why the bass keep biting ’em! It also gives us some hints when it comes to presenting these baits moving forward…

What do you think? Does this make you want to change anything you’re doing?

Let me know. I gotta go get ready for another pit trip tomorrow.

Time to make a few modifications...

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots!

Clear water can humble a man right quick.

When the largemouth bass are up shallow, prowling the mucky clouds of green snot, working in and out of easy-to-see lily pads, we’re all rock stars.

Everything we throw works.

We’re all KVD.

We’re all ready to go pro.

… and then… then the little green buggers throw us a curveball. They get weird. They do what they ain’t “supposed to do“. Something changes and they’re just… gone.

Now what, KEVIN?!

I was talking to a subscriber the other day who had emailed me about this very topic. We were discussing how important skunks were.

Not the animal – the days.

If we didn’t eat humble pie from time to time, the victories wouldn’t be so exciting.

My banks have been barren for some time now (sounds like a personal problem, but stick with me). Some lakes are worse than others. One favorite was hit with some sort of chemical last year, and all of the mucky pods that would grow & float near the shore are gone. (This is stupid, because there is no swimming or boating allowed in the lake… they just wanted to make it “look nicer”…)

This removed overhead cover for the bass (plus loads of microscopic goodies that attracted their food) and as a result, they now sit way way way far out away from me… where I can’t reach them.

The change prompted an article on Fishing Slumps, and how to get out of ’em.

It worked at some lakes… but at others, the fish were still not “reachable”. This prompted another article focused on using confusing times to scout areas and learn about new water.

This was productive, and it forced me to do some things that I had been putting off, like installing the new sonar on the boat. It also led to yet another article discussing why it is so important to make time for things that matter. None of us have time – we have to make it.

After all of that, where did we land?

In the jon boat, enjoying a crisp breeze on a crystal-clear Midwest rock quarry lake.

It was beautiful. It was peaceful. It was… challenging… and after eating even more humble pie, I learned a few things that helped me connect with fish I don’t normally target…

I’ll share those things with you now.

Crystal-clear quarry lakes are very difficult to fish.

No rock stars here. Believe me. The banks are steep. The fish are spooky. The depths are depth-y.

Other anglers, you ask?

Few & far between.

If you’re able, start by scouting the area ahead of time – before you do anything else.

My initial scouting mission was via kayak, so every little inlet the lake offered could be explored.

This can be a great way to run out quickly and just “pop in” at any lake. Paddle around, make some casts with a simple rig, and see what you can see. Just make sure you have realistic expectations. Take one rod with something that’s downsized and see if you can mark fish by eye. I used the following:

I saw a few fish inspect my bait but not commit, and landed one smallmouth. Nothing to write home about…

It scratched the itch a bit, but more importantly it made me want to learn even more about the area. It also got me fired up:

What can I do better?!

I came up with the following 4 adjustments that helped me land way more fish the next time out.

1. Look for flats with cover & active fish – work them quickly with a moving bait.

You see that steep bank over there? That hill that goes almost straight up in the air – the one you couldn’t climb if you wanted to? That steep shoreline angle probably continues underwater, meaning that the bottom drop is most likely sharp and steep.

If you’re in a boat, you can visually eliminate certain areas just by eyeing them up. Fish a few of ’em first, of course. You can often find large root systems that are exposed on steep banks. They dangle out over or into the water due to growth or erosion, and they may be in use. If there is no pattern to be found, change your focus and look for brush piles, rocky humps, points or flats.

I found a few bass roaming these areas, and several were willing to hit a walking bait.

Never in my life has this bait style worked for me (as mentioned, I’m usually fishing mucky snot with heavy tackle and weedless baits – not exposed treble hooks), so learning a new technique and finding success was very exciting and rewarding. I fished a Zara Puppy (small Spook) and tomorrow I’ll be testing a Yo-Zuri 3DB Series Pencil 100.

2. Plan to make LONG casts.

Whether you’re fishing fast or slow – the name of the game is stealth. The pit is clear. These fish can see both in and out of the water.

Far.

Be quiet. Be stealthy. Try to get a lure in front of them well before they can see your boat, or your ugly mug. (Just kidding big guy – you’re super handsome.)

Pair quality reels and long poles with smaller diameter line for the longest possible casts.

I’ve used Lew’s for a while now and I like their products, and X5 Braid has been holding up well without breaking the bank. Speaking of not breaking the bank, Seaguar Red Label is a good, inexpensive option for fluorocarbon leaders – but go with the Invizx if you plan to fill your entire spool.

3. Use the LIGHTEST LINE you can get away with.

As I mentioned above, we need to make long casts. The lighter your line, the longer you’ll be able to cast – especially when using finesse options.

The added benefit to lighter line, is that it’s simply less visible to the fish.

Both are important.

I have had great luck the last 2 years using Berkley X5 Braid on both spinning reels and baitcasters, and Red Label fluoro makes for decent, inexpensive leader material. Make sure to get a braid that is thick enough it wont bury in on itself during hooksets. Oh! Don’t forget: if you fill a full spinning reel spool with X5 – make sure to start the spool with monofilament backing so the braid doesn’t spin on the spool itself. If that happens, it will cost you fish and render your drag completely useless.

4. Go with NATURAL COLORS and the most NATURAL PRESENTATIONS you can come up with!

These fish can inspect your bait.

You better make it look g-e-w-d GEWD!

That hawg-style bait in your tackle bag, with all it’s appendages and bells & whistles looks fun… but what does it resemble? What are you imitating with that thing? Does it really mimic something that these fish are eating (probably shad or small minnows, bugs and possibly crayfish) or do those appendages create vibrations in the water that work well when fishing heavy cover where largemouth bass are reacting, and can’t visually inspect your offering?

Does that big bushy jig skirt look natural, or throw off negative cues?

On my kayak trip, I saw minnows. A lot of minnows.

I also had bass follow, but not attack my 4″ watermelon stickbait.

This could mean a color problem, a profile problem – or both.

When I went back, I had success fishing the topwater mentioned above, then caught even more fish in the crystal-clear quarry water using a realistic 3.5″ minnow bait on a natural, light wire jighead and light fluoro. Note that if we’re using light line, we need to use lighter gauge hooks so that they can penetrate the mouth of the fish without a ton of pressure – especially at long distances.

I also had a helper rod set up.

What’s a helper rod?

It’s a secondary rod that allows you to have a bait in the water at all times. Mine was rigged with a simple bobber and a braid-to-fluorocarbon connection, a small light wire wacky hook, and a 3″ YUM Dinger trailing the boat (dipped in Dr. Juice). Throughout the day I adjusted the depth, depending on where I was marking fish with the Garmin, and bagged a few extra bass.

The Garmin Striker I recently installed allows me to create my own contour maps. I’ve used my Deeper Pro+ for this in the past – and that unit has the added benefit of also recording what I see on the down imaging / sonar so I can play it back when I’m at my computer. This lets an angler review fish and bottom cover like brush piles that they may have missed while fishing – so you can mark and explore new areas next time.

There are benefits to the Garmin though (even though there are also some limitations) and a ton to love for the price. (If you’re interested let me know and I’ll do an article + video on this unit.)

By “matching the hatch”, and going with natural colors, my catch increased exponentially.

Try these adjustments the next time you’re out.

Finally… Pay it Forward… Like Greg from Geneseo

After a successful 3.5 hour trip, I was extremely pleased with my results. The changes I made were productive, and I started to daydream about coming back and sharing them with all of you!

That’s when I looked down… and noticed my trolling motor prop was spinning at about 15% strength, barely moving ‘ol Jonnie Boy.

Crap.

Out came the emergency paddle.

I was all the way on the back side of the 25 acre quarry lake… and I was late to get back so I could get the kids from school… I was headed directly into the wind… and my wife was waiting for me back home…

Quadruple crap.

I paddled faster.

As sweat poured off my face and water splashed all around me, I looked up to see a tall bearded figure slowly approaching me with a working trolling motor. He was majestic, wearing a pair of waders, a full white beard and a sly smirk.

(He had pants and a shirt on too, ya weirdo.)

A holler rang out:

“Hey buddy, you getting a workout or you need a tow?!”

We laughed and talked a bit, and I graciously accepted his offer to pull me back to the ramp. He told me his name was Greg, and you can read a bit more about the the situation over at the Bass Resource forum – along with a helpful discussion on boat batteries.

If any of you know Greg from Geneseo, Illinois – or have a story similar to mine – please let me know!

There will come a time when I'm on the water and I can repay Greg's kindness by helping another fisherman. I look forward to it, and I hope that these 4 tips for clear water quarry fishing (along with a warning on emergency paddles and backup batteries) helped you as well.

Go get 'em, and let me know how you do!

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

“Dad Dad Dad Dad Daddy Daddy Daddy DaddyDaddyDaddyDaddyDADDYYYYY!”

“Good gravy – WHAT?!?!”

“Look what I can do!”

* blank stare *

* tribal dancing continues *

“… Did Gammy & Gompa give you a bunch of sugar???”

“No! Nope! NahNahNahNononononononoooooooooo nope!”

The kids are going hard in the paint. Rain-Dancing. Bouncing off the walls. Ninja-kicking each other. Waving arms like helicopters. Propelled by sugar and the energy of youth, it’s like watching violent hummingbirds on amphetamines!

But like all things… this party will eventually come to an end…

It is finished.

No creature – man or beast – can afford the energy demanded from being constantly alert and active.

Largemouth Bass are the Same

We know from our time on the water that largemouth bass exhibit varying activity levels (active, neutral and inactive or negative). Being active & alert drains a lot of energy. In contrast, being inactive – holding in cover – conserves energy.

As generalists, largemouth bass use 4 different feeding strategies: running down food, stalking, habituation & ambushing prey.

The bad news is that largemouth bass will use passive feeding strategies like ambushing prey, and habituation to get the most out of the food that they eat. This is the opposite of an “active feeding mode”.

The good news? Largemouth bass typically can’t consume all the calories they need in a day sitting around waiting for food to come to them. They usually have to actively find a meal or two at some point.

If your lure is in the water during this period, you have a much better chance of catching them.

Bass Usually Become Most Active When Their Chances for Successful Feeding are Highest

If bass are actively feeding, they are aggressive, mobile and highly aware. These bass are very catchable, while inactive bass may be unresponsive.

To be successful, your presentation needs to match the activity level of the fish. This activity level heavily influences to strike zone – or “strike window“. The distance that a bass will move to take food. Your lure must be in the strike zone to draw a strike.

Simple? Yes.
Easy? Not really.

What is your favorite way to catch active bass? How about inactive bass?

Imagine a largemouth bass, holding a balloon in her mouth. This balloon represents the strike zone. If the fish is active, she'll blow that balloon up quite a bit - and the balloon will expand in every direction. If she is negative, the balloon gets deflated. It's tiny. Small, dangling out of her mouth, right in front of her. Not completely out of air, but drastically reduced.

You have to be within the area of this balloon with the right color, size, scent and action at the right time to generate a strike.

What Causes Largemouth Bass to Become Inactive?

Inactivity is usually the result of shifts in the weather or water temperature. Environmental factors. However, bass may also become inactive if they are digesting food. These bass will typically hold tight to cover and ignore nearby prey.

Their strike window is microscopic.

The only hope you have of generating a strike under these circumstances is presenting a lure slow, right on their nose. You'll usually you'll want to use a natural color (black, brown, clear, maybe green-ish) and fish it through the cover. If they're in there, heavy cover can impede their vision, making things even more difficult. So work slowly, thoroughly, and when you reach the edge of the cover - reel your bait in fast and make another cast! Don't waste time dragging your bait through open, unproductive water.

A few favorites for fishing in cover include straight stickbaits without all sorts of appendages that will get tangled up. Try out a few Z-Man Bang Sticks paired with an Eagle Claw Trokar Magworm Hook - it contains a B.A.R.B. pin keeper that will prevent your bait from slipping down as you work through heavy cover.

The Bang StickZ will float - so make sure to add the right amount of weight. I always try to add the smallest amount for this kind of fishing. Remember, we're targeting negative fish. You might want to add a fluorocarbon leader - but only do this if the fish could be line-shy. In thick cover, straight braid is the way to go.

Flip & pitch to actively drop your lure where the fish ought to be. Look for likely spots, and expect light strikes. Be patient as you attempt to move your bait into the small strike zone.

What is the Normal Activity Level of Largemouth Bass?

Neutral.

Smile.

This is good news.

The strike zone of a neutral fish is larger than that of a negative fish, and obviously smaller than that of an active fish. I'll take neutral fish over negative fish any day of the week! Neutral fish are not hunting, but they will strike a lure. They will swipe at vulnerable looking prey. They may even move a short distance to investigate a potential snack. Neutral bass will often swim off with a bait - causing visible line movement above water.

Watch for these signals, and present lures that look disabled or weak.

Natural patterns and colors usually work best in clear water, and bright flashy colors can work well in dirty water.

If you want to fish an active presentation like a spinnerbait or a crankbait, add erratic pauses and twitches. One of my absolute favorite cranks for shallow bass is a Mann's Baby 1-Minus.

They're inexpensive and they rattle. I like to bang mine off of rocks and rip rap shorelines. The only problem? If the bass aren't sitting in shallow water, they're not going to come up and strike this lure near the surface.

Be ready to drop some lures that will sit on the bottom. Lift & drop. Dead-stick. Retrieve after long pauses to try to entice neutral bass to bite.

Hopefully at some point, they'll "turn on". If this happens, you can speed up.

Bass feed actively for short periods of time.

They cruise in small groups outside of cover, almost like a school but not quite.

If you find one, you can often find more of a similar size. A splash usually won't spook them, and they may actually swim over to investigate noise. They'll often compete with one another. If you've ever caught two bass on the same lure, you know what this looks like.

They have the largest strike windows. Dashing as far as 12 feet to overtake a lure, making quick bursts for short-range attacks, or stalking a meal and moving in close. Dusk and dawn are usually prime fishing windows because largemouth know these low-light conditions improve their chances of feeding successfully. Fish in deeper water often have even longer active periods as well.

This is fun fishing.

If you find yourself in this situation, use active presentations and show your lure to as many fish as possible... until the activity levels change.

Speaking of activity level... I gotta go pick my kid up and put him in bed. He's still on the floor, covered in blue drool.

No creature, man or beast, can remain active forever.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

‘Ol Jonnie hasn’t received much attention lately. He ain’t happy about it. Son of a gun just sits in my garage.

Sulking. Dirty.

Doesn’t stink, but… needs a bath.

His exterior is a bit crusty. Cracked and rough. Far beyond what any moisturizer could fix.

Just kind of looks at me sideways.

He’s difficult.

That’s why I’ve been avoiding him.

Perhaps this is more of a commentary on me, not ‘ol Jon. We haven’t talked at all this year. Haven’t fished together. I’ve been lazy. Just don’t want to haul his rear down the road I guess. Grease his trailer. Maybe that’s the point, really. Been all this talk about developing a drive to improve, but my own laziness has caused me to regress as a fisherman. Now though… now I think I need his help.

‘Ol Jonnie Boy needs to come out of retirement… and get his butt out of my garage…

Where are the Largemouth Bass?

One of the beautiful benefits of keeping a site like this, is that I’m able to share the trials and tribulations of a fisherman. I’m not a robot. This site isn’t generated by artificial intelligence. I’m a guy that loves to fish; a guy that thinks about it constantly. About how it applies to life, and how I can use it to teach my boys to be better men. Teach them lessons that the world just ain’t teachin’ anymore. Some days on the water are amazing, other days are… not… but I’m gonna tell y’all the truth, one way or another. Combining relevant bits of my personal fishing journal with advice from revolutionary anglers like Ron & Al Lindner, Doug Stange, Matt Straw, Jason Lucas, Bill Binkelman and Buck Perry.

My name will never be used in the same sentence as theirs.

Makes no difference.

I write about fishing, because I love fishing.

Recently, the focus has been on busting a slump. The largemouth bass have been hard to find. I’ve caught a few, but the long and short of it is that this year has been weird. Hot. Low water. Fishing from shore has not been super productive. I know for a fact that the bass are still in there; it’s time to move out from shore a bit.

I have a few buddies in Missouri, a couple in Arkansas, and even some up north. They email me. I email them. The fishing reports are the same both ways – TOUGH BITE.

How has the fishing been in your area?

I'm not about to give up, and I'm sure you aren't either. Here are 3 important tips regarding bass location & movement that I'm keeping in mind as I change my approach... time to go deep!

1. Bass Move as the Temperature Changes

Air temperature matters... but only because it can affect the water temperature. Day to day it affects us more than the bass. Barometric pressure matters as well. It's all linked, so track both whether you're on the shore or in a boat. Remember that lakes, rivers, reservoirs, creeks and ponds are colder in the winter. Hotter in the summer. Somewhere in between in the spring and the fall, but if you're fishing smaller bodies of water, changes can be more dramatic.

This means the bass are more likely to move.

2. They Don't Move Far

It is not common for bass to migrate from one end of the lake to the other. This may be even more true on larger bodies of water, but chances are if you're not finding bass up shallow where they were yesterday, they're offshore. When the fish decide to move out - say from 5 feet to 15 feet - this vertical movement takes time. Bass need to adjust their swim bladder, which is a gradual process.

I recently purchased some new electronics for the jon boat. I want the ability to create my own maps while marking waypoints and tracking down bait and bass. The Garmin STRIKER Vivid 9sv Fishfinder makes economical sense... and this weekend I'll be installing it.

3. Food is the Key

More important that temperature, is food. Bass have to eat, and that doesn't change whether they are hot or cold. The quantity or amount they need to eat may change because of the temperature, but the simple fact that chow is required remains unchanged.

In the spring and the fall, the refrigerator is usually close to the shoreline or around cover like aquatic grass. Rock and docks can also offer up a bevy of delectable treats. Crayfish, minnows, frogs, bugs - these creatures are all abundant and active in the shallow water - so that's where the bass will be.

That food can move deeper in the summer and winter months. Deeper water means fewer temperature and oxygen fluctuations, which bass don't like. Shad, bluegill and other panfish will will move out deeper at times for these same reasons.

Find 'em.

Find the food, and find the bass.

That's what me and 'ol Jonnie Boy will be doing this week. Before we run out of time. He's getting an upgrade, maybe a good scrubbing, and a bit of grease to make sure he's primed & ready to head on down the road with me.

Wish us luck, and go catch a few yourself!

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

School.

Everyone’s favorite.

For humans, school is a place we go to get indoctrinated… er… to learn.

75% of my sons go, and we’ve played around with the idea of pulling them out more than once. When we move to Arkansas I’ll be running for school board. We have another year in Illinois at least, so for now… I’ll just keep a close eye on what they are being taught, and keep putting inspirational little notes in their lunchboxes…

But Largemouth Bass – Do They School?

For a long time, largemouth bass were thought to be solitary creatures. Buck Perry – the inventor of the Spoonplug – made the bold statement that they are in fact schooling fish.

Now, it’s one thing to make a statement. It’s another thing to prove it.

Buck was an explorer. Remember, that spoonplug he developed was as much a fish catcher as it was a bottom mapping device. The man wanted to learn as much as he could about the world around him – and the fish.

Tournament anglers often talk about finding the fish – locating schools of bass – and tracking them. “Staying on the school“, and adjusting presentation(s) to match the mood of the fish has led to many a paycheck.

There must be something to this theory… right?

Well yes, but it all comes down to how you define “school”.

For many, a school is a group of fish that live, feed and travel together. They move in unison. In lockstep. They don’t just pal around. Shad and minnows provide us with very clear (sometimes massive) examples:

On my last trip to Arkansas, we fished Bull Shoals effectively by targeting clouds on our electronics. These clouds were schools of shad – and I’m talking massive schools of shad. Walleye, drum, largemouth, smallmouth and “Kentucks” all hung around these clouds. They lurked off to the side, in the shadows, related to them. They’d hang back, then in an instant swoop in like sharks, causing the cloud to explode in different directions – the predators would blast holes holes that we could actually see – they’d pull apart, then quickly come back together like the T-1000.

The school presented the predators with a confusing target. This is one of the reasons our lures worked so well… they looked like sick baitfish. Stood out as something different. Like something was wrong with ’em, and they’d be easy pickins’. This caught the attention of several bass as they moved through the cloud.

Schooling provides safety for these small fish, and as a bonus, it also facilitates mating.

Giggity.

Bass swim and feed together.

In groups. Aggregations. Not necessarily “schools” in the manner we’ve described above. They don’t coordinate their movements, but they do prowl certain areas at the same time. Their feeding efforts don’t always sync with one another, and they may leave one group for another.

So is that schooling?

Not in the traditional sense.

But as bass fishermen, here’s the key point…

Bass that are actively feeding will often be found together, because they are drawn in by the same food source. If you catch an active bass, there is a good chance that there are others nearby.

Bass that are of similar size also seem to group up. Dinks don’t usually feed with 8-pounders… maybe because they know they’ll get the scraps… maybe because they know they could be dinner themselves? Bass of different sizes prefer different types of food as well, and small bass just seem to feed where they can.

Whatever the reason, the biggest bass command the most favorable feeding locations.

So seek these locations out. Do the work that other anglers won’t do. Look for cover and structure that is invisible to the naked eye. Those areas are far less likely to be hammered by the weekend warriors, because if you can see an object that looks like it holds fish… so can everyone else…

How Quickly do Schools of Bass Move?

Let’s say you contact several fish in 8 feet of water off of a point. Then later, you contact fish in 20 feet of water further out from that same spot.

Has the school moved?

Well it depends… in order for largemouth bass to change depth by that much, they need to inflate or deflate their swim bladder. This is a gradual process, so it’s likely that you contacted another school (or aggregation). This is another important concept to remember, as it will help you re-locate bass once you find them.

Bass feeding in open water seem to come the closest to true schooling behavior… but again… they don’t coordinate movements. These “schools” are likely bass feeding simultaneously on the surface.

So How do we Target Fish in Groups?

Many of the presentations outlined here will help you target groups of bass – no matter what feeding strategy (or mood) they are currently utilizing.

This is a start.

The presentation(s) though… that’s not the point.

The point is learning a bit more about how these creatures behave. So for now, focus on the concept of “school”, and keep this information in mind as you locate, and then re-locate bass.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

Housekeeping Note:

My fishing slump has come to an end… I think… yesterday I was able to catch 4 (and missed a big) over the course of an hour using a few key baits, listed below. The Simple 4-Part Plan to get out of a Fishing Slump was put into action. Friday I’ll head out again to try the same baits on different gear on two different lakes, to see if we can replicate the results. Let’s keep grinding!

Edit: Results from Day 2 Slump Bustin’ are in…

Happy Friday, Patriots.

Today, we’re talking fishing. Straight. No chaser.

So buckle up, wipe off that booger-pickin’ finger and get to scrollin’!

(Sorry… I’m already through an entire pot of coffee…)

I REGRET NOTHING! LET’S TALK BASS FISHING!

Last time we discussed The 4 Feeding Strategies of Largemouth Bass. We explained that Mr. Largemouth is in fact a generalist when it comes to feeding. I am as well, which explains these love handles.

We’re going to talk a bunch of gear today, I’m going to share a ton of the stuff I’m currently huckin’, and we’ll analyze a common situation.

Let’s Break Down Some Cover

Say you approach a pile of partially exposed timber.

Little pieces of driftwood floating all around. Water is clear. Birds tweet-tweeting. Lightly. Wind rustling the tall grass and cattails, their dense cylindrical tops swaying in the morning breeze. The water isn’t quite glass calm. There’s a feather-light wrinkle that almost allows you to see the movement of the air…

It’s like heaven on earth, and we’re about to make a ruckus just over yonder.

You know they’re in that mess of branches… it just LOOKS bassy.

Let’s get to work.

If the bass are active, they’ll be Running Down Bait, or Stalking. If they are in a neutral feeding mood, they will probably hover near cover, patrolling slowly without startling prey, which we refer to as Habituation. This is a passive feeding strategy. If the largemouth bass are inactive, they’ll simply set up and wait to Ambush prey. Another passive feeding method, requiring the least movement and the lowest energy expenditure.

We’re going to make 3 passes through this area.

Pass #1: Run & Gun

The name of the game here is speed. Hit ’em with the high hard one to start: a topwater like the (overrated) River2Sea Whopper Plopper 90, or the down-sized Whooper Plopper 75 in a natural pattern… but be mindful of those trebles near the timber. If you want something a little more weedless, check out the Z-Man Hard Leg FrogZ (think topwater toad or soft buzzbait) or slow down to a popper with a Z-Man Pop Shad. Your hook will be protected using either of these soft plastic options.

Work the open areas near the timber first, quickly, then move in tight. If nothing is popping with the topping (what?) go slightly deeper. I love the Mann’s Baby 1-Minus, and I have landed some absolute beasts on the chartreuse / purple combo. A Booyah Colorado Blade Spinnerbait will also work well around sticks and snags with the metal arm protecting the hook. Burn it. It kicks off some nice big thump with more junk in the trunk, if you’re into that…

Run & Gun Presentation Links:

Pass #2: Go Subsurface

As we look even further below the surface, we move into the near-cover zones, which can be used by bass in two different feeding moods. Those that are Stalking tend to be more active, and those that are hovering or slowly prowling (Habituation) will need a slightly slower offering.

Work the stalkers with deep crankbaits, or if you’d like to avoid the trebles again, tie on one of my personal favorites, the swim jig: Here are 10 Killer Swim Jig Options, and some Awesome Swim Jig Trailers.

These strikes will be vicious.

Come through again and work them slower buggers with a compact jig ‘n pig, like the Strike King Hack Attack Heavy Cover Jig and your favorite trailer. Remember, floating, bulky trailers will reduce your sink rate, and super-salty ones will speed it up. This is also a great place to try Texas rigged worms, or wacky rigs. I like the Zoom Zlinky Stickbaits or the Strike King Ochos (both sink faster than the famous YUM Dinger) paired with some Berkley Fusion19 Weedless Wacky Hooks.

Using fluorocarbon will make you invisible, abrasion resistant, and it will also increase the sink rate of your wacky rig. I have had excellent luck this season with Seaguar Invizx – it ain’t cheap, but it’s worth the cost of admission.

Seaguar Red Label Fluorocarbon is a great option for fluoro leaders, but I’ve stopped using it to fill up my spinning reels. Truth be told it has a fair amount of memory, and it’s jumped the spool on me many, many times. Hence the upgrade to Invizx.

Subsurface Presentation Links:

Pass #3: Probe the Depths

I’ll refrain from making a joke about the aliens and my dear Uncle Bucky from Kentucky. He used to raise cattle. Now he’s retired and walks funny.

So yeah… probing… here we go!

The remaining bass will be in a negative feeding mood. They are inactive, and the best chance you’ll have of catching these fish is going to be with something very slow, presented very close, and a little scent wouldn’t hurt. I’m currently testing Dr. Juice Bass Attractant, as it’s been on the market for some time.

You could again work the Strike King Hack Attack Heavy Cover Jig and your favorite trailer – much slower – or go for a finesse option like the popular Ned Rig. Pair a TRD, a TRD Tickler, a TRD Craw or a BIG TRD with an Eagle Claw Pro-V Finesse Jig.

Just remember two things: the TRD Craw doesn’t contain any salt as far as I can tell, so you’ll definitely want to add scent, and the exposed hook on your jig could cause a problem around the timber.

Be careful.

If you need to hide your hook point, look to the Texas rig again, or throw a Strike King Coffee Tube weedless – but be ready to set the hook HARD. The Eagle Claw Pro-V Jig does come in a weedless option if you want to stick with finesse. You might even try live bait, if you have the means and the patience to deal with it…

Toss, flip & pitch. Use short, accurate casts to work through the cover deliberately. Slowly. Just don’t swear too much when you lose gear… because you will.

Probing Presentation Links:

This is just ONE example of ONE way to break down ONE type of cover.

Say that 10 times fast.

There are countless condition combinations. Set up your Base Box with some of the options listed above, you’ll be in an excellent position to fish largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass in many different scenarios without taking the entire tackle shop with you.

What’s a Base Box, you ask?

… we’ll talk more about that in some upcoming articles…

For now though, we fish.

It’s gonna be work… but get out there my friend, and enjoy the grind.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

Largemouth bass have 4 Primary Feeding Strategies. We need to understand them if we aspire to become better anglers. These are versatile creatures, utilizing all 4 of the following methods to consume food.

I currently have just one feeding strategy: shovel it in!

… I’m so ashamed of myself…

* sheds a single tear and grabs another handful of beef jerky…*

Oh. * Sniff *

Sorry. Bass. Right. They feed by:

• Running Down Food
• Stalking
• Habituation
• Ambush

You could also refer to these strategies as Feeding Tactics.

The appropriate tactic is selected based on the size and shape of the target prey, along with the following factors.

Running down food is a common tactic for streamlined fish, especially in open water. Salmon, tuna and so on. Those of us that fish inland lakes are more familiar with pike. Line-snappers & hammer-handles. Snakes. I have a friend that guides on the Chequamegon Bay off of Lake Superior, and he often pulls up MASSIVE pike while trolling for walleye and salmon, along with other assorted bigs…

These fish often trail, then run down baits that are being trolled – however, we need to make an important distinction here. Muskies have forward-oriented fields of vision, and they generally stalk prey. This is the second feeding tactic.

Open water fish may maintain pursuit for long distances before they decide to overwhelm prey with a burst of speed. Inland fish won’t trail as long, but these strategies are indeed similar. Stalking fish will generally get close to prey, and rely on an initial burst to catch their food. They don’t always come back for a second swipe if they happen to miss.

Targeting Stalking Fish

One of my favorites to throw for stalking fish is a swim jig, and there are times you can watch streamlined fish like pike track your offering in clear water before deciding to overtake the bait. It’s awesome – and talk about vicious strikes!

(Here are my favorite swim jigs.)

Pike strikes are always fun, and chunkin’ swim jigs is a blast.

(I usually put one of these trailers on my swim jigs…)

But I digress… back to bass!

Chunky fish (and I mean no offense) use habituation. This is a sneaky tactic, involving setting up close to prey without giving off strike signals. If prey shows weakness, gets careless (too close) or looks sickly – like a lip-smackin’ easy meal – the predator will swiftly strike.

Finally, we have the ambush tactic, which is simply lying in wait for long periods of time, hoping prey moves in close. Close enough for a short strike. Ambush predators are usually highly camouflaged, bulky, and slow.

So when do largemouth bass use each method?

Anglers often make the mistake of assuming that largemouth bass are only ambush predators. We can find them hiding in the shade, under docks, tucked down below thick weeds, and in all sorts of heavy cover.

But largemouth bass are far too versatile to limit themselves.

Largemouth bass are generalists, and that means they use all 4 of the tactics listed above to feed. The tactic they select depends on their surroundings, their size, their activity level, and the prey they are keyed in on.

Inactive bass will retreat to cover and ambush-feed, if they feed at all, while more active bass will be closer to prey, using the habituation tactic. If anything comes along that looks disabled, the bass strikes.

Both ambush and habituation are passive tactics. They work, they are efficient, but they probably won’t provide all the calories that a bass will need for a full day.

Stalking is the most important feeding tactic for largemouth bass. Largemouth will often patrol near cover, alone or in groups, and look for vulnerable objects. At times they will swim more aggressively, which can startle prey, flushing them out of cover and causing them to make mistakes.

It only takes one.

SNAP!

The largemouth will seal the deal.

In reservoirs, it is more common to see a bass use the run-down tactic to capture shad from below. They will use the surface to pin a school of shad, hammering them again and again (remember: the surface is an edge) until they’ve had their fill.

On a recent trip to Bull Shoals, I fished with guide Del Colvin. It was November, air temps in the comfortable mid-60s. We were fishing vertical presentations over 40 to 75 feet of water, targeting large balls of bait that the smallmouth, largemouth and spots were swiping through like sharks.

It was amazing – unlike anything I’ve ever fished before. All of the sudden jigging spoons made complete sense, and although bass are not specifically built for sustained pursuit, the feeding frenzies of “schoolies” absolutely hammering the shad again and again was a sight to behold.

So for running and stalking, think active presentations.

For habituation or ambush tactics, think slow & vulnerable.

When the bass are active, fishing is great! However… if you’ve fished for more than 5 seconds, you know that we are usually working with neutral or negative fish. Precise presentations are needed to coax these fish to bite – so try different things based on what you learn as you explore.

Here are some of my favorite presentation options for EVERY Largemouth Bass Feeding Strategy.

Get out there my friend, and enjoy the grind.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

Housekeeping Note:

I’ll be leaving tomorrow, traveling to Iron River, Wisconsin for our annual BroTrip. It’s me and a handful of friends from high school that started the tradition many moons ago. Been going strong for quite a few years now, and I thank God for that. I’ll get back to writing after I return – please pray for safe travels!

If you want to catch more largemouth bass, it makes sense to spend some time exploring how they actually eat.

Most of us have a basic understanding along these lines:

“Bass suck stuff up, and if they don’t like it they spit it right back out.“

We’ve seen panfish do this while bobber fishing. They’re not shy at all when it comes to what they suck up, taste, spit and repeat. Their table manners are as questionable as Uncle Oliver’s.

There are several ways that bass will eat food.

The most common – and arguably the most exciting method – is to rush towards their prey and engulf it.

WHAM!

This is how we see them hit spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and everyone’s favorite: topwater baits.

SPLASH!

This is how largemouth bass attack fast moving objects, or larger prey.

Largemouth bass will inhale smaller, slower moving objects – especially if it seems like they are unable to escape. They will approach slowly, flare their gills, and suck ’em on up in the blink of an eye.

If the bass senses a problem – it reverses the action, quickly blowing the object out.

The act of inhaling and exhaling is so rapid at times that the human eye has trouble tracking it.

If you’re a masochist like me, take a second to imagine how many strikes you’ve missed because you never even felt a tiny tap.

Actually no, don’t.

You’ll turn to the bottle.

Don’t you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby!

The Reaction Strike

Bass also have a reputation for striking by reflex. The Reaction Strike. Many pro anglers have made their bones by heavily leaning on the idea of “getting the fish to react”. To strike even when they “don’t want to.”

However, there are many biologists that believe that bass don’t strike what they don’t want to hit. That said, there are studies that claim bass will strike baits moving rapidly because they don’t take the time to decide one way or another.

Certainly bass don’t have free will, they’re not making conscious decisions, but the claim is that they don’t simply react – they hit with intention.

We Can’t Force Bass to Strike

There is no magic bullet, so it makes sense to try a variety of presentations on your next outing. See if the bass will react, or if they will chase and smash a moving bait, or if they insist you give them time to inspect the offering before moving in and engulfing it.

Think about what other steps you can take to increase the odds of the fish hanging on. I almost never use plastics without salt. Occasionally, I’ll use plastics without scent – but I just purchased some Dr. Juice to test on my jig skirts and scentless plastics.

I’ll report back with my results.

As a Minimalist Fisherman, remember this: we want to be deliberate with what we take on our boat or in our backpack. We don’t want to become collectors, or walking bait shops, but we do need a few different options.

I’ll often take two rods: one for power presentations like topwaters, swim jigs or cranks. I’ll work these lures to see if the bass will react, which means a faster day of fishing. My second rod will be set up in a way that I can test multiple finesse presentations. Jigworms, stickbaits, tubes, small jigs or little swimbaits.

Bass are not stupid. In order to grow and thrive they need balance between their energy expenditure and their food intake. They can’t afford to waste energy on fruitless strikes, and on average strikes from 18 inches away are 60-80% effective. Heavy cover and long distances lower these odds – but if you keep everything mentioned here in mind the next time you hit the water, you’ll have more success.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

Scaly.

Amiright??

Bass don’t have hands, so how do they determine the feel of an object?

They use their face.

Largemouth bass determine how something feels, by inspecting it with their eyes and their mouth.

(We’ve already covered what colors largemouth bass can see, how their eyes work, whether or not they can see us from underwater, along with how they hear, smell & taste. All of these articles can be seen on this page: Learn How to Catch Largemouth Bass.)

Bass will grab something if they are curious, and sample the flavor and texture – how it tastes & feels.

Most of the time bass will hang onto an object longer if it is squishy or soft, as opposed to hard. Obviously, squishy baits like a Zoom Zlinky, or a Strike King Super Finesse Worm will hold their attention for a bit. These baits are soft and contain salt & scent – like food. This is what allows you more time to set into the fish with an EWG (Extra Wide Gap) hook. Hard baits, like those contained in the Rebel Small Crankbait Collection, contain “sticky” treble hooks. Baits with treble hooks are harder to spit out after a largemouth has a taste, but they are also much more difficult to use around weeds and muck.

Swim jigs are hard as well, but they usually only contain a single, strong hook. But this works, because you’re (usually) reeling the swim jig at a constant speed, and when a bass strikes, they almost hook themselves – or you can get them on a reel set.

We’ve written extensively about swim jigs in the past. They are a killer option in many situations.

The plastic trailers added to swim jigs can really enhance them, so think about this when you’re making your selection. Don’t just grab a big plastic tail that smells like motor oil, look for a trailer that will add scent and taste, so that after a big bass hammers your offering they get more than lead.

They work. Here are the 5 best swim jig trailers.

Bass can feel with their body as well. In fact, their sense of feel helps them efficiently move through rocks, weeds and woody cover.

All of their senses seem to work at relatively close range. Senses like sight and what they can feel and hear with their lateral line work out further than taste and smell. But these close range senses play a major role when you’re trying to catch fish. The close senses form a little sphere around their face, which we commonly refer to as the strike zone. This is the area that we should be most concerned with… however, we would be fools to ignore what a bass can see and feel further out from their body.

The most effective anglers will be mindful of all of these senses.

Largemouth bass are capable hunters. They are not prisoners within their environment, and while they are best known as ambush predators – they are extremely versatile. Shooting up 10 feet to hit a topwater, or swimming after a swim jig for a ways before deciding to strike – these are common occurrences in the world of bass fishing.

Be mindful, and always strive to give yourself the best possible chance when you are selecting baits for largemouth bass.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

If you are here looking for a largemouth bass recipe, we’ll need to do that in another article. Today we’re going to discuss how bass taste things in the water.

Their sense of taste is even more close-range than their sense of smell. Taste receptors reside on their lips & mouth. However, compared to other species, bass have relatively few taste receptors. They only taste something after grabbing it.

Largemouth bass, walleye and pike have taste buds centered around their mouth & lips.

Carp have taste buds centered around their mouth and lips, and especially their barbels.

Catfish have taste buds centered around their mouth and lips, and especially their barbels, but also distributed over their body.

(This begs the question: when we hold catfish… are the actually tasting us? That’s kinda weird…)

Taste is a close-range sense for bass, but that doesn’t make it unimportant. In fact, after a bass hears, feels or sees your presentation and decides to grab it, it is taste that helps them decide whether or not to hang on.

Whether or not it’s food.

Scuba divers have reported seeing bass inhale and exhale soft plastics so quickly, anglers didn’t feel anything. The same with crankbaits. If a bass decides to hold on to your presentation a bit longer, you will have a better chance of setting the hook and landing the fish.

This means that scent, or attractants you can add to lures probably have more to do with taste than smell. They also mask your human taste & smell.

The simplest attractant is salt. When salt is added to plastic baits, it makes them less translucent, they become heavier and can sink a bit faster, and they give the bass something to taste when it they grab on.

Personally… I do not like to fish with plastics that don’t have salt in them (at the very least). Other scents are fine, garlic is popular, so are other “baitfish” or “crawdad” scents – but I have a hard time tying on plastics that just taste like… well… plastic.

Plastic doesn’t exist in the wild. It doesn’t taste like food.

Berkley has been testing amino acids and biodegradable baits for years, but these baits can be more rigid and less stretchy than plain plastics.

Still… why not give yourself the best possible chance with added scent?

That’s a separate topic for another day…

For now, just take this information and combine it what you have already learned about how largemouth bass see, how they feel, and how they smell.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.