Two Kinds of Bass
Dateline 05/04/98
While fishing a tournament at Clark's Hill a couple of years ago, I explained one of my theories about bass behavior to my partner, Ritchie Cruse. A lot of the guys in the club say I am full of them. Others think theories are a lot like opinions, everybody has one.
Anyway, I told Ritchie I thought there were two kinds of bass you could catch on any given day. There are easy bass that will hit anything that resembles food even a little bit. They will be caught by the first fisherman making a cast near them that day. They usually take up a position on the best feeding spot and chase down and eat anything they see. Other bass are more finicky. They are what I call finesse bass. You can catch them, but you have to finesse them into hitting. They are not actively feeding but will take advantage of an easy meal. They will be holding on secondary cover and will not actively chase food.
On any large structure like a big point, channel edge or rocky bank, there will be one or two active fish - if you are lucky - and several finicky bass. There are lots more bass that are impossible to catch. You can not make them hit no matter what you try. The next day, or later that same day, some of those bass will become more active.
How does this theory affect my fishing? I try to fish several places quickly each morning, trying to find some active bass. If I catch a couple on a structure and then have no more strikes, I will try another place. Later, I will come back to the places I caught fish and slow down and try to make more of the school hit. If the lake is real crowded, I will stay on the first place I catch fish. If I am confident fish are holding on some structure, I will switch to smaller lures and lighter line, trying to "finesse" them into hitting.
Zoom has a worm called a Finesse. It is a thin, 5 inch worm the often will draw strikes when bigger worms are ignored. I also like to use a Slider rig, a 1/16 ounce flat jig head with a 4 inch worm on it. It is fished slowly around cover, trying to make a bass hit that doesn't really want to.
Sometimes it works! At the tournament where I shared my thoughts with Ritchie, 21 Spalding County Sportsman Club and Flint River Bass Club members fish a two club tournament. We caught 86 bass weighing 132 lbs., 2 ozs. in 17 hours of fishing. Fish hit a variety of topwater plugs and trick worms, crankbaits, and worms. I managed to land 10 keepers weighing 15-1 for first. Most of these fish were caught on slider worms around bridge riprap.
Fishing was fairly tough, much worse than expected. The water was 69 degrees early each morning, warming to 74 in the afternoons. That was cooler than it should be this time of year but this year is very similar. That year I saw a couple of bass on the bed and others were out in deep water. The uneven weather we have had this spring, like that one, has caused the bass to be all over the spawning cycle at the same time. It is hard to put together a pattern. Reports from Jackson, Sinclair, West Point, Eufaula and Seminole all show the same problem. If you go bass fishing anytime soon, try lots of different patterns and throw lots of different lures. If the bass are still scattered, fish everywhere for them. If you think they are where you are fishing, try to "finesse" them!
Do you use have special tactics for tough days? What are your experiences? Tell me about it. Do you have some fishing stories related to fishing when they just won't bite? ? If so, you can also post information about it for others on my message board - you must register to post but can read the board as a guest. Also, if you have a story about fishing for bedding bass, or anything else about fishing, let me know about it at fishing.guide@about.com. for a "Fishtale"or discuss it in the chat room on every night at 8:00 EST. Tell others what you like.
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