[fish4funinfl]

I was fishing with a guy on East Lake Toho and he was saying that when a bass hits a soft plastic lure ( a worm ) and runs with it. ( when you see your line moving and may not of felt him grab it, on a pitch ) The reason he is doing that is there are other fish there and he is trying to get away from them with the lure.

I thought about it for awhile, and it does make a little sence to me . BUT I thought more on it, and it would seem to me, he would ' hit the lure hard and ingulf it right then and there.

Any thoughts or ideas on this ?

 

[hellabass]

I do not think there is a rule, but its often a good indicator when a fish takes off that there could be more fish. I find this to be true on docks often, its one thing if it just slides off, but when they race off, then its always worth another cast or two back into that area or hole to see.

www.RichLindgren.com

 

[Guest]

Although it doesn't apply to your situation right now, bud, a lot of bass do that when they are on beds. I was fishing on a small pond earlier this year, and I would pitch my creature bait to the bank, and hop it 2-3" at a time, and when a bass would hit it, they would run 4-5' with it. It was really wild to watch.

It would make sense that they would take it and run away from other predators that might take the meal from them.

 

[Jared]

I completely agree with your friend Rodney. I have read the exact same thing from many reliable sources over the years. Bass are very competitive when it comes to feeding. How often have you heard about another fish chasing/following a hooked fish into the boat? I have heard of this quite often. Or how about the double fluke rig... a technique that takes advantage of the competitiveness for food that bass display. If I hook up with a decent (keeper size) fish and he hauls tail away from the cover (or hauls tail to deeper water) at a rapid rate.. I will always pound that area very well before moving on, assuming there are more fish, atleast as big as the one I just caught or bigger. Quite often this ends up being the case too.

I know what you mean by spawning bass moving away with the bait John, but from my experiences, spawning bass do not move as fast as a bass running from competition with a mouth full of food. I have always noticed spawn bass simply moving away where as when the bass run from competition with food it is usually a tremendous burst of speed.

 

[fish4funinfl]

Well, it pretty much seems everyone is in agreement on this then, that responded. I will have to REMEMBER to give that place another cast or two if I see my line ' running ' .

 

[Jared]

one of the cool parts is that bass NEVER run from smaller fish :clap:

 

[Ouachita]

Because they eat the smaller fish! None to run from....

A bass running with a lure is no different than tossing one steak to five dogs. The one can't eat it fast enough with 5 other mouths trying to take it away, so he buries up under the porch with it, dining in peace.

Jim

 

[Jared]

great analogy Jim!

 

[Guest]

I have to agree with everyone else but I would like to add one more question/statement if I could?

Do you think that it is possible that "bass feeding" is like a lion or tiger feeding?  What I mean is do you think that the bass is carring its prey to a "secret" location to eat and digest it in peace, without being bothered?

It seems to me that when a bass runs with your lure it is heading for cover.  Why?  To eat in peace?  Be away from larger fish so they don't become prey themselves?

Just food for thought.

 

[fish4funinfl]

I dont know, to be honest. BUT, ( always love them BUTS lol ) I know on my last tournament, I got one from under a dock ( boat house ) I never felt him, just saw my line moving . Trying to go away from the dock. The water was pretty much shallow and I couldnt see any ' cover ' for it to go to. Just looked like open water till you got to the next dock.

Also, while pre-fishing this same place ( Little Lake Harris ), it seemed every bass we got from a dock ( boat house ) you would never feel it, just see your line moving.
Now, when we got one from the other side of the canal by the wood etc.. He would let you know he was there !

 

[Ouachita]

In my opinion a slow side-moving line travel indicates no hurry, just a bass mouthing the bait, swimming off with it to the side. That simple. A wide side-ways travel of the line, in a hurry, should indicate the same situation, only the bass is getting competition. It doesn't always happen sideways. I've had the line's wtaer dimple slice towards me, meaning the bass chose to swim my way doing the same thing. If the dimple is going away you'll soon feel the weight of the fish. In any case it's definitely time for a partner to get his bait in the way of the competing bass.

Jim

 

[jwbarker]

Could it be that the fish's momentum to get to the bait is creating this swimming off effect? If a fish had to chase (or swim rapidly towards the bait) in order to catch it - I don't think the fish would "stop on a dime" once it caught it - just follow through. However this may indicate that there were other fish in the area and one fish had to outswim another fish in competition to catch the bait (?).

 

[imonembad]

I agree jw, also I think a bass just eats first and ask questions later. Meaning that they don't feed like liygers.

 

[Ouachita]

Most of my personal experience and the research and angler observations I've read shows most bass bites come from a bass already in it's secret hidy hole like a pocket in a weedline. Often all they need is getting close enough to inhale a meal with minimum travel required. They just suck it in then return to their ambush spot to digest it. But when bass are schooled up everything changes. Competition for every bite is fierce. A lunker might be confident enough to keep the mouthful without fighting off challengers. Smaller bass are subject to bullying from larger and more aggressive bass. They must escape the crowd if they are to keep their catch. Jim

 

[Jared]

Good point jw.

 

[Jared]

I remember when I was a kid, about 13, back in 1980, and I first learned of plastic worms from my friends older brother. He told me to cast them out and let them sit until the line lifted off the water then to set the hook.
This is how I first learned to fish a plastic worm. I remember using Mann's paddle tails that were black with a red firetail. Anyway, it was pretty much deadsticking.
We'd cast out, let it sit and sure enough, if we waited long enough, our line would start moving off. Were the fish swimming off to their chilling spot? Were they picking the worm up and moving up before competition got to it? Or were they just cruising, saw the worm, picked it up and kept on cruising? I'm not really sure.

 

[jwbarker]

Aren't there any scuba divers out there? I think I may have to watch Bigmouth again...However, I just can't imagine a bass sitting down and eating a meal and not moving with it's prey in its mouth. I think it would be a statistical rarity for any of us to cast or present a lure so close to a fish that it doesn't have to move at all in order to suck it up. Most of the images that I have seen, bass swim up to a lure/prey and swim off with it...

I wonder if this phenomenon is just the result of the amount of slack in the line? When I think about it, most of the fish that I have caught where they swam off with the bait, typically occurred on the fall and with lighter lures (tube jigs, worms 1/16, 3/16oz weights). As these lures fall there seems to be more slack in the line, unlike a heavy jigs that pulls straight to the bottom - allowing for easier strike detection when the fish picks it up on a taut line and pulls - resulting in a quicker hookset and less time to swim off with the lure.

 

[fish4funinfl]

When you mentioned ' Big Mouth ' are you refering to http://www.questforadventure.com/index.htm ?

Im thinking seriously about ordering these videos.

 

[jwbarker]

Yes, I was both Bigmouth and Bigmouth forever are both excellent videos - I also have the one about the feeding habits of bass - it is an older video mostly filming Homer Circle talking for like 30 minutes. Even though I haven't watched it in a few years, I remember being kinda dissapointed with it.

 

[Ouachita]

Bass just aren't acustomed to swimming up to a shad and inhaling it. Almost all prey senses danger and swims or scurries away before a bass can get close enough. They would probably starve if they had to chase every meal down, burning up too many precious calories. They spend a lot of their time waiting in a good ambush spot, perfectly camoflaged, looking for a stupid critter to mosey by. The key is to wait in a good spot where prey comes by frequently. That's why it's so important to target such spots with lures, like lone stumps, cavities in weedlines, tree tops, next to a lone boulder, a ditch cut in a ledge, or any other of the many favorite choices. If you know those spots then the odds of bringing a lure past one of those bass are much more in your favor. Casting without locating those spots doesn't bring a lure close enough, that's true, and the reason so many bassers do so poorly getting bites.

Tightening the line up only to find the lure was moved 12 feet off your casting target is holy grail bassing. Like said earlier, it means the bass has competition. It just wouldn't prefer to roam and feed if a hidey hole has prey coming by. Why move off?  It's like squirrel hunting. Roaming the woods will get some in the bag, but I've got my limit mostly by sitting near a big oak full of acorns where productive oaks are scarce. Just be quiet and let them come to feed. Squirrel after squirrel visists there, one by one adding up to a finished hunt. Old bass likes it that way too, Let the food come to the table instead of shoving the table under the food.