Suspending Struggles

[Flippin]

I was on Table Rock yesterday afternoon and found several fish suspended in narrow creek arms.  They were about 8-10' feet down over the top of some pole timber.  There was also several large balls of shad in that creek.  My buddy and I tried everything we could think of to catch one of them but it was futile exercise of wasted time. We threw several colors of jerkbaits, swimbait, lipless crankbait, lightly weighted fluke, broken red fin, wacky rig senko, grub and anything else we could think of.  We had baits scattered all over the boat 😀

Anybody have any thoughts on how to catch the bass in these conditions?

[Bill Babler]

Are you positive they were bass?  Best way to deal with finicky fish is to find easier ones. 

One of the MLF guys said just this morning I can see them but can’t catch them.  I’m not wasting my time trying to get them to bite. 

I know that’s not the answer you wanted. 

 

[Flippin]

Yea we knew they were bass because saw one surfaced one time when they had a shad ball pinned at the surface.  There was crappie down their as well but we can usually tell on the FFS, by the way they set up, whether it is crappie, bass or gizzard shad.  I have run into this situation multiple times and have not been able to figure out how to put one in the boat.  🤪

[Dock-in-it]

Just my two cents worth.

FFS will educate you how smart a bass can be.

I normally have 4 different swimbaits tied on and rotate thru them when I can see what appears to be bass suspended in a tree or under/around shad. When the fish are clearly bugging shad and you get no takers after 20 good presentations with different swimbaits then the next 20 good cast will probably deliver zero results. 

I waste plenty of time on smart fish and I always have to move on and realize that sometimes the bass are really zeroed in on the real McCoy.

If they will not commit to a swimbait, then going through the tackle box trying different lures will probably produce similar results. I have been there done that too many times. 

 

 

[dtrs5kprs]

4 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Are you positive they were bass?  Best way to deal with finicky fish is to find easier ones. 

One of the MLF guys said just this morning I can see them but can’t catch them.  I’m not wasting my time trying to get them to bite. 

I know that’s not the answer you wanted. 

 

This. Don't fish suspended bass unless you absolutely have to. At least that's been my experience.

[Flippin]

Thanks of the replies. 

Yea I knew it somewhat of a rabbit hole when I stopped there.  I was having some motor issues so I was limited on how far I wanted to travel.  So stayed the general area and got sucked into the rabbit hole. When you are around that many fish, I was like a kid looking in the window of a candy store but can't figure out a way to get inside. 😀

Sometimes I wonder if those fish only feed at certain times of the day.  Maybe a sunny afternoon yesterday was not dinner time for those fish.  

[bobby b.]

Last week I put in at Aunt Creek.  As I motored away from the ramp I noted bait fish and bass suspended over them.  I tried lots of things and noting worked.  After awhile a couple more boats showed up seeing the same thing tried as well.  None of us got bit.  One thing I have tried and on occasion has worked which I did that day unsuccessfully is to troll with a 6XD.  That day I troll it for probably 2 miles - nada.

[Flippin]

I have run into this scenario multiple times through out the years and have not been able to effectively figure a way to catch them.  The lesson learned:  the fish always have the advantage.

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, Flippin said:

I have run into this scenario multiple times through out the years and have not been able to effectively figure a way to catch them.  The lesson learned:  the fish always have the advantage.

I have several friends/customers that are absolute hammers at the FFS game, and here's what they tell me.......

The answer is TIMING.   You gotta figure out their schedule.   And it can be different from spot to spot by as much as 2-3 hours. And that schedule might change if the weather or water conditions change.

Do NOT set there and keep pounding at them repeatedly with various presentations and baits if they aren't positively responding.   Just go away for a bit and keep coming back and testing them briefly (only 2-3 good casts) every couple hours.   Eventually they'll fire and you will have a chance (a 30 minute to 1.5 hour window) to load the boat in short order.   

And oddly enough it probably won't matter what bait you are throwing, as long as it is getting close enough to them.   But if you sit there and keep repeatedly throwing at them when they aren't ready yet..... you'll screw the pooch.   They'll either move away or stay in a funk all day.

 

The most frustrating part, for tournament anglers, is that the VERY BEST time is typically an hour or so after most tournament weigh-in's are over. 😅  They'd love to be there while everyone is standing in a weigh-in line or loading their boats back onto trailers. 

[Champ188]

On 4/3/2023 at 11:30 AM, Bill Babler said:

Best way to deal with finicky fish is to find easier ones. 

Perhaps the best single sentence of fishing advice I've ever read.

The older I get, the more time I seem to waste sitting on inactive fish --- both shallow and deep. You can't force feed a bass. It simply doesn't work.