by Bruce Middleton, October 06, 2008
Bass often become inactive when they suspend, here’s how to catch them…
Bass suspend normally in: a clear water environment, any body of water that the water levels fluxuate greatly, on heavily pressured waters, during sudden changes of water temperatures, on older lakes with no cover, where forage stays deep in open water, during pre-spawn, during long inactive periods, in lakes that have a lot of deep thick vegetation and cover, in bodies of water that stratify during hot weather, during fall when they are just outside the vegetation line and during cold winter months. So you can see there are a lot of reasons that bass will suspend out in the middle of nowhere.
When a frontal system comes in and the water temperature drops, the bass move down the water column to find more comfortable zones of water or they go inactive and stop biting. This is deep water usually, along or in creek channels or other deepwater structures. The bass themselves become lethargic as they wait for the temperatures to return to normal. You, as a fisherman must slow down your presentation, drop slow moving baits right in front of the bass and sometimes even harass the bass into striking. By harass I mean like a fly buzzing around your head, eventually you swat at it just to get it away from you. The same thing applies to bass. If you harass a bass enough with a tube, jerk bait or jig long enough so he will strike it just to keep it from annoying him any farther, a strategy that works more often than not. It may take up to a dozen casts into a likely spot before the bass strikes but if he is there he will strike it sooner or later.
The most challenging condition for bass fishermen is when bass are in a suspended state, say at 15 feet to 20 feet of water and the bottom is at 35 feet as an example. There are several reasons why bass suspend. One reason is a sudden change in the condition of their environment like a temperature change, PH change or other factor. Suspending bass can be found at almost any depth, from a few inches off the bottom to 60 feet or more off the bottom. The bass have a swim bladder that they use to regulate the depth at which they wish to hold at. They control it unconsciously much like breathing, as they move about their underwater world and the various depth in it.
Catching suspended bass is quite difficult except in the fall cold water turn over period. There are, however, many ways to improve your odds of catching these bass. Trolling is one way, jigging, doodling, drop shotting, the use of a bobber or float and other methods of depth control along with casting depth controlled crank baits that dive to a specific depth can be employed which is sometimes referred to as horizontal jigging. Other less exact methods like using a spinner bait where you are basically guessing at the depth are far less reliable. But even with specific depth diving crank baits, the type of fishing line you use can make a difference in the actual depth the lure dives to.
Monofilament line floats and therefore the lure will dive to a lesser depth than indicated by the manufacturer’s information. Braided line is heavy and it will make the lure dive deeper that the lure normally would. This variation can be as much as 3 to 5 feet either way. But if you are to error, error on the high side as a bass’s eyes are up oriented and can see what is in front and above him much better than what is below him.
Large lipped crank baits are built as deep divers. The lip of a crank bait has three basic angles to it as apposed to the body. If the lip is pointed pretty much straight down, this will be a shallow diving crank bait. If the plastic lip of the crank bait is pointed at about a 45 degree angle it will be a medium diving lure and if the lip is pointed straight out in alight with the body, it will be a deep diving crank bait. A wide lip will also increase the ability of the crank bait to dive. And finally, if the lip is clear plastic it is not included in the length of the lure but if it is painted it is included as part of the lure and part of the total length. Lipless crank baits sink, so timing is important to obtain the correct depth as well as retrieve speed to maintain that depth.
Suspending crank baits are the next best answer to the problem of suspending bass in most cases because of the depth control they offer and the stop and go action that can be given the lure. Twitching the lure with the rod tip catches more bass than a steady retrieve will, no matter the time or place. This is because it mimics a real fish that moves in a realistic manner. Small baitfish stay still for a great part of the time. They move a short distances occasionally and sprint if they are being chased for several yards. By casting a suspending crank bait out and reeling it down to its maximum depth and then stopping it, twitching and using a stop and go retrieve mixed with a twitching action makes any lure act alive and that is what a bass is most likely to strike. By adding rattles to this lure, you add the factor of sound to the vibration of the lure to attract the bass. But you should always start out quiet and work up to noisy to see what the bass want.
A floating crank bait that dives to the desired depth can be used but the retrieve is modified to keep the lure down at the desired depth. While using the same retrieve as a suspending crank bait, everything is speeded up so the lure doesn’t float up and out of the depth range. This does have one great advantage though. It adds an up and down action to the retrieve. This added erratic motion seems to draw many more strikes than a level retrieve in some instances but it is exceptionally hard to control.
Minnow shaped crank baits are among the best choices for suspending crank baits because they have the profile of a real fish. With scent on them, to a bass they look like a small fish, they smell like a small fish, they move like a small fish, they have the flash of a small fish and they have the right color for a small fish. All these combine to trigger a strike. A long slender profile is important because it is believed that bass are thought to perceive this shape as easy to shallow.
Suspending crank baits also stay in the strike zone the longest of any lure and that means your strike percentage goes up. Remember to vary your retrieve or your cadence until you find exactly what the bass are looking for, whether that is fast or slow, short pauses or long, lots of twitches or none and so on. Let the bass tell you what they want and then fish the rest that way.
Retrieving, twitching and the use of rattles, all send out vibrations that are meant to attract bass, as well as flash from the sides of the lure. Flat-sided lures produce more flash than round-sided lures. The amount of flash is also controlled by the colors of the lure and if metal flakes have been added or the sides have been foiled (aluminum foil added under the finish to add more reflection). Less flash is needed in clear water and more is needed in muddy water. Between vibration and flash a bass is better able to locate you bait.
Where you hold the rod tip also determines the depth of the lure you’re using. If you hold the rod up high, this will keep the lure higher in the water column. If you hold the rod tip down close to the water, this will let the lure run deeper.
One thing to remember when using a suspending crank bait minnow lure, you have to fish it right in amongst the bass or just barely above them. A bass’s eyes are up oriented, which means he can see just fine straight ahead and above himself. A bass will rise to take a lure but if it’s below him he will ignore it. Bass will almost never dive to take a baitfish - a crawfish, yes, but not a minnow.
It’s smart to have a wide selection of lures, and a good selection of suspending crank baits is a must. Look to cover the 10 to 18 foot level as best you can, if you can go deeper, do so. Fishing for suspended bass is tough even when conditions are picture post card perfect. The right lure, fished at the right depth with the right presentation can be highly rewarding. Be methodical and be patient. Experiment and never give up, always remain confident and never get negative. Somebody catches these bass, so why shouldn’t it be you.
A lot of the time bass will suspend off of structure, at the same depth as the structure but as far away as 50 yards or more. They also know to suspend in mid water column. This is to say, that if the water you are fishing in is 50 feet deep, the suspending bass will more than likely be at 15 feet and 0 to 50 yards away from some structure that is 15 feet deep that they feed at. This structure can be a point or a hump or something else.
One of the most highly productive ways to catch these bass is with a swimming tube. Not just any tube but a white, silver, pearl or other very light colored or fish colored tube. Darker colored tubes are best for the bottom where they blend in, but lighter colored tubes are meant to be swum. They have the color and profile of a baitfish and should be used that way. Never let a white tube touch the bottom. A drop shot rig is very productive if used correctly in these cases. Other swim baits work will here too along with suspending crank baits.
These suspending bass will be in a loose school and will stay at the depth they are in as long as the weather stays the same. Use your electronics to locate structure along the bottom and then look for bass at the same depth and look for them in schools. Once you find them, back off and begin fan casting for them. Never throw any caught bass back but keep them in the live well as they will give off a pheromone that will be picked up by the other bass and they will scatter in a hurry. This injury pheromone is well documented.
With a tube one of the best rigs is to use a 1/16th ounce jig head hook with an EWG hook. This is the best possible combination. The lightweight adds just enough weight so that casting is made easier and the hook that is exposed on the bottom and acts like a keel of a boat guiding the tube along in a straight line. The idea is to get the tube to fall very slowly horizontally. If it nose-dives, you can use a cheap pair of the tubular yellow or orange ear plug and cut off a piece and stuff it up the hollow part of the tube to add buoyancy. Add as much of the earplug as necessary to get that horizontal slow fall. There are two things you have to do when fishing this rig or any other in order to catch these finicky bass. One, you must get the lure down to the depth of the bass and keep it there. This is a must. And two you have to fish it slow. The retrieve on this tube, once it’s down to depth is to twitch the rod tip one to two inches and then wait three or four seconds and then twitch it again. This is impossibly slow for some angles and they just can’t go this slow. But for those who can, they are rewarded with quality and quantities of bass. These bass are inactive, they won’t chase a bait or a lure. The presentation has to be this slow. One other thing you have to remember is that this rig falls so very slowly. It falls about a foot every 3 seconds. So if you going to fish it 10 feet down, it’s going to take 30 seconds just for it to fall to the right depth. A twitch will make it rise almost a foot and therefore you have to wait 2-3 second for it to get back down to the right depth again. A twitch of 1-3 inches doesn’t sound like much but underwater it’s a lot. It also mimics a wounded minnow perfectly and this is the presentation we are looking to present. If you go any faster, you will soon be on the surface and well out of the strike zone.
Each tube rig will be slightly different and you should time your own rig to see how fast it takes it to fall a foot and use that time to calculate the time needed to get to any depth you want to fish at. Also the size of the tube will make a difference in the fall rate as well as the size of the line, type of line and many more factors. It’s prudent to time your rig every time you go out just to make sure you know exactly how fast it falls. Once it is at depth then you can doodle it by shaking the rod tip every now and then to give the presentation that alive look. The use of a drop shot rig also is very effective at keeping the tube at the right depth. The presentation is the same.
Color is an important factor with this rig. With fast moving baits the bass only gets a glimpse of the color of the bait but with this slow a presentation the color has to be just right. The Yum wounded mega tube in white with a red tail is a good choice as well as a Pearl pepper bleeding tube or a pearl/silver mega tube. These are all great colors that mimic baitfish colors and with the tentacles waving around they have an action that bass find irresistible.
The strike of a bass on this rig is not a big whacking bang. These are inactive bass. You will be lucky if you feel a tap at all. Most of the time all you will fell is resistance, or you will see your line moving off to one side or the other. Set the hook immediately either way. Inactive bass don’t try to kill the bait, they just wander up to it and slurp it in as lazily as possible. Only after the hook is set do they fight.
Bass will suspend too when they have been scared out of their shallow shoreline cover. But if you watch them closely you will notice that these bass don’t hug the bottom as the move out from the shoreline and out to deeper water. They do however stay at the depth they were at when they were scared out. They will move out and suspend out in open water for some time until they feel the danger is gone and then they will move back into the cover they were in, and all of this takes place at the same depth. It goes to show you that a bass doesn’t change depths very easily and when he does change depth he does so very slowly over a matter of days or weeks. These bass are especially hard to find and if they are found they suffer lockjaw and seldom strike any offering. Bass deeper than 8 feet are more likely to be enticed into biting.
We strive to build the perfect lure to fit all seasons and that will catch the biggest and the most bass anywhere and anytime but a magic lure, well there is no such thing as magic lure, it is the Holy Grail of fishing that will never be found by mortal man. But we still search the farthest corners of the world for it in hopes that someday it will be found. After all it caught the two fishes that were big enough to feed thousands. No it’s not a myth, as some think, it’s out there, we just have to have a little faith.
Bruce Middleton
bpmiddleton@peoplepc,com
