After Catching A Bass

[Hattrick7]

I've noticed that once I catch a bass at a certain location I am not able to catch another one in the same general area. I have read somewhere that a frightened bass will also scare the other bass away.

Does anyone have any insight into this?

[hooah212002]

I've noticed that once I catch a bass at a certain location I am not able to catch another one in the same general area. I have read somewhere that a frightened bass will also scare the other bass away.

Does anyone have any insight into this?

I too just read something similar and that it helps if you minimize the time it takes to land the fish. But what fun is it to just rip a fish right in the boat?

[Hattrick7]

I too just read something similar and that it helps if you minimize the time it takes to land the fish. But what fun is it to just rip a fish right in the boat?

I mainly fish a lake from shore. I've read that bass typically school together even though it may be only two or three. I'll walk around the general area and no more bites. It's weird.

I wish I had a boat to fish a real lake proper!

[Bluebasser86]

I believe this is mainly in a schooling situation that supposedly if you release a bass it will cause the rest of the school to shutdown but I've caught multiple fish of the same spot hundreds of times. Some of the tournaments where the pros are fishing ledges and such they'll catch dozens of fish off the same location in short periods of time.

[hooah212002]

I mainly fish a lake from shore. I've read that bass typically school together even though it may be only two or three. I'll walk around the general area and no more bites. It's weird.

I wish I had a boat to fish a real lake proper!

Same here. I've got a spot where I can see them there, so I duck down when reeling in on shore, but once I've got one early on, that's it. But then again, I'm a terrible fisherman....so maybe that's why.

[garland7]

I have also heard this many times. Personally, have caught multiple fish after releasing, even around schooling fish. so I guess I am am saying, "you couldn't prove it by me"

[Bob C]

I caught a 5.5 lb LM 2' outside of the swim markers while kids were swimming and splashing less than 15' away.

[BassAssassin726]

Either way is true, Ive had days where I caught one fish and all of a sudden it was a whack em fest. I guess the fish see their buddy feeding and it turns the school on. But vice versa happens as well. If youre fishing from shore try to cast along the shoreline because you can definitely spook shallower fish by bringing in a deeper fish thrashing around.

[hooah212002]

This raises another good question: does anyone suppose fish are smart enough to determine that they are being harmed by an outside agent as opposed to just a really strong natural worm that happens to have something sharp protruding from it (the understanding here is that we are "unnatural" to their environment, whereas a worm or baitfish is natural)? We know they send out a sort of signal that is detectable by other fish (in the same way they detect danger, yes?), so I wonder if they can send out different kind of signals. I guess this would be a good question for a biologist since it's getting into fish communication. That said, if there is only one type of distress signal, you'd think it wouldn't much matter as all the other fish would, in a sense, just say "well, sucks to be you. Natural Selection and all that". Sure, it would put them on alert, but research has shown fish to have relatively short memory.

I could very well be way of the mark on all of this, so feel free to critique anything I just said.

[BassAssassin726]

This raises another good question: does anyone suppose fish are smart enough to determine that they are being harmed by an outside agent as opposed to just a really strong natural worm that happens to have something sharp protruding from it (the understanding here is that we are "unnatural" to their environment, whereas a worm or baitfish is natural)? We know they send out a sort of signal that is detectable by other fish (in the same way they detect danger, yes?), so I wonder if they can send out different kind of signals. I guess this would be a good question for a biologist since it's getting into fish communication. That said, if there is only one type of distress signal, you'd think it wouldn't much matter as all the other fish would, in a sense, just say "well, sucks to be you. Natural Selection and all that". Sure, it would put them on alert, but research has shown fish to have relatively short memory.

I could very well be way of the mark on all of this, so feel free to critique anything I just said.

I am by no means a biologist, let me just say that. and id love to hear ones opinion but i do not think fish are dumb by any means. Fish have been recorded going back to their original spots after tournaments, fish shun certain baits theyve seen a million times. I dont believe fish have as short a memory as some say, 15 minutes or so. I think thats bull. Ever had a day where they crush a certain bait then the next they shun it when they see it. I think they know. Theyre saying "you gotta be nuts if you think im biting that after what happened yesterday with it." Small fish I think are kind of dumb but the bigger fish, 3-4lbs and up didnt get that way by being dumb and forgetful.

[drew4779]

If catch a bass in a certain spot, I leave that spot alone for 10-15 minutes before I go back. I'll just move 10 feet down shore or cast to the opposite side of the boat. Seems to work.

[Sam]

Jim Kerr of Virginia, who has since passed away, was a professional guide and bass fisherman for many years going back to the 70s.

Jim went to a professional bass fishing school where he was told that when has been hooked and is putting up a good fight the bass puts a chemical in the water that shows fear and that any other bass in the area will smell the chemical and swim away.

True or false? I have no idea. I have caught a number of bass off a point or a tree without any problems. I have also caught just one bass and had to wait an hour or longer for others to take that bass' place.

Jim swore by this information. How I wish he was still around so he could refresh my memory.

He could catch a bass out of a bathtub on an unbaited hook. Great patience and he had that "feel" we all need to note the bass has picked up our bait.

He died of lung cancer after 60 years of smoking. He was a great guy.

[Hattrick7]

Ok it sounds like there's others with a similar experience so I'm not the lone wolf out there. Sam mentioned the chemical thing when the bass are in trouble and I wouldn't discount that. I just read this recent article about bass behavior and it seems to be inline with what Jim Kerr was stating. Anyways, here's the link to the article. http://www.umpquavalleybassmasters.com/bassbook.htm

[Lake Forest Bassin]

I also fish form the shore in a gin clear lake.After I hook a little bass and fight him to the shore.I get ready to swing the little guy onto the shore and a HUGE fish dart's out of the weed's and tries to eat the little guy I have hooked.Happened to me twice so far.

[BassAssassin726]

Ok it sounds like there's others with a similar experience so I'm not the lone wolf out there. Sam mentioned the chemical thing when the bass are in trouble and I wouldn't discount that. I just read this recent article about bass behavior and it seems to be inline with what Jim Kerr was stating. Anyways, here's the link to the article. http://www.umpquaval...om/bassbook.htm

Excellent read my friend. Thanks for the link.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

From my experience fish (Bass-Pike) get attracted to the fight of a bass. If I take a little bit to land a bass Ive seen others swim up very close. I have even thown in with another set-up to try to catch the bass investigating. Ive seen this on fishing shows as well about watching for trailers while bringing in fish. Pike too will go after bass and other pike being brought in its basically like a live bait presentation to them. So my first-hand experience differs from the chemical warning scenario

[Surveyor]

Cant convince me of the scare theory either.

Just got in a few minutes ago from fishing. I was meat fishing at my own lake with the intention of keeping 4 14"-16" LMB. Well I caught six or seven 13"ers with successive cast and released them all. Realized I probably wasn't gonna catch any any larger so I moved on. Caught the 4th 15"er with my last cast.

[Hattrick7]

Excellent read my friend. Thanks for the link.

Anytime. I've learned a lot from this site. Good to be able to give something back.

[Bass Slayer 72]

Just a few days ago I was fishing with two of my boys, I was using a small bomber crank and a perch hit it and took two hooks in the mouth, it fought a bit and while I was bringing it up to the boat a pair of large mouths where actively hitting the perch. I yelled at my boy to cast in the same area, he had on a bass stopper fire tail worm and the 2nd bass hit his worm. I think the excitement of the perch caused an instinctive feeding frenzy of the bass while I removed the lure from the perch I could see the 1^st bass not far from the one my boy had on the line.

[NBR]

Many, many, many times I have caught multiple bass from the same location. When small mouth fish if somebody has a fish on the other guy puts a cast in just behind the hooked fish and ofter gets another fish on for a double.

[topdog5050]

Nice post here thanks for the info.