Dealing With Wolfpacks

[froggerbass]

Went out on the lake tuesday and fish were blowing up everywhere. Couldn't get them to touch a spook so i tied on a pop-r. The fish started crushing it. On every fish I caught I looked underneath and behind it as I was getting to the boat and there would be 3-6 fish with it. I caught several good ones, but with every 2 lbr there would be 3 3lbrs, with every 3 lbr, a couple of 4s and a 5. I started letting the fish I had on take some slack before getting right to the boat to see what would happen. Every time I tried it one of the big fatties would come up and try to knock the plug out of the fish's mouth. They would really nail it, but couldn't get it free from the fish. So here's where I need some help. Right now I have two pop-r lures tied in a ilne to try and help them out. I took the back hook off of one and ran a line from it about 3 inches back to another one. The first problem I see is that if a 4+ fish grabs that second lure, even though I have 25 lb test joining the two, I'm not feeling to great about my chances of getting both of them in, if any of them. The other options I see, although they also have some major downsides, are using the YUM double up rig, or doing a double fluke rig with pop-r lures and spending the day unwrapping the treble hooks from one another.

[thehooligan]

Or you could just have fun catching one fish at a time,

[A-Jay]

First - Welcome to BR ~

Second - sounds like a perfect opportunity to throw an Alabama rig.

A-Jay

[froggerbass]

Threw the a-rig at em for two hours, not a single bite. I've caught tons of fish on it, but they are just not on that bite yet. Secondly, the fish follow the lure back to the boat and even if I leave for a few hours and comeback, there's not a second bite that comes. The areas I'm fishing are relatively narrow creeks too which I'm sure makes it more difficult, but not a single one of those wolfpacks produces more than one fish even though they would hit it multiple times on that first catch.

[froggerbass]

Btw, good to be here, thanks for the welcome. I should probably mention that I started at 630 tuesday morning throwing a-rigs and spooks. Neither of them got a single hit. I put on the pop r at 9 am and got hits very regularly the rest of the day. The baitfish have just spawned and the fry are about an inch long. The other option i didn't mention was using a front runner, but i've never used one on topwater so i don't know how it'll affect the action of the pop r

[Sun Fish]

WOW, that's a problem I wish I had lol

[Bluebasser86]

We have the same thing happen a lot with smallmouth on one of the lakes we fish a lot. Keep a fluke jr on a scrouger head or regular jighead rigged up and when those fish follow in just drop that in front of them while the other fish is still in the water, almost guaranteed to get one of the followers to bite.

[Shewillbemine]

I was shopping for a brand new Mercedes Benz AMG Black edition the other day and the dealership didn't have the rims I wanted.

Oops, I thought this was the "Problems we wish we have" thread.

Lucky you having more than one bass fighting over your lures!

[WRB]

Are you using a Pop-R or a Pop-R type lure? what type of bass? Spots, smallies or LMB and what is the bait fish these bass are schooled up on?

Tom

[froggerbass]

pop r type lure, and mostly spots on shad, did get one lm out of a school of big hawgs. the one i caught was just over 3 lbs and it was the smallest in the group. The one that came up and hit it while it was in the mouth of the one i caught was around 6.

[WRB]

You could go to a larger size Splash-It that may entice the bigger spots to strike the fast moving surface lure.

You indicated you tried the A-rig without success, have given a shad colored 5" or 6" swimbait a try? Big spots will eat swimbaits! The aggressive spots are striking the Pop-R type lure and their fight is attracting the other bass. The other bass don't disappear, they return to where they came from and should be still exited and looking for another baitfish, that is when the swimbait could work best.

Another thought is a 6" Lunker Plunker fished fast like the Pop-R type lure. Unlike the Spook that moves side to side a Plunker is more forward movement and could trigger the bigger bass.

The next option is a structure spoon with feathered treble, fast and flashy, one of the most effective shad lures.

Tom

[froggerbass]

yeah, i've got the larger splash-it tied up on another rod to try next week. i've tried single shad colored swimbaits in the 4.5" range with no luck, and the spoon just isn't getting the job done either for me. i can't wait to get a lunker punker, but don't have one right now. i kept thinking that if i left for 3 or 4 hours I could return to the same areas and pull another one, but it just hasn't happened. Not that what you are saying isn't correct, and on other lakes i really believe that those fish would go back, but I did neglect to mention that the visibility tuesday was somewhere around 20' which means that when they come up to the boat and see me they have a long way to go before they feel safe. All that being said, i posted this to get perspective, ideas, and solutions that we could all use and am really appreciative of any and all helpful comments. Just reading what has already been written it occurred to me that there's one solution that i didn't consider; which is instead of trying to catch multiple fish on one cast if I could catch the biggest 1 out of 3 or 4 of those groups it would be the best bag of my life. I also think I probably need to give the spoon another try, or give another spoon a try. I guess my question should really be-How to get the most out of groups on fish that are moving around together, not busting the surface, but are aggressive once triggered? thanks for the input

[Diggy]

you can also try the yum double up rig