Why Do Fish Pattern – A Biological Question

[PABASS]

Most of us know how to take advantage of a pattern.  From a biological standpoint when you found the pattern what makes most bass follow suite?  I have thought about this question for a long time and what really interests me is why the bass want a certain cadence, or lure.  I experience this every time I fish you start out a certain way with a certain lure and you figure out what the fish want, but why do they want it that way, environmental, sure but what dictates that, specifically for a number of fish?

 

Lets take a small pond and its forage.

No Shad

No Minnows

No Crawfish

Bluegills,Bass, insects and frogs are the main forage.

 

Bass instinctively know that something they have never seen before is prey.

 

I started with a buzzbait and weeded out the super active fish, about 5-7 Bass

Then threw a spinner bait, about 3-4 Bass

Threw a Tube, 2 small bass

Went with a crank bait and caught a fish almost every cast, 32+

 

This was in mid November, sadly the last time I really fished.

 

The question is why, I tried the buzzbait slow, medium and fast, same with the spinner bait.

The crankabit I started off slow to meduim and that's how they wanted it, but why?  I know there are so many factors but from a biological standpoint I think I have an answer to this riddle and this is what I love about Bass fishing or I should say keeps me interested because its so dynamic and changes so rapidly that you need to keep planning and analyzing to catch fish consistently.

 

My Bass brain is telling me it was easy to see, "sexy shad", loads of action, easy meal(little effort loads of calories) and just the right size.  So when we find a pattern does anyone else really dig into the why and feel as though you might know what the Bass are thinking?   I feel as if you decode a Bass on how they eat, when they eat and what they eat I know the pros can do it..  The Classic and some of the pros I read about mention, certain color, certain lures, certain cadence or you wouldn't get bit, now what would make a group of fish care so much about that during the classic, does anyone have an answer for that?

[lmoore]

Sounds like you have it pretty well figured out for that pond. From an oversimplified perspective, I tend to think of patterning fish as similiar to patterning people. Offer a cheesburger to a guy at McDonald's and you'll probably get a taker fairly quickly, offer a salad, and you'll probably have to work a little harder to get a taker. Bass are similiar, just find where they are feeding then narrow in on what they're eating. Of course, it's rarely as easy as that sounds.

[Sam]

When my wife and I raised macaws it was interesting to see their instincts.

 

The chicks were taken from their parents a week after hatching and hand fed by my wife and me which bonded them to humans.

 

As they got older they showed macaw patterns even though they were never around the older birds.

 

Mother Nature has built into her animals survival instincts that are in set their brains. So a macaw that is hand fed and is never close to an adult macaw will act like a macaw would act if it was kept with other macaws in a cage or the wild.

 

The "pattern" in your pond may be same in another pond ten miles away. Or the "pattern" in a lake will be the same throughout the lake. And the bass can't talk or text each other to decide how to act or where to go. It is totally instinct.

 

Animals act on their instincts they are born with and for us to be successful at hunting and catching the bass we have to know of their instincts and play the odds that the bass will not outsmart us in our quest for that lunker.

[Deleted account]

I know I'll be in the minority here, but coming from a varied background of all sorts of fresh and saltwater fishing, I've never subscribed to the whole pattern thing. Fish will seek out comfort and protection, and at times sex and food. The factors and conditions  that trigger these behaviors as well as their intensity and duration are intertwined and varied, depending on several interactions.  There is the pattern, as far as looking for the log with three strands of milfoil nearby in 3.3 feet of water, I'm not having none of that. Besides, with today's electronics, bass fishing is resembling saltwater fishing more and more every year.

[Felix77]

Sounds like you have it pretty well figured out for that pond. From an oversimplified perspective, I tend to think of patterning fish as similiar to patterning people. Offer a cheesburger to a guy at McDonald's and you'll probably get a taker fairly quickly, offer a salad, and you'll probably have to work a little harder to get a taker. Bass are similiar, just find where they are feeding then narrow in on what they're eating. Of course, it's rarely as easy as that sounds.

You had me at cheeseburger ... 

[WRB]

A pattern isn't necessarily a lure or it's action. Often several lures appeal to active feeding bass; the key Is active bass.

For example during the Classic successful anglers determined the specific conditions that triggered the bass to become active , the depth those active bass preferred and the location those bass were feeding.

Aaron Martens found active bass during pre fishing; the right depth and didn't determine why those bass were active, he assumed incorrectly slightly warmer and clearer water was then key. Aaron fished nearly all day trying to get bass he knew were there to react to the lures that worked in practice and never got a strike! Right lures, right depth wrong location under the environmental conditions during that time. Aaron gave up and only had time to catch 3 small bass before weigh in. Aaron figured it out too late, it was wind that triggered the bass activity; west wind on west faciing points with deep water. That was the winning pattern for the Classic, only Aaron missed the cut because of his mistake thinking clear and warmer water was the pattern on day 1.

Cliff Pace was on the right pattern for 2 days, but on day 3 the wind died, then changed direction and his pattern disappeared and he almost lost the Classic.

There is always more than 1 pattern the bass are using and the Classic runner up was on a different pattern and wind wasn't the key, green water with bait fish was the pattern. Nearly all the anglers figured the right depth and used lures that were effective at that depth and cold water temps.

Tom

[PABASS]

Great info WRB and this is what I am trying to drill down on, West Wind on West facing points that pattern would have escaped me, green water with bait fish excellent those patterns are what I like to read about and try to key in on..

[rabidsquirrel]

A 'pattern' for bass is probably analogous to 'emergence' for complex systems. Here's a good TED talk on complex systems - I.e. complex economic systems in this case, but food chains are essentially proto economic systems. 

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/james_b_glattfelder_who_controls_the_world.html

 

Food for thought, or confusion... Your mileage may vary. 

 

[Catt]

Maximum intake with minimum output

 

[Nitrofreak]

Maximum intake with minimum output

 

 

And just where have you been ??????????

 

I have been so waiting to see you post on here again big guy !!!!!!!!

 

Welcome back !!!!!!!

 

My apologies, I do not mean to interupt this thread.

[slonezp]

And just where have you been ??????????

 

I have been so waiting to see you post on here again big guy !!!!!!!!

 

Welcome back !!!!!!!

 

My apologies, I do not mean to interupt this thread.

Are you disappointed he only posted 5 words?  

[tomustang]

Are you disappointed he only posted 5 words?  

That's all he needed!

[Nitrofreak]

Are you disappointed he only posted 5 words?  

 

No not at all,  I personally have learned a lot from this guy, Structure has taken on a whole new meaning for me and has given my fishing a whole new outlook on how I should approach structure,  I have not seen him post in quite some time,  and to be honest I am glad to see he is still here.

 

Both him and his friend "fishfordollars", even though he is no longer with us,  have both influenced my fishing tremendously,  I personally put a lot of my faith in fishing into what we discuss and I look forward to going to a lake with his hints,  putting a plan together and trying to figure out what catt is speaking of gives me a challange,  this guy makes you work to be better,  he gives us just enough to make you think and learn for yourself,  When you have a problem with what he is talking about he has no issue with talking you through it with in depth discussions.

 

Five words or 100,  I take each under consideration and learn something from what he has to offer. 

[senile1]

WRB gave an excellent response to the original post.  I think of patterns like this.  Imagine it is pouring rain outside.  Most people stay inside, while another group of people will wear rain gear and brave the elements.  A third group of people will spend time in the rain without any protection, and a fourth, very tiny group, strips down naked and runs around screaming praises to mother nature. These are all patterns. 

 

At any one time bass will be following a number of patterns on a lake.  Our goal as bass anglers is to find a pattern that a great number of fish are following if we want to be successful.  Since the bass is an instinctual creature much, more than a thinking creature like humans, the number of patterns they would follow will be limited based on their instincts to seek out food, protection, and reproductive purposes when warranted.

[BrettD]

I have always thought of fishing a pattern more about location then bait and presentation.

[Paul Roberts]

Before I take a stab at PABASS’s question, I want to comment on reason’s post questioning patterns to begin with. It’s a good thought

I’ve puzzled on some myself. As I see it, a “pattern” is a human intellectual tool –that ability to find (or create) threads of sense out of

complexity. They aren’t necessarily an accurate description or even understanding of what’s going on below. Some of these “patterns”,

or at least the reasons we come up with for them, may simply be artifacts of our own ideas. This is not to say that there aren’t real

(biological) reasons for consistent fishing results. There are. But getting at them can be a tough nut.

 

OK…Here are my stabs at possible explanations for your big CB catch (among other possibilities):

• Fish were becoming concentrated (being mid November in PA this is not too much of a surprise) and your CB was right on them–right depth, speed, action, and visiblity. There is one notable thing that can happen with concentrated fish, and is particularly notable with CBs, and that is that catching one bass in a group can trigger others. This has been observed and described by divers (Bob Underwood) and anglers, such as Brian Waldman who has described this phenomenon (with phenomenal results).

• I’ve also seen such a difference with heavily fished populations of jaded but “hot” fish in which a lure change to something they’d not seen before brought amazing results.

• I've also seen specific prey focus bass on certain presentations. Most notably, on good bass hatch years the hordes of bass fingerlings produced has made for selective fish, virtually ignoring standard (sized) lures. Down-sizing has turned the tables in terms of catch rate.

Going beyond your immediate circumstances, I believe that things CAN be understood, (and biologically is the direction to head), but

getting there is not an easy road. And often the facts and circumstances just aren’t available to us. The ability to PREDICT things is where

things get even hairier. Most often we must piece together our days AFTER the fact; Write our stories as we understand them after the

day’s chaos has unrolled itself. As a longtime fishing journaler I have come to joke that “I begin to re-write history the moment I leave the

water”.

I chose the word “chaos” above on purpose to touch on rabidsquirrel’s post. Despite what little I really know about emergence (not being

a mathematician) it has always appeared to me that fish behavior, at the moment by moment temporal resolution we angler’s operate in,

can best be described as replete with emergent properties.

But to swing Senile1’s thoughts into this (whom I tend to refer to as Lucid1), we are indeed looking for patterns in the complexity

and we do find them. Our brains are built to do that (often whether the patterns are real or not, as our brains are also built

to reach conclusions). As Lucid1 mentions, not all fish are doing the same thing and there are many possible fishing patterns on a given day.

Some are artifacts of our own proclivities. All are biologically based at some level. The more you know and are in touch with those biological

factors (the touchstone, the “wall” , I often call it) the more accurate your fishing answers are likely to be.

 

WRB brings a great point to this discussion too, that what we are really relying on is bass activity. Just how that comes about, and our ability

to recognize, capitalize on, or create it, is the crux. His example is a good one. There are a lot of good minds on the water, but wrapping your head

around just what is actually happening in real time, is a tough nut. History is often written after the facts are in and often it's too late and we

must simply store what we learned in the archives (one more wrinkle in the wall touched) and move on to the next series of puzzles. Some
things are more important than others, some more common, solid, reliable, others rarer or more ephemeral.

Catt likes to throw out the pithy 5 words. And he can, with confidence. There are a lot of years behind those few words. Fish don’t grow big

(or even mature) by burning precious energy on little return. Physiologic factors (in relation to environmental factors) own them. But, once

again, figuring that stuff out in real time is what catching is all about.

[senile1]

That's an excellent post, Paul!  I don't see you around much these days, not that I have been around a lot over the last year either.  I miss your insight.

[PABASS]

I am just begging to watching the Classic and it’s interesting to see the pattern Cliff Pace was on, deeper water, warmer water with a jig, different than the rest of the anglers, I know there can be multiple patterns but what I like about his pattern is how it highlights yet another pattern a big fish pattern not just a getting bit pattern, which are two very different things.  Like my pond example I was on a pattern for a small pond, 7 or so fish isn’t bad on a single lure, but I knew without ever being at this pond before I could do better just by reading the fish.  I am just curious how the pros break down a pattern, really how most people try to break a pattern down, maybe improve the way I read the fish..

 

Most animals even Humans are opportunistic, fish are certainly no exception, however we know they don’t bite just to feed.  Yes, calories expended verses calories gained is a major player but the not the only one and if it’s the only one you choose to exploit you will catch fish for sure, but you can catch then playing to other factors as well, especially the big ones.  By the way thanks for all the insight and posts, we should have a pattern subtopic where we can post the pattern of the day for that person's fishing experience.

[Deleted account]

Before I take a stab at PABASS’s question, I want to comment on reason’s post questioning patterns to begin with. It’s a good thought

I’ve puzzled on some myself. As I see it, a “pattern” is a human intellectual tool –that ability to find (or create) threads of sense out of

complexity. They aren’t necessarily an accurate description or even understanding of what’s going on below. Some of these “patterns”,

or at least the reasons we come up with for them, may simply be artifacts of our own ideas. This is not to say that there aren’t real

(biological) reasons for consistent fishing results. There are. But getting at them can be a tough nut.

 

OK…Here are my stabs at possible explanations for your big CB catch (among other possibilities):

 

Fish were becoming concentrated (being mid November in PA this is not too much of a surprise) and your CB was right on them

–right depth, speed, action, and visiblity. There is one notable thing that can happen with concentrated fish, and is particularly notable

with CBs, and that is that catching one bass in a group can trigger others. This has been observed and described by divers (Bob

Underwood) and anglers, such as Brian Waldman who has described this phenomenon (with phenomenal results).

I’ve also seen this type of thing with heavily fished populations of jaded but “hot” fish in which a lure change to something they’d not seen

before brought amazing results.

 

I've also seen specific prey focus bass on certain presentations. Most notably, on good bass hatch years the hordes of bass fingerlings

produced has made for selective fish, virtually ignoring standard (sized) lures. Down-sizing has turned the tables in terms of catch rate.

Going beyond your immediate circumstances, I believe that things CAN be understood, (and biologically is the direction to head), but

getting there is not an easy road. And often the facts and circumstances just aren’t available to us. The ability to PREDICT things is where

things get even hairier. Most often we must piece together our days AFTER the fact; Write our stories as we understand them after the

day’s chaos has unrolled itself. As a longtime fishing journaler I have come to joke that “I begin to re-write history the moment I leave the

water”.

I chose the word “chaos” above on purpose to touch on rabidsquirrel’s post. Despite what little I really know about emergence (not being

a mathematician) it has always appeared to me that fish behavior, at the moment by moment temporal resolution we angler’s operate in,

can best be described as replete with emergent properties.

But to swing Senile1’s thoughts into this (whom I tend to refer to as Lucid1), we are indeed looking for patterns in the complexity

and we do find them. Our brains are built to do that (often whether the patterns are real or not, as our brains are also built

to reach conclusions). As Lucid1 mentions, not all fish are doing the same thing and there are many possible fishing patterns on a given day.

Some are artifacts of our own proclivities. All are biologically based at some level. The more you know and are in touch with those biological

factors (the touchstone, the “wall” , I often call it) the more accurate your fishing answers are likely to be.

 

WRB brings a great point to this discussion too, that what we are really relying on is bass activity. Just how that comes about, and our ability

to recognize, capitalize on, or create it, is the crux. His example is a good one. There are a lot of good minds on the water, but wrapping your head

around just what is actually happening in real time, is a tough nut. History is often written after the facts are in and often it's too late and we

must simply store what we learned in the archives (one more wrinkle in the wall touched) and move on to the next series of puzzles. Some

things are more important than others, some more common, solid, reliable, others rarer or more ephemeral.

Catt likes to throw out the pithy 5 words. And he can, with confidence. There are a lot of years behind those few words. Fish don’t grow big

(or even mature) by burning precious energy on little return. Physiologic factors (in relation to environmental factors) own them. But, once

again, figuring that stuff out in real time is what catching is all about.

That is a very good post, and I agree with most of it. Its really as simple or as complicated as one wishes to make it, and both are valid, and potentially successful approaches, coming from a commercial/tournament saltwater background, we tend to keep it simple, I use the acronym F.I.SH. which stands for Find 'em, Ice 'em, SHip 'em. obviously only the first applies here, but nothing happens without that first one. 

[HeavyDluxe]

WRB gave an excellent response to the original post.  I think of patterns like this.  Imagine it is pouring rain outside.  Most people stay inside, while another group of people will wear rain gear and brave the elements.  A third group of people will spend time in the rain without any protection, and a fourth, very tiny group, strips down naked and runs around screaming praises to mother nature. These are all patterns. 

 

At any one time bass will be following a number of patterns on a lake.  Our goal as bass anglers is to find a pattern that a great number of fish are following if we want to be successful.  Since the bass is an instinctual creature much, more than a thinking creature like humans, the number of patterns they would follow will be limited based on their instincts to seek out food, protection, and reproductive purposes when warranted.

 

I am not a biologist or professional (or even decent) angler, but I have a suspicion that this summary is chock full of WIN and unicorns.

 

A pattern strikes me as nothing more than an attempt to identify a location (or kinds of location), condition (or conditions, and - in extreme cases - presentation that are getting fish to feed.  That specific patterns are somewhat consistent on given bodies of water and seasons/time periods isn't surprising.

[WRB]

The basic bass behavior is simple; eat and rest. Every bass angler knows bass must eat to survive, most believe all they need to do to catch bass is put the right lure in front of the bass and it will strike it, not true. Bass must eat to survive and must rest in a safe place to survive, most anglers do not consider this fact. Both eat and rest are biological factors to consider. Feeding bass are active bass, resting bass are inactive bass, both biological factors that directly affect how each and every bass angler needs to consider if they want to be successful consistantly.

Bass do not move very far to find food to eat, find the food source, the bass will be close. Find the resting (suspended) bass and those bass will become active feeders sometime during the day or night.

Focus you time locating bait and bass, then determine where those bass will start to feed on the prey.

Most of us need time on the water at a specific lake to figure where active bass will be located and what those bass are feeding on. When we figure it out there may be a pattern or several patterns to active bass locations.

Some biological factors are; water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, depth of light, prey type, bass age and spawning activity. Some environmental factors are; weather conditions, wind, rain, lightning, air temperature, aquatic weed growth, tidal flow or current. Some man made factors; boat traffic, angler fishing pressure, construction, water contact sports etc.

All the above can affect how and when bass become more active feeding or inactive and resting.

Tournament anglers who can make the right decision on the water during the time period they have to catch bass are successful, the others are not. Recreational anglers are not handicapped with time restrictions and can choose when and where to fish. Both groups of anglers need to figure out what the bass are doing and where they located to put together a successful pattern or what spot to focus their efforts on; abundant food close to the bass.

Tom

[Paul Roberts]

PABASS,

I think you are on the right track trying to get at things from a biological perspective. Below are a couple posts I made a while back -in fact they were some of my first posts here on BR. They both show patterns relating to temperature trends -as opposed to static temperature. Few anglers really use a thermometer to its full potential. The first post was an "experiment" to document the effect, the second, just fishing that pattern in early spring:

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/46926-two-interesting-days-on-boulder-colorado-pond/

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/46927-two-more-fascinating-days-on-colorado-pond-almost-a-skunking-and-pure-carnage/

 

If you are up for some reading, search my name in the trip reports section (might have to go through Google since the search feature here is not very effective). I always tried to offer some biological perspectives on what was happening in my fishing reports.

[Catt]

A pattern is something that can be duplicated, usually
where fish are located on structure & then where they are located on cover.
The biological reason they are located where they are is because bass will
exert a minimum amount of energy for a maximum intake of food.  So they
position themselves in a manner that gives them highest advantage for achieving
their needs.

 

[MickD]

What makes a fish want to take this or that, I have no clue.  But I have come to believe that fish are really quite primative, and what ever pattern they decide on has less to do with detail than it does with cadence of movement, color, maybe shape.  For example, what on earth does a tube resemble?  Nothing in detail, but with the right color, and the right movement, the tube is really effective.  Fish of all species in all environments turn on and off according to something that eludes all of us, but when they decide they "might" bite something, it's about cadence of movement, color, maybe shape.  But not about whether the lure has all the fins in the right place.

[mcipinkie]

Fish are animals, just like we humans.  We all can be patterned.

 

Some humans get up every day and go to work.  Some in town, some in the country, some in factories.  If you were chasing humans and hung around the banks between 800 and 900 in the morning, you'd have a pattern.  There would be another pattern at the Ford plant, another at the grocery store, another at the golf course.  If the weather changes, the human patterns change also.

 

Sounds a little funny, but I think the analogy is sound.