Something I've Never Seen.....

[Preytorien]

I stepped out of the home office for a little bit yesterday to throw a line in the water. Made a quick trip to a small neighborhood pond I like to go to, has a good population of 2-3lb bass, makes for a fun quick getaway.

 

The fishing had been slow for several weeks, but yesterday I killed it because of a phenomenon I've never seen.

 

I've seen bass herding and chasing balls of baitfish when I'm out on the boat, but yesterday was something new. They would "herd" the baitfish as close to the shore as they could, and then about 6-8 of them would attack them from all sides. With nowhere to go, they were making a quick meal, and for me, it made fishing easy. I just threw a 2-inch Rapala topwater classic minnow in the mix and hardly had to do anything to get one on-line.

 

Maybe you've seen this before, but in all my years of bank fishing, I've never seen the bass herd them against the shore and assault them from all directions. It was impressive....and savage! It basically looked like one of those feeding frenzy videos you see on Discovery Channel Shark Week.

[jignfule]

Jurassic Pond

[BassinLou]

I witnessed a similar situation, and it blew my mind. I was fishing out in the everglades one day and saw a group of young bass scare a baitfish right out of the water. The little fish landed on the bank and stayed there. The bass that ran the fish to shore, also stayed as close to the edge as possible, all of them pointing there noses in the general direction of the baitfish. As time ticked on, the baitfish had to make a very difficult decision. Suffocate or take its chance going back into the water. The baitfish took the second option, and flopped right back into the water, with four very hungry bass waiting for it. The hit, was incredible. The poor baitfish never stood a chance.

[Drewski73]

Ive seen them do it up against rocks and it was just awesome to watch! The crankbait bites were insane too!

[aquaholic]

[Sam]

Yes, I have seen it.

 

Last time was at a pond when the smaller bass were chasing the smaller bream and bluegills towards the bank and some of the baitfish actually landed on the bank and then flopped back into the water.

 

Isn't Mother Nature great or what?

[BassPR]

I have seen that and while the bass was ambushing the shad to the shore, birds were feeding on shad that jump out of the water and landed on land.It's amazing the things you see when you are outdoors.

[clayton86]

See it every year in the wary fall and late spring in one of the rivers I fish above the dam. I love it makes for a fun easy bite my weapon of choice is a weightless fluke alot of times when this happens or the double fluke rig. Maybe throw the A rig in the middle next time......

[tholmes]

I've seen stripers run a school of shad into the shallow end of a cove and tear into them. I've run a pencil popper through the frenzy and the ferocity of the hits was unreal!

 

Tom

[Miller's Ferry 8]

I've seen this happen with bluegill actually.  The bluegill would trap a ball of fry against the grass line and blow up on them.  This was in the river.  I also pulled a 4lb bass out from under the bluegill.  But I had no clue bluegill would even school up and attack like that. 

[Dylcook91]

I saw it once, I was on a dock about 10 feet above the waters edge. It was about 3ft of water with a steep drop off about 4ft out. There was a school of bluegill In the shallows. I sat and watched as bass after bass would fly up out of the deep grab a gill and return to the darkness in the blink of an eye. The the bluegill didn't know what to do so they ultamitly just stayed there getting picked off. I was on a hike so of course had no gear with me. The bass were all in the 3-5lb range.

[KenG85]

I had a pattern like this that lasted several weeks one summer. The waters levels were way down at my favorite pond and right at the bank there was a small shelf about 3 feet deep and extending five feet away from the bank which then dropped to about 8 feet. There were minnows and young gills trapped on the shelf. I would drag all kinds of baits up the shelf and drop shot em. It was shooting fish in a barrel while it lasted.

[scaleface]

Pretty cool. Ive never seen anything like that in the winter .

[everythingthatswims]

Pretty cool. Ive never seen anything like that in the winter .

This thread was just resurrected in winter, the post was in August

[geo g]

I have seen a group of bass chasing baitfish against a canal bank many times. A real frenzy occurs. About three months ago at the Holey Land I saw two big black crows at the edge of the bank with bass chasing bait fish along the bank. The birds positioned themselves to pick off a baitfish concentrating on the bass. This went on for over 50 yards of bank. Two creatures working together to feast on the pray. These crows were so smart to move in on these working bass, I'm sure they have done it many times. Its great to watch nature in action, we just floated along watching these birds and bass work together.

[Bruce424]

yea that used to scare te crap out of me. just standing there casting. then splashing five feet away almost right on shore

[everythingthatswims]

I always see bass pin bluegills on the bank and mash them during pre spawn. I also see smaller bass chase shad fry in open water mid summer. What's really exciting is paddling a kayak up next to a striper boil and cast to them while they chase shad. Stripers are LOUD

[plumworm]

This is a pretty common experience on the upper Mississippi in the fall. The bass ( and other species) will chase the shad balls against banks and weed lines. Sometimes it is so easy to catch them that after a while it isn't fun anymore.