Will A Bass Stop Feeding Altogether?

[slonezp]

And also you are making the assumption that begin caught results in a negative response.....i read a study where they tested bass and their reactions to being caught.  Some it didn't bother at all and were caught upwards of 20 times in a year while others were caught 5-6 and this was all on the same lure and the same conditions.  

I've caught the same fish multiple times in one day. Not an isolated incident either. 

[flyfisher]

I've caught the same fish multiple times in one day. Not an isolated incident either. 

me too...

[WRB]

There is a population of bass in every lake or pond that never strike lures and a population of bass so aggressive they never learn to avoid lures. The over aggressive bass in high pressured lakes end up in a frying pan or swallow soft plastics and starve to death or become so mutilated from hooks ripping their mouth apart or hooks in the gullet they no longer can feed on live prey and starve.

Bass are a lower animal than mammals, smaller brain and unable to perceive live prey isn't the same as lure. Some bass can determine that a lure isn't live prey and avoid it and they do!

Tom

[RoLo]

The survival instinct would prevent any healthy animal from fasting until death.

The only animal that stops eating is one that's morbidly ill, to the point of no return.

 

Roger

[FlipnLimits]

Emo bass, goth bass, and now suicidal bass.  LOL   No, they will not starve themselves to death.  And YES, they eat the same bait over and over and over and over again.  We still catch bass on the same lures in the same lakes for decades and centuries.  And most bass die within 10 years, so they did not Condition themselves to avoid the same lure.  Simplify, don't complicate what is so easy to understand.  If you fished a small pond for just 2 months, you would never catch a bass again if they were so smart.  This goes in a general train of thought, not necessarily to the OP.

 

FL

[z7master167]

They say goldfish have a 7 sec memory amplify that to bass and maybe a 2 day memory

[Jar11591]

I think bass "smarts" need to be taken out of the equation here. A bass is in no sense of the word "smart". Everything it does is an instinctual reaction to its surroundings and situations. It does not think, or decide. Bass do become active before a thunderstorm, almost predicting it, but again it is not attributed to the bass brain power. It's all instinct and environment. Salmon and trout return to the stream or tributary that they were born in to spawn, sometimes hundreds of miles away. It's not because they are "smart", it's because that's how they are wired. It's purely instinctual.

[Catt]

There is a population of bass in every lake or pond that never strike lures and a population of bass so aggressive they never learn to avoid lures. The over aggressive bass in high pressured lakes end up in a frying pan or swallow soft plastics and starve to death or become so mutilated from hooks ripping their mouth apart or hooks in the gullet they no longer can feed on live prey and starve.

Bass are a lower animal than mammals, smaller brain and unable to perceive live prey isn't the same as lure. Some bass can determine that a lure isn't live prey and avoid it and they do!

Tom

Please explain to this dumb Cajun how any one could possible know every bass in any body of water and if they have ever bit a lure or not?

[Catt]

They won't stop eating, but they will change their feeding habits. Here in crowded S. Cal, the city park fish get too much pressure they simply shut off during the day and change their feeding habits to nights since we aren't technically supposed to fish those places at night after they close the parks.

Exactly!

If ya really wanna kick bass on Toledo Bend fish it during the middle of the week

[gulfcaptain]

Please explain to this dumb Cajun how any one could possible know every bass in any body of water and if they have ever bit a lure or not?

There has been studies done that a percentage of bass are more cautious and wary of their surroundings while others have a more aggressive nature.  Not sure where I remember seeing or reading it(may have been in pond boss) but someone was working or studying a way to bring out the more aggressive nature.  This may have been a topic on Florida strain vs Northern as the northern were a more aggressive strain opposed to the Florida's which have grow bigger.  Tom like myself I'm sure has watched many fish here in S. Cal follow lures, study them with interest and then stick their nose up at our offerings.  This is true with the trout fed fish.  The bigger fish are more cautious and odds are they have learned due to the amount of the fishing pressure.  But then there are a few bigger fish that have the more aggressive nature that do get caught.  But with all that said, it has been shown that I think its around 20-30% (shot in the dark) of a population of fish do not strike or haven't been caught due to their genetic nature of being wary and cautious.  You asked, but I'm just a guy that fishes and has lots of useless info until it's needed by someone at which time it becomes useful.

[WRB]

Please explain to this dumb Cajun how any one could possible know every bass in any body of water and if they have ever bit a lure or not?

Didn't know you considered yourself a dumb Cajun, I don't. Didn't say every bass. Electro shock studies on lakes and ponds that bring to the surface bass larger than reported being caught in those waters and tracking studies where bass being tracked move when boats approach. Have these bass ever been hooked??

[Catt]

Ok here we go again!

Guys I've worked around Marine Biologist all my life, someone has to drive the boat & know the body of water. I'm very close to a degree in the Philosophy of Science so y'all aint getting no cherry!

Guys that's 100% speculation, but I guess if it's one fish it could be considered "a population" of bass. We would have watch every bass 24/7/365 to draw that conclusion.

Just because electro shock shows larger bass than reported does not equate to "it never struck a lure".

gulfcaptian, what you are referring to is the breeding of the F-1 Tiger Bass which is a cross of Northern & Florida bass, breed for aggressiveness & fast growth. The result is a bass that is easy to catch which is why they are popular in ponds.

Nice try, keep at it y'all will get there!

[roadwarrior]

Well, this is just my theory based on observations over the past three years on

the Tennessee River, specifically Pickwick. During this three year period more

double digit bass have been reported than in the entire history of the reservoir.

The vast majority have been caught using The Rig. It is my hypothesis that these

fish were "uncatchable" and therefore had NEVER been caught. The Alabama

Rig triggers a response in bass that they cannot ignore: a ball of bait in their face!

 

Perhaps a better example was Dottie. The fish was caught or snagged several

times, but ONLY on bed during the spawn. For the most part, she was "uncatchable".

We don't have a Dottie here in the Mid South, but we have a lot of DD bass hidden

in the bushes, so to speak.

[Brian Needham]

didnt we just have like a double digit page thread on this?

[A-Jay]

Will A Bass Stop Feeding Altogether ?

 

Often times it certainly seems like they do, at least around these parts;  and especially during daylight hours from about mid July to mid August.

 

But night time is a completely different story.

 

A-Jay

[WRB]

I believe the OP ? was will bass stop feeding because the developed a fear of lures and will starve.

The answer to that is NO!

Tom

[Catt]

RW would you not agree, that during some part of that 3 year period some of those DD bass were 7-9 lbs bass?

[Brian Needham]

RW would you not agree, that during some part of that 3 year period some of those DD bass were 7-9 lbs bass?

 

OK here is a question...... many of those were 11+, a few 12+ and one I know of would have been a new state record at 15+

 

question is: Do they gain that much weight prespawn? ]

all of those I have seen caught were caught Feb- April

[WRB]

Consider the Schwartz La Peria lake pure Florida bass experiment to grow a world record bass. The pure Florida strain were so difficult to catch Schwartz added F1 NLMB-FLMB strain into his lake so clients could catch bass.

Electro shocking showed the Peria lake was full of big bass, few were caught.

So now we saying big bass have good memories avoiding lures and smaller bass are more aggressive...could be. More than likely the big bass learned to avoid angler pressure by locating in sanctuary areas. The A-rig maybe successful exploiting those sanctuary zones. Consider the world record smallmouth were caught be trolling mid lake zones, today bass anglers don't troll.

We are so far off topic now.

Lake Miramar in San Diego had a population of giant bass living under the boat dock, about 20 bass between 15 to over 20 lbs. The water was like swimming pool clear and easy to see these giants. In a 10 year period 3 bass over 18 lbs were caught, 1 was a floater at 21.3 lbs.

Tom

[flyfisher]

Will A Bass Stop Feeding Altogether ?

 

Often times it certainly seems like they do, at least around these parts;  and especially during daylight hours from about mid July to mid August.

 

But night time is a completely different story.

 

A-Jay

The question is it because of other factors or because they are conditioned that those are the peak times of angler use and they "learned" not to eat artificials.

 

As far as the big bass go, my non-scientific take is that big bass get the prime locations in a lake.  What bass view as prime locations and what anglers view as prime locations are complelty different.  The majority of hte information you glean from pros are not about the largest bass in a lake but rather the largest bass that can be caught and fill up al ivewell.  In reading information on truly giant bass hunters, their mindset is completely different as are their approaches to catching true monsters. They may go days without even a bite but when they do, it is worht the wait,  That luxury is one that isn't afforded to the majority of anglers out there without a serious time commitment and also why the seasonal act of the spawn is when many big bass are caught.  The bass instinct of spawning over rides everything else and makes them more vulnerable and has them leave their normal haunts.

 

I would love to be able to target larger bass all the time but since my fishing time is somewhat limited right now i am happy catching decent fish and a few big ones in there if possible.

[00 mod]

All fish must eat to survive!

 

Just sayin.

 

Jeff

[A-Jay]

The question is it because of other factors or because they are conditioned that those are the peak times of angler use and they "learned" not to eat artificials.

 

As far as the big bass go, my non-scientific take is that big bass get the prime locations in a lake.  What bass view as prime locations and what anglers view as prime locations are complelty different.  The majority of hte information you glean from pros are not about the largest bass in a lake but rather the largest bass that can be caught and fill up al ivewell.  In reading information on truly giant bass hunters, their mindset is completely different as are their approaches to catching true monsters. They may go days without even a bite but when they do, it is worht the wait,  That luxury is one that isn't afforded to the majority of anglers out there without a serious time commitment and also why the seasonal act of the spawn is when many big bass are caught.  The bass instinct of spawning over rides everything else and makes them more vulnerable and has them leave their normal haunts.

 

I would love to be able to target larger bass all the time but since my fishing time is somewhat limited right now i am happy catching decent fish and a few big ones in there if possible.

 

I'm going to claim that the following is at least part of the story ~

   Many of the waters I fish are small to mid-sized lake that do have summer seasonal residents living on the lake.  The constant wave after wave of recreational water sports during daylight hours probably disturbs the food chain a bit on these very clear lakes.  With the bait all wacked out, the bass seek cover somewhere - most suspend mid lake right over the thermocline.  All of this usually ends up being a non-issue come Tues, Wed & Thursday night.

 

A-Jay

[roadwarrior]

impressive.

RW would you not agree, that during some part of that 3 year period some of those DD bass were 7-9 lbs bass?

 

You got me there!  I am SURE you are right, but here is a very specific story that I was personally

involved with. I was at Pickwick last year with the local BPS Fishing Department Manager, another  

BPS assistant and a well known local. None of these guys had EVER caught a DD, but this particular

weekend all three got one, weighed and pictured, on the A Rig! Pretty impressive I think.

 

Still, I am sure some of the other reports are "estimated weights" and we all know what that means.

 

 

 

[Jar11591]

I believe the OP ? was will bass stop feeding because the developed a fear of lures and will starve.

The answer to that is NO!

Tom

Not so much a fear of lures, but like Avery said a conditioned response to avoid a certain type of bait/forage until there isn't enough food that they haven't been conditioned to ignore. I know it is probably not true, just something I was thinking about based on a number of theories.

[Jar11591]

Will A Bass Stop Feeding Altogether ?

Often times it certainly seems like they do, at least around these parts; and especially during daylight hours from about mid July to mid August.

But night time is a completely different story.

A-Jay

Yup, good point.