What Do You Do When You Have A Following Bass?

[rchiuz]

Fishing today with a paddle swim bait and had a nice 4lber at least following it. I was so disappointed when she turned around and left. What do you guys do when you see a follower and it turns around?

 

[WRB]

Make a mental note where the bass came from and return later and give it another try.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

Back off the spot and try to make a long cast back to it. 

[BassinLou]

Cast to the general area again, but with a different retrieval speed. Usually for me its a little faster. Or throw another bait. 

[A-Jay]

Doesn't always work but reel in that swimbait and very softly present a weightless Senko (or stick bait of your choice). 

 

Try not to bonk the bass right on the head with your optional offering - depending on the water clarity and the mood of the fish a couple of feet in front is often sufficient to get some interest and perhaps she'll eat it.

 

We call this move "see the bass - catch the bass"

 

Good Luck

 

A-Jay

[FishermanReed]

Cast way behind it and bring the bait right towards it

[gulfcaptain]

Make a mental note where the bass came from and return later and give it another try.

Tom

X 2 and if you got their attention with a swimbait, you need to change up the retrieve or try something different but I would back off and try later as well. Only would re-cast to it if they took a swipe at the bait and missed, just a follower come back later and try a different presentation.

[MassBass]

Change colors.

[Darren.]

I have had some success throwing a worm be it a senko, a Zoom Trickworm, or Finesse worm back out in the area.

[WRB]

Musky anglers call a fish following the lure a "raised" fish. This is a good word for what happens, the fish swim up and followed the lure towards the boat. You raised a fish and may raise several during a days casting. It's what you learn from the raised fish that counts, what you want to know is where did this fish come from?

Bass have excellent eye sight and even better lateral line detection of sound waves under water. Swimbaits are designed to move a lot of water making sound waves the bass feels with their lateral line nerves telling the bass something is swimming in the water, they go check it visually to see what is making the waves.

If the bass was hunting and active it would strike the lure, it didn't so it was either not interested enough to strike or wasn't interested at that time to strike.

Watch where or what direction the fish turns towards; left, right or down.

If you reel in and make another cast before the bass returns to where it was nothing will happen. If the bass was part of a group of bass, then you get a strike or may not. When I make another cast it is usually from a different position or angle, after waiting a few minutes. My routine is to pick up a jig or worm to follow up with.

When I do continue casting the swimbait in the same area I will make a longer cast from a new position and dead stick the swimbait for about 30 seconds before starting the retrieve. This gives the bass time to start looking for the lure. If this doesn't work, I continue fish my way around the area, then come back about 1 hour later depending on how the day is going and remember this raised bass for future outings.

After a few days of swimbait casting you can have several raised bass and know where a lot of bass are holding, hopefully catching a few.

Tom

[fishguy613]

pitch in a fluke, senko, tube, jig, dropshot

[VolFan]

Usually I tighten up and squeal like a girl...

But seriously, I speed up the retrieve for a couple handle turns and then kill it. If that doesn't work, soft plastic dynamite, the senko.

[starweldpro16]

If I have time,I'll come back a little later. Unless it's getting up in the heat of the day. Then I'll try a different angle on the fish right away. I pound a lot of banks and weed edges. If I get a follower at a right angle to the weedline or bank,I'll do a little rounder and try a longer cast or 3 parallel to the bank or weed edge. If I don't see it again in a cast or two I make a mental note for the next trip.  If it came from a lay down,I'll put the sun at my back and devote a little time to the cover. Small worm of some sort T-rigged.

[geo g]

Follow up with a weightless senko. Try to make it walk back with some stops on the retrieve.

[rchiuz]

Cool, thanks for all the advice. Will try it the next time I have a follower

[papajoe222]

A fish that follows, but doesn't commit to your offering is telling you something.  You're doing something right, but something about your presentation failed to make that fish commit. While most gamefish will return to the same haunt given time, an immediate follow-up can turn that fish into striking.  Increasing retrieval speed will sometimes produce (after all, she was interested) as the fish won't have as much time to look over your presentation. Adding a bit of scent prior to the follow-up is never a bad idea either, especially on hard baits.  If she fails to follow or strike your changed presentation with the original bait, I go with something completely different that can be presented at the same depth.  A crank for a spinner, as an example. Many pros will tell you to switch up colors or change speeds, even to let the fish 'rest'. All good advice, but after years of muskie fishing I can assure you of one thing that applies to most game fish. A fish that has shown enough interest to follow is an active fish and your best odds to catch that fish is NOW.  If that fish is worth the effort, exhaust your alternatives before abandoning her.  I've caught more big fish within 15min.of showing themselves than fish that I've returned for at a later time.  Not that I haven't, but even if the fish returns to the same area, it's likely that it's mood has changed.  I'd rather go after her right away than take a chance that she'll get more aggressive later.

[NDH Fishing]

Back off the spot and try to make a long cast back to it. 

I do exactly this, and i switch up my retrieval technique, first just minor things but if that doesn't work, I change retrieval technique completely, or change my lure.

[TBO]

i was fishing at a cranberry bog pond and seen this one bass following my worm, i casted about 12 times with all sorts of retrieves, the bass followed but never hit it once, i switched to a 3" jointed minnow and she smacked it as soon as it hit the water.     so whenever i see a fish following i immediately switch to a rod with different bait and cast back asap!   one good reason for multiple rods 

[FirstnameLastname]

Do the fishing equivalent of spray and pray. Throw it out with a every retrieve you know. If that's not working, come back later with a different lure.

[basscatcher8]

I ran into a situation similar to this on a new lake to me I was fishing last week (Delavan Lake). I pulled up to the first spot and started fan casting a white chatterbait to see if i could get any reaction bites in the area to show me signs of life. I was casting with the shore to my back out and had a 3 pounder follow my bait clear up to the boat. I tried the killing it method and she just turned away and swam back. I made a few more casts and gave up and turned around. Next cast I cast towards the bank right at the corner of a dock and immediatly hooked a 3 pound largemouth and got her aboard. At this moment I should of just stopped and got something slow moving to sit over this grass bed and just combed that area real slow since I just had two bass show themselves to me. But intead I just kept moving on. I had several pike in the area follow my bait as well with no takers. The more I think about it I should of tied a texas rig on and found the weed bed edge and gone along it and I should of tied a spinner bait on or something other then the chatter bait and run that over the top of the grass beds. Those followers are frustrating when you get to your 3rd or 4th in one day and you just cant find the magic key to bite.