The Big Ones

[Squirmin Wormin]

Was just thinking , the big bass we happen to try and get or eventually end up getting , do they hang in schools with other bass or near them? or do they pretty much go it alone? or do they hang in schools too or rarely? like smaller bass and medium size bass do. i've seen both of those schooling but don't recall ever seeing those big ones schooling together. just curious . 

i've been bank fishing and seen a big one swim by but was by itself and like i said, not in schools . where smaller and medium size bass were in schools .3 or more in those schools. i've caught the small,med,and large so thought i'd ask your opinion on this topic. Are big bass loners for the most part? or depends.

Or just to be in the right place at right time ,when that big bass hit and you just happen to be the one catching it!

[einscodek]

Depends what you are callin' big fish

I've seen 19-20" fish swiming in small schools of 3-4 but I've seen Doug Hannon videos of Florida strain schooling by the 20-30 looking like 4+ pound fish

I've seen much bigger 22+" fish just prowling the shore weedlines solo and the biggest fishes Ive caught busting weeds were likely doing it alone

 

Bass school via size

so depends on how big yer talkin about

when yer the biggest mama in the lake, theres arent many who are big enough to hang with ya and thusly the biggest of the big are likely solo

[bigbill]

I find maybe a few larger bass are close by to the smaller bass. I say this because when the bite frenzy is on with the smaller bass and it slows down I find the bigger bass come in closer to see what the excitement is with the smaller fish. If I'm throwing a number #3 mepps I put on a #4 or #5 keeps and get the larger fish to strike. For some reason they won't hit the smaller lure.

[PondHopper96]

My grandpa was fishing for crappie a few years ago on lake fork. It was a blue bird day and an over cast rolled in and he said 7-8 huge bass he said the smallest had to have been at least 6-7 pounds, the biggest being close to 9. He said they were chasing baitfish but wouldn't give his minnow a glance. He's no slouch and hasn't told many big fish stories! I wish I could've seen it!

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Some bass school and some ambush. I've caught small fish (under 12") that were solitary and hanging close to cover so many times I can't begin to count. I caught a 4lb. bass in 60 FOW that was in a school. I assumed the school to be walleye, but who knows. After catching the bass I moved on. Needless to say, the bass wasn't looking so good after the ascent from 60'.

 

In the winter around here I usually catch some larger bass while crappie fishing. These bass are always in the midst of tightly schooled crappie. Always a nice surprise. PondHopper96's grandfather would know what I'm talking about

 

I guess my point is that there will always be exceptions to the rules. When I'm looking for bigger fish, I usually fish hard cover or isolated structure looking for solitary fish. Bass pretty much go where they want to, though.

[RoLo]

There is a difference between an 'aggregation' of fish, and a 'school' of fish.

An 'aggregation' is just a temporary collection of fish drawn by food supply or attractive conditions.

A 'school' (in both freshwater & saltwater) typically consists of fish born during the same spawning season.

Year-class schooling is nature’s way of minimizing intra-school cannibalism (same age, similar size).

With each passing year however, every year-class grows progressively smaller through attrition.

Lunkers aren't loners by choice, they're simply the last of the Mohicans.

For this reason, 50-lb striped bass and 12-lb largemouth bass are normally found as a pair or all alone.

 

Roger

[Paul Roberts]

Since I'm writing about this right now, I thought I'd clear up the terms, as I needed to get it clear for myself:

 

An aggregation is just as Roger put it: An 'aggregation' is just a temporary collection of fish drawn by food supply or attractive conditions.

 

A "shoal" of fish is a group that is socially associated -aware of each other and interacting in some way, even if loosely. The behavior is called "shoaling".

 

A "school" is a coordinated shoal with all fish swimming together in the same direction. Some species are obligate schoolers and take this to the nth degree. Bass are not one of these.

 

I've seen bass behaving in ways that fit all three categories. However, most often I've known bass to be shoalers that have a tendency to aggregate. I've not seen shoals of out-sized bass simply bc my waters do not support numbers of out-sized bass. I've only seen them as loners.

[Sam]

Great info above. Guys are congratulated for the clarifcations.

 

It has been my experience that the big ladies will hold a spot to themselves by themselves.

 

Smaller bass will hang out with the larger ones, but the big ladies usually rule the area.

 

I have also seen two big ladies together in one area.

 

So, we as humans, may try to establish rules for the big mammas but the big mammas have their own rules and they seem to change every day.

 

What I do understand is that if you pull a big one from cover another big one will come along and take its place.

 

This situation has developed into the "honey hole" where you go to catch those big ones.

 

Just go out and fish the same places you caught the big ones. Sooner or later you will catch another one.

[kickerfish1]

Rolo and Paul nice to see you gentleman weigh in on this. Great info!

[Fish_Whisperer]

Paul and RoLo entered my list of sticks who know the big bass awhile back... Good information and discussion comes from them.

 

In my experience, the dynamics of big bass change subtly between different bodies of water.  While a lot of the behaviors stay the same, there are a few that change.  Say you are fishing a small pond.  You may not run into a school of big bass because there maybe only one or two truly big ones in the pond.  A larger reservoir may have schools or aggregates because the habitat is conducive to it. 

 

EDIT: The above may just be a bunch of bs... Whose to say there isn't a pond that is full of big bass?

[Paul Roberts]

In my experience, the dynamics of big bass change subtly between different bodies of water.  While a lot of the behaviors stay the same, there are a few that change.  Say you are fishing a small pond.  You may not run into a school of big bass because there maybe only one or two truly big ones in the pond.  A larger reservoir may have schools or aggregates because the habitat is conducive to it. 

 

EDIT: The above may just be a bunch of bs... Whose to say there isn't a pond that is full of big bass?

True. Bass adapt very well to a wide variety of environments and prey. They do so by modifying behavior to suit -they can learn (and I don't mean "think"). So results will vary, across individuals as well as water bodies.

 

Bass hunt in groups bc it works; it suits their capabilities and hunting style. But when it doesn't, they will abandon it -hence use of "loosely" above. I would assume that the same holds for very large bass, but I've not fished waters that hold large numbers of huge bass -like existed in the young reservoirs of yesteryear, or in CA, or Mexico. I know anglers have described huge bass working in groups to capture trout.

 

I have fished a few ponds that had good numbers of big bass (for the north: 4 to 7lbs) and I've caught them together -in aggregation. Whether they were "shoaled" or not prior to my interference I couldn't say. I know that at least some of those bass winter together and likely some shoaling, maybe even some schooling behavior, occurs then. But this most likely occurs after aggregation. By summer, they are dispersed. I find them one sometimes two at a time as either loners or in opportunistic aggregation.

[WRB]

Big bass are adult females, male bass rarely get over 4 lbs. The year class scenario assumes all the bass in a year class grow at the same rate, that is also not true when the bass are adults.

Behavior changes as the bass age, they start out as school fish for survival as stay together as juvenile bass or young of the year bass. About 3 years old their behavior make as change as they are big enough to survive alone. The 3 year old bass are now young adults and can feed on nearly everything available.

Bass will group up to take advantage of some types of prey fish, they rarely join together with smaller bass as the smaller bass avoid bigger bass because they are prey, big bass eat small bass!

If you are catching small bass you are in the wrong location or the wrong time. It's a peeking order, big fish eat first and where or when they want.

If you plan to catch bigger adult size female bass then study their feeding habits and learn where they are located. Find the prey, the big girls will be nearby.

Tom

[SirSnookalot]

Over the past week one of my ponds have schooling bass.  Small bass as well as a school of about 10 or so that seem to be well over 20", actual size will be determined when I catch one.  As of late they have been interested in nothing and the most spookable bass I can remember.

[deep]

Bass hunt in groups bc it works; it suits their capabilities and hunting style. But when it doesn't, they will abandon it -hence use of "loosely" above. I would assume that the same holds for very large bass, but I've not fished waters that hold large numbers of huge bass -like existed in the young reservoirs of yesteryear, or in CA, or Mexico. I know anglers have described huge bass working in groups to capture trout.

 

Seen that a couple of times here too. NLMB by the way. It's amazing how they can adapt and learn to hunt together.

[WRB]

One of the rare events that bring big bass together with smaller predators is big schools of baitfish like Threadfin Shad. I have caught small bass, trout, channel catfish, stripers and big bass during a shad feeding spree on structure spoons. The bigger bass are usually under the shad schools, not always.

Generally big bass hang out with other big bass, the numbers depend on the population and location. Big bass tend to find locations where they have prey, deep water access and safe sanctuary. You would be surprised at the number of big bass that hang out in the marina area under docks that are off limits to anglers or anglers simply over look.

Tom

[Paul Roberts]

One of the rare events that bring big bass together with smaller predators is big schools of baitfish like Threadfin Shad. I have caught small bass, trout, channel catfish, stripers and big bass during a shad feeding spree on structure spoons. ...

That would be a good example of a multi-species aggregation.

 

I've even caught bullheads on lures (!) while fishing the gizzard shad spawn (for walleyes) under lights at night. And on two different water bodies too. On one occasion I got to watch them. They cruised just beneath the surface feeling their way along the surface film. I assume they were successful or they wouldn't have been there, and I wouldn't have caught any. Whether they were catching them live or cleaning up the dead and wounded I don't know -don't remember seeing one nab a shad.