Lures To Throw Around Hatchling Bass

[AllTerrainAngler]

The BIG females in my pond are now "babysitting" the hatch and they will hit anything you throw in their general area BUT they never hit it hard enough for a hookset. Any lure recommendations?

[fishinphilly]

i would throw any bluegill imitations

[AllTerrainAngler]

I've thrown flukes and swimbaits. They hit them but its just to move them away. 

[Ozark_Basser]

Not a whole lot you can do about that except use bright colored baits so you can see them take your bait. Tie a little treble stinger hook to your fluke? I've never tried it, but it could work.

[fishinphilly]

i like to use a 3 or 4 in sick fish with a 1/16oz jughead and swim it or work it slowly around the fry

[AllTerrainAngler]

i was just using a basic fluke and had fish. I was reading something on using a small treble as a trailer like mentioned above. 

[RanndomUndead]

i dont know what the big ones will hit, but i was throwing a kvd 1.5 squarebill today and little 4-6 inchers were absolutely murdering this thing.

My guess would be slow presentations on the bottom around nesters, shakey head with floater tail oughta do it. At the moment where i fish anything that runs over 3' is literally just a bait catcher this week

[Catt]

Lizzard

[bassguytom]

Lizzard

Yep a lizard. I throw a zoom lizard. Try it you'll like it!

[MDBowHunter]

Mattslures flat tail blue gill

[RoLo]

The BIG females in my pond are now "babysitting" the hatch and they will hit anything you throw in their general area BUT they never hit it hard enough for a hookset. Any lure recommendations?

 

Babysitting during the spawn is tended by the male.

During the spawning season, triggering an impulse strike is key to boating a cow,

a time when it's less important what you throw, and more important how it's delivered.

 

Roger

[Trek]

The BIG females in my pond are now "babysitting" the hatch and they will hit anything you throw in their general area BUT they never hit it hard enough for a hookset. Any lure recommendations?

Females don't guard the fry. Males do. I think first you need to understand what's going on to understand how to catch the fish.

[RSM789]

If they are indeed females, they are most likely hanging around the fry to eat them, not guard them.

 

The past two weeks, I have had success throwing a 3" tube where the fry have been hanging out.  All of the strikes came on the drop, as the tube slowly dove through the fry ball.  I don't know if the fish I caught were males guarding the fry, believing the tube to be a predator, or if they were fry eaters who thought they were taking advantage of a distracted bluegill as he tried to eat the fry.  One of the bass I caught coughed up a dozen fry as he got near the boat.

 

I also tried a small little crappie jig (curly tail grub), to match the size of the fry, but didn't get a strike with it.  A larger 5" wacky rigged senko also didn't lead to many strikes.  Either the size of the tube or what it represented or the speed of its fall was the formula that worked.

[Weld's Largemouth]

In postspawn when I see schools of fry in about 3-4 ft of water, there is generally a bass hanging near by that is either defending them or picking them off as snacks. I have caught spawned out females, so I assume the females were looking for a snack. I would throw a popper a few feet past the school of fry and would slowly work it over the school. Sooner or later the bass hanging around the school would slam it. The popper probably appeared to be one of the fry that was dying, and served as an easy meal.

[JT Bagwell]

Throw a lizard on a heavy drop shot rig.

[scaleface]

Another vote for lizard. I dont buy into the theory that salamanders raid bass nest and eat the eggs. That would be suicide.

[ww2farmer]

Bass guarding fry can be caught on a bare hook at times, but I usually like to toss a senko or fluke type bait into the fry ball. Not often it don't come back with a bass attached. It's kind of funny...Smallmouth are more aggressive on the bed itself, while LM can be uber picky. But as soon as the LM start guarding the fry ball, they turn stupid protective...but the downside is they are usually all 1.5- 2.5lb males.

[AllTerrainAngler]

Females don't guard the fry. Males do. I think first you need to understand what's going on to understand how to catch the fish.

I know. I didn't mean babyistting as in guarding the fry.  We've been playing with the gopro putting it on a pole and holding it underwater by bait balls watching the fish patrol the fry and defend them. 

[Alpha Male]

Just my 2 cents but you could always just leave them alone and let them guard the fry so they have a better chance of surviving until they can get that big.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

Superfluke in babybass,,bass are cannibals and small bass love fry and big bass love small bass

[AllTerrainAngler]

I bet the super fluke jr or tiny fluke size in baby bass would be pretty sweet. Definitely going to buy some of the smaller sizes from work and try it.

[bassinyea]

Buzzbait all day..