Bass Breaking The Surface Help.

[Flippin4Biggins]

So there's a nice lake I got to and almost every day I go towards the night... I see monster surface blow ups. I think they are carp, bass or wipers but I've never seen blow ups like this from carp. My question is if they are bass, what does this mean.... I try jigs near the blow ups and usually nothing or top water jitterbugs, buzz baits, pop r and frogs to no avail. Can anyone help me with this. Just point me in the right direction and I'll do the rest. Thanks guys

[CeeJay]

Are they attacking dragonflies, perhaps?  One thing I noticed on lakes and ponds is that bass (and other fish) will sometimes go after insects in the early evening. 

[WRB]

Take your time and look at the fish, you should be able to see the color and shape.

Carp jump out of the water and make a load slapping noise and most are yellowish gold color.

Bass don't often jump completely out of the water, usually you see the back or sides of the bass during a turn or their heads, green colors, sometime a white flash.

If they are bass feeding on baitfish, try to see what the bait is. If the bait is Shad the bass can be difficult to catch on lures. Try a jerk bait or retreive the Pop-R faster, slow and steady doesn't always work!

Tom

[Ozark_Basser]

Sounds like carp. They spawn after the bass and make a lot of noise.

[Shockwave]

Sounds like carp. They spawn after the bass and make a lot of noise.

Agreed, it does sound like carp.  Carp are fun to watch when surface feeding but they're quite annoying (at least for me) because when they're feeding like that, there's usually such a large number of them that other species tend to move out of the area.  When I see carp doing this, I move on to another area.  

[CeeJay]

I would toss some fly fishing poppers with a weighted casting bubble and see what happens

[Flippin4Biggins]

See I know there are carp and some big ones in the lake and I do hear them flop all over the place those I know are carp but I can't help but think perhaps there are some that are bass. But I suppose I should call the don't and ask what the forage is in that lake and see if there are shad of some sort. Healthy population o crappie and bluegil for sure. Bigs cats and big carp. Only seems handful of wipers though. Thanks guys

[WRB]

There could be a lot fry in the water near cover edges feeding on plankton, young of the year fish like bluegill, crappie or bass feeding on terrestrial insects that have attracted the predators like adult size bass or catfish feeding on baitfish. The smaller size surface lures work like a panicked baitfish often works.

Tom

[CDMeyer]

Try fishing small and slow, they might be feeding on bugs

[Canyon explorer]

F~4~B,

Little more info would help e.g. lake size and how far off bank.

Carp make a big disturbance when they spawn only and very near the bank as they are not feeding but knocking the eggs loose.

Black bass jump and break the surface when they are feeding schools of shad.

The fish that have a habit of rounding up bait fish on a schedule in the evening for a period of about 15-20 minutes are white bass, stripers and or swipers that are a cross between white bass and stripers.

 

If you are in a small lake/pond it could be blue gill working insects or a hatch.

 

Try a small Rebel Pop-R, or a glen evens 1/4-3/8 oz. Sheister. and a 3" 3/8 oz. lucky Craft Pointer jerk bait that dives 3-4'.

 

Deep baits will not work well as the fish and bait are up.

[Dave Jakes]

A small in-line spinner might get the job done. There's a lake in town here with a wide range of species in it, one day I caught one of each (except a carp) on a little Panter Martin. So, toss it out there, if you catch it, you know what it is. If you don't catch it, it's a carp!

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Figure out what kind of fish they are first. If they are bass, it's likely that they aren't actually feeding 'on the surface.' They may likely be suspended beneath a school of bait fish anywhere in the water column. When bass chase them it's usually in an upward direction toward the surface. Guess where they eventually catch up to them? Spoiler... once the baitfish reach the surface their swimming options are drastically reduced. 

 

I'd try throwing a weightless soft plastic if they aren't hitting topwaters (senko, fluke, someting like that.) If that doesn't get bit, start working deeper until you find the depth that the active fish are feeding at. A good sonar will help immensely for this, but you don't need one. My choices of baits when I encounter this situation are usually a hair jig, dropshot, soft plastic swimbait, suspending jerkbait, small spoon, etc. in a baitfish color. Typically I'll opt for the dropshot, but that's more of a confidence thing for me. I usually use a 1/16-1/8oz weight, and only go higher if the wind is really howling. 

 

Also, don't overlook spybaiting for these fish. The technique is killer. Whatever you use, my personal advice would be to use light line and a delicate presentation. Around my neck of the woods stealth isn't required when fish are feeding like this, but that may be different where you are. 

[WPCfishing]

Try this, get some carp bait and see if you get hit. 

[RoLo]

In both freshwater and saltwater, a topwater frenzy always creates the illusion of a cakewalk, but can result in boom or bust.

Sometimes the commotion is uniform, sometimes it’s a mixed commotion where predator and prey can be separated.

In any event, fish breaking the surface always raises the questions; what is the predator and what is the prey?

BTW: The chain can be 3 or more species long, not counting the fish-eating birds overhead.

 

As Cee Jay pointed out, bass also glom dragonflies and mayflies off the surface, especially this time of year.

The sound that makes is somewhere between the popping sound of bluegills and the whack made when taking a shad.

Once in New Jersey I was stumped by dancing whitewater, which ultimately turned out to be a school of crappies.

I should add, the bass in Jersey are small, and the crappies are large.

During another whitewater jump I threw a fluke, a Hopkins, a roostertail and finally caught 'one' bass on a plastic worm!

I don't know what forage they were chasing, but I'm pretty sure it didn't look like a plastic worm 

 

Roger

[LuckyGia]

I stopped chasing splashes by fish unless I have a gut feeling about the splash.

I try to stay focused with the task at hand. I find chasing rainbows seldom pays off.

For me the percentage of times it pays off is not high enough. If I do fall for the trap, I

usually give it 2 or 3 casts maximum.

[sully420]

If the carp are done spawning its probably bass. Try using a spook type bait when you see shad breaking the surface or fish feeding on shad. The side to side walking movement of a sexy shad or spook works for me

[Bluebasser86]

I agree with trying a spook. I like a Super Spook Jr and walk it as fast as I can through the boils, a baitfish swimming for it's life isn't going to be taking it's time. I used to spend a lot of the summer chasing schooling fish on the surface and still do on occasion, this was by far my most productive technique. A swimbait or grub on an open hook jighead will work well also. 

[Shanes7614]

Jerk baits work well for schooling fish as well.

[Canyon explorer]

"monster blow ups" Does the lake have beaver.  8-)

[Catt]

There will be times when bass are chasing live bait they will refuse anything not real!

[Shanes7614]

Silver spoons burned along the top with a very brief paisebcausesbto good reaction bites as well.

[BASSPATROL247]

Are they jumping or actually blowing up? The times ive seen carp feeding on top they have been calm and dont make alot of surface disturbance, bass will make it look like small bombs are imploding on the surface sometimes.. i bet theyre bass..