Differentiating Between Bass Bites And Other Fish

[AmericanMade]

The lake I fish has a ton of bass and crystal clear water. You can see 5+ pounders swimming around in mid day just a few feet from the bank. There are a bunch of beds visible underneath trees on the bank and a huge patch of Lilly's about 10-15 feet out. I generally fish the edge of the Lilly's to the bank and its only a few feet deep. Near the bank you can see dozens of tiny blue gill, perch, and maybe even some baby bass in about a foot of water. When I reel in I can see them attack my worm and it feels like getting some good bites. When I cast out to the Lilly's and i start getting bites it's hard for me to tell if its a bass or these little guys. I feel these bites on nearly every cast. I've pulled a bunch of bass out of there and every time that I've got them I will feel the bites and then just basically wait for the fish to take off with it and set the hook. I'm certain that I've been missing bass that have just picked up the worm or nibbled and spit it back out and me thinking that its these tiny fish. I'm not very experienced so I can't tell the difference unless the bass hits hard. What are some things I should be specifically feeling for?

[papajoe222]

You say that you feel bites. What are you feeling? Tapping, a hard jerk, dead weight?  Determining what species of fish is biting is like trying to determine the size of a bass by the way the bite feels.  A 12in. bass and a 12lb. bass can take your offering the same way and there is no way to know by the feel of the bite.  The same goes for bluegill, crappie, catfish, etc. Bluegill will sometimes feel like a machine gun tapping and crappie will sometimes take your bait and run with it, but so will bass.  You could try using circle hooks. With them, you can let whatever the fish is take the bait completely. You don't set the hook, but reel with the rod tip around 11:00. the hook will catch the lip of the fish as the eye exits it's mouth.  If you come up empty, it was likely something small that wasn't able to get the bait entirely in it's mouth. If it's a bass, you got him.

[kingmotorboat]

I've personally Bern having more machine guns and empty hooksets lately. Starting to get really frustrating

[everythingthatswims]

Crystal clear shallow water and 5 plus pound bass sounds like glide bait time to me. You won't have trouble detecting the strike

 

 

 

 

If you're using a plastic though, bass will rarely continuously tap on it like a bluegill does, you may feel one or two taps but that's it, then it will just be heavy. The biggest bass I catch have the lightest bites. One tiny tick which I assume is the fish flaring its gills and sucking in the bait.

[visagelaid]

I've personally Bern having more machine guns and empty hooksets lately. Starting to get really frustrating

Its been the same for me the last couple times out.  It's super frustrating.

[Ratherbfishing]

A bluegill/sunfish will generally bite in a rapid tap tap tap whereas a larger predator will generally only give you one or two more solid but slightly slower taps (because that's all that's required to ingest the bait)-one "tap" to grab/ingest the bait and, perhaps, a second "tap" to adjust it or move it deeper. If/when you feel the line suddenly get heavy, it is generally NOT a bluegill and is probably a bass-particularly if the line seems to tighten up in a direction different than where you anticipated it to be.  In the "tap tap" instance, if you aren't sure (and you don't want to yank the tail off the worm with a pesky bluegill), slowly tighten up the bait to see if it then FEELS unnaturally heavy (as in the second example).  If so, give it a good hook set.  The more you do it, the more innate it becomes.  It's almost like using the force.  You'll find it easier to do but more difficult to describe.

[blckshirt98]

I'm assuming you're fishing finesse by how you're describing what you're feeling on your rod.  Quick/hard tapping are the little fish thumping their tail as they peck at the bait.  Panfish will do this, as well as baby bass that are too young to know any better than be overly aggressive.  Larger bass are wiser and won't rapidly peck at a bait..it'll usually be a very light tick and a slow pull on the line, or something it'll just feel like you got a snag until the snag starts swimming away.

[einscodek]

At this time of the season you usually know when its a bass which nailed it.. theyre not bashful unless a big cold front rolls thru

Those taps and misses if they occur frequently and in the same area are likely to be aggressive crappie or larger sunfish

The other day a crappie struck my topwater hard as a bass but as soon as the rod loaded up I could tell the weight wasnt there.. just a large crappie

[Senko lover]

Typically a bluegill will hit it really hard, take slack in your line, and disappear. A bass will suck it in and maybe move the line a couple of inches.

[kingmotorboat]

Typically a bluegill will hit it really hard, take slack in your line, and disappear. A bass will suck it in and maybe move the line a couple of inches.

Exactly to a t what I'm dealing with it's a tap tap tap then it's my line swimming off I set the hook and nothing

[WRB]

When you hide your location we don't know what region you are located in?

When you say bass do you mean largemouth bass or spotted or smallmouth, they all tend to strike soft plastics differently.

Take a look at the soft plastic, if you see sand paper like teeth marks need the front of the sift plastic, you missed a good size bass. If the tail or appendages are missing a smallmouth or spotted bass may have ripped those off. Of the soft plastic doesn't have any damage after feeling rapid taps, it's not a adult size bass.

Fish at night!

Tom

[kingmotorboat]

When you hide your location we don't know what region you are located in?

When you say bass do you mean largemouth bass or spotted or smallmouth, they all tend to strike soft plastics differently.

Take a look at the soft plastic, if you see sand paper like teeth marks need the front of the sift plastic, you missed a good size bass. If the tail or appendages are missing a smallmouth or spotted bass may have ripped those off. Of the soft plastic doesn't have any damage after feeling rapid taps, it's not a adult size bass.

Fish at night!

Tom

Not sure about op but where I'm at I'm dealing with largemouth and some kentucky red eyes.

[WRB]

Not sure about op but where I'm at I'm dealing with largemouth and some kentucky red eyes.

I believe red eye bass are very similar to spotted bass in regards to eating habits.

Both spotted and smallmouth bass are crawdads eaters along with other prey. Largemouth nearly always engulf their crawdads and crunch them in the back of the mouth to kill it. Smallmouth and Spotted bass usually grab a crawdad by it's punchers and shake it to declaw it before engulfing it. You can feel a fast taping strike when the declawing is happening, just before the bass eats the craw. Lures with oversize appendages or claws you need to change the timing of hook sets with these bass, not with LMB.

Tom

[kingmotorboat]

I believe red eye bass are very similar to spotted bass in regards to eating habits.

Both spotted and smallmouth bass are crawdads eaters along with other prey. Largemouth nearly always engulf their crawdads and crunch them in the back of the mouth to kill it. Smallmouth and Spotted bass usually grab a crawdad by it's punchers and shake it to declaw it before engulfing it. You can feel a fast taping strike when the declawing is happening, just before the bass eats the craw. Lures with oversize appendages or claws you need to change the timing of hook sets with these bass, not with LMB.

Tom

I've earned with multiple taps I slow down my hookset also till the second I see my line take off. I feel like it's just very small perch or bass but I've never been 100 percent sure

[flyfisher]

When you hide your location we don't know what region you are located in?

When you say bass do you mean largemouth bass or spotted or smallmouth, they all tend to strike soft plastics differently.

Take a look at the soft plastic, if you see sand paper like teeth marks need the front of the sift plastic, you missed a good size bass. If the tail or appendages are missing a smallmouth or spotted bass may have ripped those off. Of the soft plastic doesn't have any damage after feeling rapid taps, it's not a adult size bass.

Fish at night!

Tom

 

Great advice there.  You will be forced to feel the bite and not see it. it may be frustrating at first but it won't take long before you get the nag of it.  Bass at night are less wary and more apt to feed in my experience too.

[Catt]

Not sure about op but where I'm at I'm dealing with largemouth and some kentucky red eyes.

Kentucky & Spotted are one in same

Kingmotorboat you maybe dealing with goggle-eyes (Rock Bass).

Until y'all catch one of what's biting y'all just guessing!

I know a deep water ridge (25-30') on Toledo Bend where all the large mouth hit 4-5 times really fast, we call it machine gun ridge.

[FishHard247]

Great posts. Bluegill and bream hit it about 6 or 7 times real soft before your brain can tell you it's s fish. Those I just let them tap on it because it's hard for them to swallow a 5/0 hook. A bass will hit it one time and it will either feel like you are hooked on a limb or you caught a falling brick on the way down.

Hook sets are free. But you will get to where u can tell if he's coming up behind it or hits it from the side. It's a wonderful feeling. The tug is my drug!!

[WRB]

Yep, red eye bass are native to Alabama, Georgia and S. Carolina, but they are not spotted bass. There is a Kentucy or northern spotted bass, not a Kentucy red eye bass!

Could also be warmouth or red ears (shell crackers).

Tom

[Catt]

IGFA-Species

https://www.igfa.org/species/90-bass-spotted.aspx?CommonName=90-bass-spotted.aspx

[WRB]

IGFA-Species

https://www.igfa.org/species/90-bass-spotted.aspx?CommonName=90-bass-spotted.aspx

Micropterus Coosae, Red Eye Bass

There are 8 black bass species.

Tom

[kingmotorboat]

Kentucky & Spotted are one in same

Kingmotorboat you maybe dealing with goggle-eyes (Rock Bass).

Until y'all catch one of what's biting y'all just guessing!

I know a deep water ridge (25-30') on Toledo Bend where all the large mouth hit 4-5 times really fast, we call it machine gun ridge.

I actually have hooked a few goggle eyes recently

[kingmotorboat]

Yep, red eye bass are native to Alabama, Georgia and S. Carolina, but they are not spotted bass. There is a Kentucy or northern spotted bass, not a Kentucy red eye bass!

Could also be warmouth or red ears (shell crackers).

Tom

It's a bass with red eyes kentucky spotted bass I believe. Better yet I'll let catt do the talking he knows this area well and fishes same river occasionally