Best Lure for Suspended Fish

[jb530]

I've always had some trouble targeting suspended bass. I fish a few lakes that have lots of spotted bass and sometimes they go deep and suspend feeding on bait. What kind of a spoon or vertical jig do you guys recommend? These fish frequently suspended in 30-50 feet of water so something that would work in that depth range would be best. 

[JustinU1X]

Swimbait w/ a large jighead

[Bluebasser86]

A-rig if it's legal. A War Eagle jigging spoon or jighead with a grub or paddletail would be another good option. 

[camman]

I would say spoons all day long.  If I'm hitting only 20-30 feet I can get a way with a 1/2oz spoon, anything deeper I'm looking to bump up to a 3/4 oz or 1oz spoon.  A couple spoons I use are the Bass Pro Shop Tungsten Spoon, Crippled Herring, and finally the Blade Runner Duh Spoon. 

[WRB]

Vertical structure spoon, jig with curl tail grub, darter haed jig with 4" curl tail wor or small paddle tail swimmer, yo-yoing a lipless crankbait, split shot/slip shot rig, Little George type tail spinner and ice jigs all work.

Tom

[Raul]

41 minutes ago, WRB said:

Vertical structure spoon, jig with curl tail grub, darter haed jig with 4" curl tail wor or small paddle tail swimmer, yo-yoing a lipless crankbait, split shot/slip shot rig, Little George type tail spinner and ice jigs all work.

Tom

^^^^ ´Nuff said !

Once upon a time many many many years ago there was this dude who, for many reasons, literally learned to fish by himself, he lives in a warm country and where he lives and things as frozen lakes are non existent, one day this dude happened to find by accident a really strange lure at a tackle store, something that looked pretty much like this:

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Rapala_Snap_Rap/descpage-RSPRP.html

He bought it but knew nothing about it, he researched ( at those times there was no Internet ) and months later he found out it was for vertical jigging through a hole in the ice, through a hole in the ice where there´s no ice. Many would have trashed that lure since it was not useful, but not him, he has this thing for asking: "what if ..... ? " all the time. What if even he uses it for vertical jigging on suspended fish and surprise, it worked ! he caught several fish that day. So those work also on suspended fish.

[Crestliner2008]

It would depend on the lake and water depth and water clarity. As well as the type of structure you were targeting. All of the above suggestions work under certain conditions. Nothing works all the time. You could also think about using blade baits and/or wacky rigged Senkos under a slip bobber.

[ww2farmer]

Don't over look  running  a crankbait that can be kept over their heads. Even if they are out over deep water, I have seen many MANY times where a crank that dives to within 5 feet of how deep they are, and gets run over top of bass suspending  work and work well to discount it as a fluke. The funny thing about suspending fish, I can always get them to come "up" for bait with far far more success than I can get them to go down for one. A lot of people like lipless baits for this, as they can get the bait down closer to them by counting it down, or changing the rod angle etc...............but I like a lipped bait because I know (for the most part) how far down it's going to go with more regularity than a lipless.

[RB 77]

Is there such a thing?!?! Haha. Truth be told the best thing for me actually has been drifting a D-shot rig through them. I think its the subtlety of the presentation that gets them to go.

[WRB]

Spotted bass are a lot like smallmouth bass that tend to roam and not stay in an area very long. When Spots are feeding on deep 30'-50' baitfish, they aren't actually suspended sitting still, they moving and fairly fast. The bass are usually under the school or the lower 1/3rd depth, so think about 40' and deeper. Not a lot of lure choices at that depth can be worked effectively other than those I mentioned, maybe add a heavy underspin.

Tom

[Fishes in trees]

Suspended how deep?  I'm not real good at suspended fish in more or less open water, so I'd probably look elsewhere.  The first place I'd be looking is somewhere where the bottom/cover intersected with the depth them appeared to be hanging at.   More often than not, that is a point.

[F14A-B]

I use a kalin grub & a 1/8 Oz jig head, I might bump the weight up a bit. A 4" to 6" ribbon tale works as well.

Oh, don't forget a Senko..or a Tube bait.

[Wizardneck2@gmail.com]

Great topic and info. I'm fishing a lake where the pre spawn is not happening yet.. So I started dropping everything I could think of with no luck.at 30' . I could see lots of fish not sure if they were moving or not. A couple of guys came in the cove I was fishing and started pulling up stripers. It's getting harder for me to know where the largeies are. I haven't tried soft swim bait or twin tailed grubs yet. Can't wait to give it a try this s weekend.

thanks for the great posts