Search Bait?

[Brett's_daddy]

53 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

As a rookie sonar operator, I tend to think that EVERY arch is a bass....until a couple hours into a skunk, at which time I usually decide that NONE of the arches are bass

I feel your pain! I have a hard time figuring out my sonar too...I just can't properly read the arches and give up and just look for where i think the bass might be holed up.

[Attila]

Thanks to @A-Jay and @J Francho for sharing their insights into the northern waters, really helps me understand a lot of the water I fish!

 

In the Kawartha's I find myself throwing a topwater or jerkbait for bass as a search bait. This season between tournaments I'm going to be experimenting with a spinnerbait as a search bait as well.

[Dtrombly]

I mainly fish stained water, I typically start off with a spinnerbait as a search bait, I'll continue using it until it stops producing. Then I'll typically start flipping or dragging the bottom 

[CroakHunter]

I've never fished out of a boat that has any kind of electronics besides the trolling motor. My search bait in deep water is a carolina rig. I'm not necessarily searching for fish, but places that hold fish. I'd be spoiled rotten if we had a fish finder on our boats. Shallow I like to throw a chatterbait around "fishy" looking spots and then switch to some sort of jig or plastic if it's not producing how I think it should. 

[Bucky205]

On 6/7/2017 at 1:21 PM, Brett's_daddy said:

Okay, so i've heard people talk about using a "search" bait to find where the fish are. My question is two part...first, if you are using a particular bait as a search bait and you get bit what do you do...stick with the bait that is getting bit or switch to something else (non-search bait)? If you DO switch why if you're getting bit on the search bait and what bait would you switch to? Thanks for clearing this up for me!!!

 

     Simple answer is tournaments, new areas, and changing patterns. Spinnerbaits are effective because they can imitate what a bass eats in a variety of conditions. You can throw it shallow, deep, grass, under docks, jig it, brush, rocks, whatever, and a spinnerbait will catch fish. It can imitate a lot of different hatches that bass feed on.   I've even seen shad chase them back to the boat trying to mate with them. We have a lot of submerged structure, and grass here. Something that doesn't hang up is crucal to searching without hanging up a lot. 

     Tournaments are very popular here, finding active fish and getting at least a limit is important to have any chance of winning.  Search baits cover a lot of water in a hurry but don't always catch the bigger fish.  If you can find active fish then retie with something enticing to a larger fish your odds of catching larger fish improve.  In a tournament here your normally are only allowed to weigh five fish per boat, so size matters. Search baits help you find where active bass are, trying to catch larger fish is why you sometimes change from your search bait.

     The average tournament entry here runs anywhere from $30 to $150 a boat, with 100% payback or a portion going to charity. There is usually a tournament within 75 miles daily and multiples on weekends, and very popular. I don't want to sound like a big time tournament fisherman because I'm not, my partner and I fish a lot of the $30s and they are a lot of fun.  I would estimate over half the people you see fishing here are either in a tournament or practicing for one.  Sorry this was long, just trying to answer your question and explain why a bait that covers a lot of water and different profiles is valuable to people who enjoy tournaments, or even to someone just trying to figure out where the bass are.

[Catt]

23 hours ago, Catt said:

Understand what structure is, how to truly identify it, interpret it, and then fish it effectively.

 

Understand what the predominate prey species in your lake and how that species relates to structure with each season...morning, noon, and night.

 

Sounds to me we are back where I started

[Bucky205]

On 6/7/2017 at 5:08 PM, Catt said:

My down/side imaging cover water a lot faster

I have a Humminbird DI on the bow and an SI GPS at the helm and I can find fish and structure with them.  Sonar onits will not usually show fish through thick standing grass  Here we need something that will rapidly search through a large areas of thick stuff and find active bass.  I've fished LA and know you guys have some heavy cover as well.  How are you guys locating the active bass in the heavy stuff? The competition here is crazy. Casey Martin caught a 5 fish limit weighing 40-11 to win Guntersville this year. Here you don't just need to find fish, you need to find big active fish, and it's tough to do.

[12poundbass]

Like I said last week, I feel sorry for the poor saps that pay for this information. Thanks again Glenn! 

[Catt]

4 hours ago, Bucky205 said:

I have a Humminbird DI on the bow and an SI GPS at the helm and I can find fish and structure with them.  Sonar units will not usually show fish through thick standing grass.

 

What kind of grass are you talking?

 

Surface matted?

[Bucky205]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

 

What kind of grass are you talking?

 

Surface matted?

Anything with vertical stems and connected to the bottom and I have trouble, it just looks like a wall on the display. Really any grass in under 3 feet of water and I have trouble picking out fish.  Things like alligator weed, and torpedo grass and my si is useless.  Hyacinith, I have a decent view as long as I have enough depth under it.  My SI is great for deep water structure, I just have trouble seeing under things in shallow water, and the water is usually either to shallow or the grass to thick to make the DI useful because I can't get the boat on top of it.  I will do some screenshots this week and post them, if there is a way to pick fish out in shallow vertical grass I haven't figured it out.   On the SI I'm looking for the white dashes and I just don't see them.  The Helix 7 SI runs out of warranty in August.  I talked to them yesterday about them checking the unit and the transducer just to make sure it is functioning at 100%.  Another area I struggle with is rip rap,  If I have bass holding tight to the rip rap espescialy where it transitions to a soft bottom I have trouble seeing them on the SI.

[Catt]

@Bucky205 5' or less I don't even turn my depth finders on

[Bucky205]

21 hours ago, Catt said:

@Bucky205 5' or less I don't even turn my depth finders on

Good call on the 5'.  I tested it today, sure enough under 5' is where I start having trouble seeing.  I thought the grass was causing it.   Now I'm thinking depth.  Good thing I search that junk with a spinnerbait. 

[Catt]

2 hours ago, Bucky205 said:

Good call on the 5'.  I tested it today, sure enough under 5' is where I start having trouble seeing.  I thought the grass was causing it.   Now I'm thinking depth.  Good thing I search that junk with a spinnerbait. 

 

If I'm fishing 5' or less it's cause I fishing shorelines or a shallow marsh. In those to cases I'll eliminate water by reading the shoreline topography & cover, in marshes I read various types of vegetation knowing what bottom composition they grow in.

[RoLo]

On 6/8/2017 at 11:17 AM, J Francho said:

Here's a good example of "structure" on a grand scale.  Speaking of scale, look at the bottom right.  That's right, you have to travel a football field to get another foot of depth.  Yet, this is a spot where I ALWAYS can find smallies.

 

 

John, I think your picture says a thousand words. 

The human eye tends to gravitate to the obvious compression points around the 40-ft contour line.

Yet, broad shelves like the one in the lower right corner usually provide the best population dynamics.

You may recall, when Paul Roberts posted a chart and asked everyone where the best spot was located.

In that case too, the best site was related to a broad shelf, and not to any classic 'jump out' spot.

 

Many years ago I spent two weeks on Bass Islands, Lake Erie (took my bass boat over on the ferry).

The best spot I found was somewhat similar to your chart above. Most boats were scattered offshore

of Middle Bass Island, while we fished a boulder flat in 15 ft of water that produced day-after-day-after-day. 

This was pretty much the same point I tried to make in another thread:

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/191757-understanding-how-to-read-water/#comment-2165275

 

Roger

 

 

 

[bigfruits]

to me a search bait is reeled in at a med or fast speed and can be fished in shallow or med depths. TM going at a fast walk or jogging speed.

 

in the past i would have said spinnerbait and lipless. today ill tell you skirtless chatterbait with keitech fat for muddy/stained water and keitech fat on jighead for stained/clear water. 

[Paul Roberts]

On 6/8/2017 at 1:04 PM, roadwarrior said:

Fishing a void is a complete waste of time.

I believe this sums it up.

 

In my small waters, it really helps to search out concentrations of appropriate sized bluegills. There's cover everywhere, but the feeding is not going on everywhere. And, although there are consistent spots, much of this is transient in both space as well as time.