A Changing Forage

[Mobasser]

One of the lakes I fish most often, is an 8 acre quarry lake. This lake has shelves, deeper rocks, rock walls, and humps in the deeper water, when the quarry was dug many years ago.             There are no shad here. The predominant forage has always been bluegill, small crappie, and crawfish. We've always done well here with dark colored plastic worms, 3" and 4" grubs, and smaller jig/ trailer combos.                                                          A local Mo conservation agent told me this fall that he thought the forage base had changed here. In his words, depending on conditions, there may be more bluegill, less craws etc, depending on many factors.              Our catch rates prove him to be correct. We caught quite a few more fish on craw baits, in standard crawfish colors last year. Not as many fish on our standard worms, grubs, or jigs, which we always thought were imitations of the bluegill population here.                                        Does this make sense, and sound correct? Has anyone noticed a change in the forage base on your lake, and have you had to adjust how you fish, to catch bass consistently?                             I've never thought that we always need to match the hatch perfectly to catch the bass. Bass may hit any number of baits on any given day, but it always pays to learn what the fish are eating, and fish accordingly.                                    Any thoughts or opinions on a forage base changing? 

[BrianMDTX]

5 hours ago, Mobasser said:

I've never thought that we always need to match the hatch perfectly to catch the bass.

That’s interesting as it seems you did not match the hatch (as I understand it); rather, you offered up baits that appeared similar to forage whose numbers have dwindled. So I guess the question is, do bass key in on forage whose numbers are lower than previous, almost as if thinking “eat it now while it’s still available?” Or is it just a coinkydink? 

[Finessegenics]

While I’m an advocate for matching the hatch, I’ve learned (thanks to BR) that fish will eat anything that looks alive, even if the lure you’re using imitates forage which is not present in your body of water. For example, I’ve caught plenty of fish using gulp leeches or tiny black dropshot worms in a body of water where there were no leeches. So in theory, I see no reason the grubs and jigs would work less as they are both very versatile baits that can imitate anything depending how you fish them. 

Still, I think what you’re saying has merit because now that I give it more thought, I experience the same thing in a different way. I mostly fish rivers therefore the availability of certain forage is constantly changing due to the migration of different species.  There are tiny baitfish which are there year round, crawfish, yellow perch and American Shad*. In the spring, American Shad migrate from the ocean into rivers to spawn. Once they hit the dam in this particular river, they have nowhere to go so they spawn in the strong current below it. At that time of year, I noticed the best baits are moving baits, particularly 3” swim baits in a natural baitfish color (a perfect imitator of the freshly hatched Shad). Come late summer/early fall, the shad born that year begin moving back into the ocean. It honestly does seem that as the year goes by, the swimbaits produce less and less. Of course they always work since there are always some sort of baitfish around but I have done better in the fall ticking bottom with a 1/16oz ned rig in darker colors more akin to a craw or a soft plastic on a swing head. 
 

I might be overthinking it but maybe next year I’ll do a little experiment to see if any of this is actually true. It could also have a lot to do with bass behaviour and where you’re fishing. If there are less bass around then surely they won’t be hitting my swimbait. And maybe we just threw the craw style baits where the bass were, so we did better with them? A lot to consider but this is a very interesting post. 

 

[Choporoz]

I have never been much of a 'match the hatch' guy.  One thing I noticed when forage changes is not so much what bait to use but how and where to present it.  I watched a reservoir change from grass oriented active feeders to mostly brush and pack feeders when the baitfish population changed.

[Biglittle8]

On 1/9/2021 at 7:02 PM, Choporoz said:

I have never been much of a 'match the hatch' guy.  One thing I noticed when forage changes is not so much what bait to use but how and where to present it.  I watched a reservoir change from grass oriented active feeders to mostly brush and pack feeders when the baitfish population changed.

Bass are aggressive fish who feed in groups when large schools of bait are present but also can be provoked into a reaction strike with the right lure and presentation even when relatively in a resting state. I think their predatory instinct makes them hunters and opportunistic feeders who adapt very well to their environment regardless of the type of forage available.