40%!

[Swamp Girl]

Most of you guys know I fish a lot of surface lures, primarily the Whopper Plopper and wake baits. I also fish with spinning reels because I can cast farther. A big Whopper Plopper with ten lb. mono can be slung a long ways, which means that there's a lot of water to plop before it returns to my canoe.

 

What still surprises me, after decades of catching bass, largemouth and smallmouth, with surface lures, is that I catch 40% or so of my bass in the first two or three feet of where the lure lands. The chances of catching a fish diminish the closer I am to the canoe, unlike muskies, which are slap-happy to take a lure two feet from me. This is my best guess:

 

First two to three feet from where the lure lands: 40% of the largemouth I catch

 

Next five to ten feet after that: another 40% of the fish I catch

 

The rest of the retrieve: the remaining 20% of the fish I catch

 

Does it play this way, percentage-wise, for the rest of you?

 

I think it works this way because even though I'm a quiet fisher, bass are less wary the farther they are from me and thus more willing to strike. It's not like I'm casting at rocks and logs, like I do with smallmouth in Ontario, here in Maine. I'm mostly fishing weed beds and lily pads and one would think that there are bass all along an edge or over submerged weeds...and I think there are, but a little more wary because I inevitably make a little noise in my canoe, which puts them on edge.

 

For Ontario smallmouth, I catch 60%-70% of my fish in the first twitch or two of my Rapala.

[TnRiver46]

I was told there would be no math 

[Dwight Hottle]

My theory is that the bass being ambush predators hear the entrance splash when your bait hits the water & they are tracking the noise/disturbance instantly. Most of my topwater bites occur when the bait first hits the water or shortly there after or just after the first few movements of working the bait. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I find it's a really big tradeoff between cast distance and hook up percentage.....this is especially true on top water baits.

 

On one hand like you say, you don't spook fish the longer you cast, however on the other hand the longer the cast, the more stretch involved in the process.     Things like line selection, rod selection, and reel speed help overcome some of this.  

 

The best hooked fish I catch come in between those freight train heart attack hits within 10ft of the boat, and then those bomb casts where they hit close to impact.   I lose a ton of fish at both extremes, but when I hook them 20-30ft out, more times than not it's a quality hookset and the fish get boated.

 

I don't think I bomb cast much besides cranks and chatterbaits.    I was mentored by a bottom contact guy, I've personally broken away from that mold in adult life, but that mentality always stays with me.   I'll never bomb cast bottom contact stuff for sure.   

 

Like most things with Bass fishing, I doubt there is a true right or wrong way.  

[ironbjorn]

I think it's that the immediate ruckus triggers predatory instincts and the longer it goes the more time they have to analyze and decide that something isn't quite right and they don't want that.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 minute ago, Dwight Hottle said:

My theory is that the bass being ambush predators hear the entrance splash when your bait hits the water & they are tracking the noise/disturbance instantly. Most of my topwater bites occur when the bait first hits the water or shortly there after or just after the first few movements of working the bait. 

You can break this down further into two types of topwater fisherman:

 

1.  Folks who throw a topwater as a search/power/coverage bait.    

 

2.  Folks who throw a topwater only when they see what baitfish and Bass blowing up.

 

I'm in the second category, so most of my fish come 10-20ft into a retrieve because I've thrown past where I believe the fish are going to be.

 

For the first category folks, I suspect your theory is correct.  

[TnRiver46]

Depth of water you are fishing is also key. I catch a ton of fish directly under my boat, can’t do that in a shallow pond. 20 ft is shallow for me 

[Mike L]

9 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

My theory is that the bass being ambush predators hear the entrance splash when your bait hits the water & they are tracking the noise/disturbance instantly. Most of my topwater bites occur when the bait first hits the water or shortly there after or just after the first few movements of working the bait. 

Ditto

For me it’s especially true with a frog. 
The vast majority of the hits come after a few steps of walking. 
(I rarely use a frog with a straight line retrieve)
Most times with no hit’s, especially in open water I reel back about 1/2 way back. 
 

With a straight line retrieve with a prop, buzz or plopper type hard bait, I’ll wait a little longer without a hit and reel back about 3/4 back. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Choporoz]

13 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 I'll never bomb cast bottom contact stuff for sure.   

I didn't use to, but have had some success this year.  Couple things I have done to increase hook ups.

  1.  I only use braid, or braid with short (<5') leader.  2.  Long rod (7'6") helps not just with casting distance, but with hooksetting.  

   The ability to drag an extra 10 or more yards of of a point on each cast makes things much more efficient; especially in deeper water.  Sure, I miss some, but I am convinced that it is a net positive... haha

[galyonj]

38 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I was told there would be no math 

 

Brother, I hate to break it to you, but everything is math.

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

Brother, I hate to break it to you, but everything is math.

If I catch 2 fish I’ve lost count

 

luckily I only got one yesterday 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

3 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

I didn't use to, but have had some success this year.  Couple things I have done to increase hook ups.

  1.  I only use braid, or braid with short (<5') leader.  2.  Long rod (7'6") helps not just with casting distance, but with hooksetting.  

   The ability to drag an extra 10 or more yards of of a point on each cast makes things much more efficient; especially in deeper water.  Sure, I miss some, but I am convinced that it is a net positive... haha

Yeah braid certainly helps.   Stuff never touches my reels though ?

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

If I catch 2 fish I’ve lost count

You might be joking, but this is largely true for me lol.   

 

Sometimes I count a "quick release" too ?

[TnRiver46]

5 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yeah braid certainly helps.   Stuff never touches my reels though ?

You might be joking, but this is largely true for me lol.   

 

Sometimes I count a "quick release" too ?

It’s more like 5 but yes I’m serious. Thinking about future fishing too much to keep track. Believe me we’ve tried, can’t do it 

 

therefore ciphering the 40% is difficult with no data…….

[MassBass]

I think making your retrieve more erratic with pauses, and sometimes long pauses, will give the fish a chance to get interested and react like how they do after splashdown. However splashdown is a unique part of the presentation and if you are getting bites with that, might as well embrace it.  

[Aaron_H]

22 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’s more like 5 but yes I’m serious. Thinking about future fishing too much to keep track. Believe me we’ve tried, can’t do it 

 

therefore ciphering the 40% is difficult with no data…….

 

I use a click counter app on my phone that allows you to make custom counters. Currently I have one counter for each of the more common species I catch in freshwater, I find it very handy at the end of the day when I fill out my fishing log for the trip.

[galyonj]

35 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Sometimes I count a "quick release" too ?

 

If I see it well enough to tell what it is, I count it. No shame.

[Swamp Girl]

Okay, I've changed my mind. I think distance might still be in play, but now I'm going with Dwight, ironbjorn, and the other "it's a reaction strike" guys. The longer the lure's in the water, the more time the bass have to study it and find some fault with it. 

 

MassBass, I do vary my retrieve and try pauses, but I haven't found the pauses to be more triggering than a steady retrieve. It's not that I don't catch fish on a pause. It's that I catch the same number, more or less, and the pause means I'm covering less water. 

 

AaronH, I like your click counter. However, my boat is so wet that I keep my cell phone in plastic. It still sorta works in the plastic, but it's a pain.

[ScottW]

46 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yeah braid certainly helps.   Stuff never touches my reels though ?

You might be joking, but this is largely true for me lol.   

 

Sometimes I count a "quick release" too ?

We’ve talked (texted) about this Alex. Say after me: “l will try braid. I will try braid.” See? Isn’t that better? ? ?

My top water attempts have been hit or miss. I can toss a choppo (Berkley) and mostly get slapped, nudged or late interest right at the bank. I’ve let it sit after the cast, retrieved steadily, broken up the retrieve and it made little difference. If I could interview a few bass it would be great. ?

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

 

I use a click counter app on my phone that allows you to make custom counters. Currently I have one counter for each of the more common species I catch in freshwater, I find it very handy at the end of the day when I fill out my fishing log for the trip.

I would forget to use the counter at least half the time. Maybe I should get one and just multiply the final count by two? ? I MIGHT be able to put up some @ol'crickety numbers once in a while that way. Or not. ?

[Bankc]

55 minutes ago, ol&#x27;crickety said:

Okay, I've changed my mind. I think distance might still be in play, but now I'm going with Dwight, ironbjorn, and the other "it's a reaction strike" guys. The longer the lure's in the water, the more time the bass have to study it and find some fault with it. 

 

MassBass, I do vary my retrieve and try pauses, but I haven't found the pauses to be more triggering than a steady retrieve. It's not that I don't catch fish on a pause. It's that I catch the same number, more or less, and the pause means I'm covering less water. 

 

AaronH, I like your click counter. However, my boat is so wet that I keep my cell phone in plastic. It still sorta works in the plastic, but it's a pain.

A lot of phones these days are lightly waterproof.  You might want to check the specs on yours to see.  Mine is waterproof up to one meter for thirty minutes, which means you don't want to go swimming with it, but it'll survive water getting splashed up on it, heavy rain, and even sitting in water in the bottom of my kayak.  Basically, anything a normal day of fishing will throw at it, so long as I don't drop it in the lake.  And seeing as how it's about 4 years old now and has been through all of those scenarios multiple times, I think it's safe to say that it's lived up to that promise.  

 

[Aaron_H]

16 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I would forget to use the counter at least half the time. Maybe I should get one and just multiply the final count by two? ? I MIGHT be able to put up some @ol'crickety once in a while that way. Or not. ?

 

It's like adding anything else to your routine, it takes some adapting. It's allowed me to ensure 100% that my log data is accurate, but maybe I'm just a nerd about that kind of stuff

[A-Jay]

Love throwing topwater at big brown bass.

Been doing it for a while from both a canoe & The Pro-V Bass.

Mostly in 'open water' and it's usually walkers, Poppers and a few rip baits mixed it.

ALL happens on various 7' to 7'4" M  spinning gear for me with 10-20 lb braid mainline & 12 lb mono leader. (either green big game or maxima ultragreen). 

And it seems I like a longer leader than most - because I'm working with at least 20 ft and often as much as 25. 

 I prefer Super long bomb casts to specific targets.

And YES, bite usually come either just after the baits settles or soon there after. 

The rare time bass will take a poke at topwater close to the boat are at night, super early/late grey light and in the fog.  So low visibility that hides the negative ques of both the bait and the boat. 

High quality after market hardware & trebles are a must for me and rarely let me down. 

 

Fish Hard

A-Jay

[T-Billy]

1 hour ago, Aaron_H said:

 

It's like adding anything else to your routine, 

Says the young and not yet senile man. Lol. That actually seems like a great app Aaron. I've reached a point where numbers don't mean much to me. It's all about biggins anymore, and for some reason I don't seem to have a problem keeping track of those.

[TnRiver46]

My spinning rods would snap if I threw a big topwater, they are flemsy and all 3 spooled with 6# mono. I can launch them with a baitcaster tho

[Aaron_H]

2 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Says the young and not yet senile man. Lol. That actually seems like a great app Aaron. I've reached a point where numbers don't mean much to me. It's all about biggins anymore, and for some reason I don't seem to have a problem keeping track of those.

 

I hear that big time. I keep track of them too. The fish log for me is something I use to try and establish patterns. I'm not always successful at it, but I do feel it has helped me to become better at targeting larger bass. But we've all got our methods that help us learn and push us to be better, and I've seen the impressive success you have so I know it's working for you!