Very interesting bass behavior study on Toledo Bend

[PhishLI]

Hopefully the mods will forgive the 16 seconds of promo found at 6:44 into this 20 minute vid. It's not linked to a tackle retailer. If not, I apologize for posting it. Otherwise, this is a good one! Check out the additional links in the description for interviews with the guy that conducted the study.

 

# @Catt

 

 

[Catt]

Brought the original videos up on here & they were pretty much ignored.

[PhishLI]

1 minute ago, Catt said:

Brought the original videos up on here & they were pretty much ignored.

Maybe the 2nd time will be the charm.

[Kelvin]

Saw both videos.   Great information in each.  Being new to bass fishing the analytic approach combined with FFS is the way to go.  Short of hiring a local guide the data driven real time analysis is far more valuable to enhance the experience.  

 

Fish code studios, fish the moment and Roland Martin YT are exceptional. 

 

The latest video yielded some gems.  In a given field of 10 bass on a brush pile 3 leave when the boat approaches, 3 leave at the sight of a lure (wrong color or presentation?) and leaving 4 as potential catches.   To greatly increase odds FFS scan a pile, drift in stealthily then present a lure and the odds of catching increase by 30 percent. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Catt]

Watch the original interviews, there's 5 videos.

 

 

[A-Jay]

Very interesting information.

What it reconfirms for me is that bass survival instincts are strong and will have them continually adapt to meet that end.  Been doing it for a long time.

FFS is just the latest deal the bass in pressured water will have to adjust to.

And we can bet they will.

A-Jay

[softwateronly]

@Catt I remember when you posted the original videos, and was fascinated by the interviews.  Question, have the revelations about a rather large selection of bass not seemingly relating to structure in the conventional way impacted or influenced what you look for?

 

scott

[Catt]

@softwateronly No sir, validated what I believed all along. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I watched it last night, neat but very little info that I can take from it.   The sample size was incredibly small, many fish died, and ultimately the data was quite random.   

 

Just because one 8lb fish was randomly chilling in non fishy spots doesn't mean a typical one would.   

 

Just seemed pretty random to me.    If there is a concrete scientific conclusion that we all can take away from this study I'm all ears by all means.   

 

My big takeaway is that Bass behavior remains a mystery and is almost totally random to each individual fish.  

[Skunkmaster-k]

It was weird to me that way more bass died in the cooler water after they implanted the transmitter. 

[Catt]

8 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

My big takeaway is that Bass behavior remains a mystery and is almost totally random to each individual fish

 

It validated that bass do what they want to do, when they want to do it, where they want to do it.

 

[Tennessee Boy]

I watched the videos when Catt posted them and have continued to follow the research.  It is very interesting.  I don't think it really tells us anything that biologist have not already tried to tell us.  People have been tracking bass for decades.  John Hope's study showed that big bass are very skittish and hard to catch most of the time.  We anglers want to make bass behavior simple.  We want it boiled down to simple rules.  I'm no different.   I am constantly trying to remind myself that the evidence shows that bass behavior is complicated and it varies by fishery and by fish.  Someone posted a quote from Jacob Wheeler a few days ago where he said that FFS is showing us that everything we know about bass behavior is wrong.  I think tracking studies have been trying to tell us that for a long time.  When you're on the water and see if for yourself on your fish finder it's much easier to believe.   Still I'm a sucker for the latest simple approach that explains it all and will tell me where the fish are every time.

[scaleface]

Informative videos . I know one particular small lake extremely well . I   have scads of spots that routinely hold fish  . Being its an elec. motor only lake I fish my way from spot to spot and eventually bass are caught everywhere ,   Nothing banks , structure , cover .  There is one nothing bank that routinely gives up nice fish . 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Informative videos . I know one particular small lake extremely well . I   have scads of spots that routinely hold fish  . Being its an elec. motor only lake I fish my way from spot to spot and eventually bass are caught everywhere ,   Nothing banks , structure , cover .  There is one nothing bank that routinely gives up nice fish . 

Same here, I catch fish in the middle of the lake in 30ft holding on no particular structure or cover, catch them on nothing banks, then I catch them in the places that smart people on here stress to look for them.

 

It's completely random lol. 

11 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

It was weird to me that way more bass died in the cooler water after they implanted the transmitter. 

Bob Lusk or the Pond Boss has documented this well.   The cold water causes parasites, and he says that when you have these wild cold to hot temp swings in the South, it super stresses these fish, and weakens their immune system making them even more susceptible to parasites and infections.  

[Catt]

@Tennessee Boy

Exactly! 

 

About the time I think I have em figured out they prove to me I don't!

[TnRiver46]

Appears to be an extremely time consuming expensive way to spend a few years conforming loose suspicions……

 

somebody get these men a shovel 

[Zcoker]

I watched the video and found it interesting how bass tend to track back to their original holding spots, wherever that may have been, and hold tight for weeks or even months on end. I recall JT Kenny on a podcast talking about how these big tournaments like MLF, Bassmaster keep catch statistics. The accumulated data showed that bass are usually caught in spurts all over the lake all at once by the anglers, a sort of on/off pattern throughout the course of the event. Many of these catches where in spots that were previously fished hard by the anglers without results, which basically says to hit the same spot over and over throughout the day to eventually get a good bite. In other words, if a spot looks ripe, has the appeal to harbor fish but somehow cast after cast is dead, then just come back later and it may be on fire. I proved this to myself the other day, a certain spot was dead as a doornail. Then, after I ate some lunch, I took a blind cast expecting nothing really and an 8 pounder lit up my world. I had previously hammered this spot over and over and came to the conclusion that it was a dead end street. And I basically quit fishing it. I only took a lazy cast that day because I happened to be near it. So it's very interesting how bass do hold onto their spots, day in and day out, until they get that urge to strike. Now, if one could figure out what causes that "urge" and what causes it all over the lake all at ounce, then that would be the icing on the cake! 

[WRB]

Thought the series was very interesting and supports a lot of my beliefs regarding bass behavior. 

Our California deep rocky structure lakes are nearly void of large flats we have isolated cover in deeper water out of the boating fishing zones. 

Clear is the exception being a large natural lake about 1/3 if the upper are is a large flat.

I also believe big bass spawn in the same area year after year based on watching them and catching them from exactly the same spot. These bass stage in the same locations, spawn then disappear until the next season.

Where do these big bass go? They mostly suspend over deep structure that create upwelling current attracting baitfish. A sanctuary that is now being exploded by FFS sonar and Live Scope technology.

Tom

  

[softwateronly]

20 minutes ago, WRB said:

Thought the series was very interesting and supports a lot of my beliefs regarding bass behavior. 

Our California deep rocky structure lakes are nearly void of large flats we have isolated cover in deeper water out of the boating fishing zones. 

Clear is the exception being a large natural lake about 1/3 if the upper are is a large flat.

I also believe big bass spawn in the same area year after year based on watching them and catching them from exactly the same spot. These bass stage in the same locations, spawn then disappear until the next season.

Where do these big bass go? They mostly suspend over deep structure that create upwelling current attracting baitfish. A sanctuary that is now being exploded by FFS sonar and Live Scope technology.

Tom

  

 

My takeaway comparing the telemetry study, ffs revelations, and all your insightful comments over the years, is that bass are more homebodies than not and that your negative, neutral, and aggressive classification is as important as structure and quite possibly more important if you hit and run spots or sit on them. 

 

scott  

[Skunkmaster-k]

4 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Same here, I catch fish in the middle of the lake in 30ft holding on no particular structure or cover, catch them on nothing banks, then I catch them in the places that smart people on here stress to look for them.

 

It's completely random lol. 

Bob Lusk or the Pond Boss has documented this well.   The cold water causes parasites, and he says that when you have these wild cold to hot temp swings in the South, it super stresses these fish, and weakens their immune system making them even more susceptible to parasites and infections.  

Thank you. Makes sense , even when applied to human beans .

 

[Motoboss]

Saw those videos just the other day on the tube. Good stuff and very interesting findings. Gave me some confidence in the “dead seas” I typically fish!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

10 hours ago, WRB said:

 

Where do these big bass go? They mostly suspend over deep structure that create upwelling current attracting baitfish. A sanctuary that is now being exploded by FFS sonar and Live Scope technology.

Tom

  

This is brilliant and one thing that I actually can see for months on end now with regards to big Bass.  Seen several dozen suspended several feet off the bottom on deep structure, particularly around the main lake channel, sometimes down in it, sometimes to the side just earlier today.   

 

FFS is allowing anglers to see the reaction, and then fine tune the approach for hooking one, but anybody with solid downscan can see these fish for themselves.   

 

I know exactly where they are every time out on the water, I spent a month trying to drop on them with nada, spent another month deep cranking for them, nada.     Damaki Rigged a bit, nada.   These fish are selective, but I never forget that big fish are aggressive fish, and don't get big by not eating a bunch.