A lot of my hits come away from cover

[scaleface]

  I watch other people fish cover , both pros and weekenders , and lots of them  quit fishing their lure once it exits the cover . I'm referring to lures like jigs and texas rigs . I keep working my lure after it leaves the cover , sometimes all the way back to the boat .  Maybe close to half my hits come after the lure exits . I suspect sometimes the bass follows the lure and other times it is positioned there. Its more time consuming but I feel worth it . What you say?

[Catt]

4 minutes ago, scaleface said:

What you say?

 

I do the same ?

[dodgeguy]

I do what you do until the fish demonstrate where they are and what mood they are in. It's possible the bass follows your lure and finally decides to eat it instead of wasting energy chasing it.

[BrianMDTX]

I used to cast a WR, let it fall, raise it and let it fall again, once, and reel it back to the boat. Then I started working it back and got bites. Sometimes more bites than on the initial cast. 
 

I read something on BR once that stuck with me. “The bass will let you know what they want”. 

[Dogface]

If I'm fishing a hard bait or jig I fish it right back to the boat. I always suspect a fish is following it and getting ready to pounce and it often is. 

 

If you watch underwater videos it shows fish often follow lures a distance. 

[gim]

27 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I keep working my lure after it leaves the cover , sometimes all the way back to the boat

I do this often myself because I muskie fish, and they are notorious for following. I even find myself doing a bit of a figure 8 boat side while bass fishing. It has become so ingrained into my muskie fishing routine that I just continually do it almost all the time now while casting.

[GaryH]

21 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

I do the same ?

Ditto…

[BrianMDTX]

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

I do this often myself because I muskie fish, and they are notorious for following. I even find myself doing a bit of a figure 8 while bass fishing. It has become ingrained into my muskie fishing routine that I just continually do it almost all the time now.

I’ve never caught a muskie, but I’ve watched enough videos to see that “figure 8” maneuver works! 

[Dogface]

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

I do this often myself because I muskie fish, and they are notorious for following. I even find myself doing a bit of a figure 8 while bass fishing. 

 

How many times do we catch a fish right at the boat or the shore? I never kept track but it happens often, especially with toothy critters!  

[gim]

2 minutes ago, Dogface said:

 

How many times do we catch a fish right at the boat or the shore? I never kept track but it happens often, especially with toothy critters!  

Initially, it’s very difficult to make yourself figure 8 when you are muskie fishing. If you don’t just make it a robotic habit out of it, you will get caught off guard when a large esox shows up and just stare in amazement lol

[Deleted account]

If you are fishing cover, and a majority of your bites are coming not on that cover, you are fishing the wrong cover or shouldn't be fishing cover in the first place.

[Mike L]

Other when punching or flipping to specific spots, most times I work it back to about 10ft away. 
However, before I pull it I always will change my cadence a little. 
 

I’ll kill it and dead stick for a second or 2,

Stop and shake a bit,

Or raise it to just below the top and let it free fall which is where I have the most success. 
If there is a follower that’s when she’ll hit it. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Catt]

Sitting in 18' of water casting to an outside weedline, wasn't getting bit, worked to jig all the way to the boat, bounced it up/down under boat & caught the top one. Dropped the straight down & caught the second one.

 

[king fisher]

If my lure makes it out of the cover without snagging, I'm so happy I work it all the way to the boat.

[Mobasser]

I do this also. I'm always envisioning a bass following my bait.

[FrnkNsteen]

3 hours ago, Deleted account said:

If you are fishing cover, and a majority of your bites are coming not on that cover, you are fishing the wrong cover or shouldn't be fishing cover in the first place.

^^Agreed^^

 

If I notice I'm getting bit away from the cover and on the way back to the boat, I typically switch to a reaction bait like a swimjig, crank, or other moving lures and fish a little further out off the cover.

 

As others said,.. The fish are telling you what they want!

[Fishin Dad]

27 minutes ago, FrnkNsteen said:

^^Agreed^^

 

If I notice I'm getting bit away from the cover and on the way back to the boat, I typically switch to a reaction bait like a swimjig, crank, or other moving lures and fish a little further out off the cover.

 

As others said,.. The fish are telling you what they want!

I agree^^.  If fish keep hitting away from cover, I want a moving bait to cover that water.   I will still flip to the cover occasionally to keep them honest though.  

[Bankbeater]

If the bass are outside of the cover they may be trying to ambush forage that wander out of it.  I'll throw the bait into the cover, but I won't fish it.  I start working the bait as soon as I get it back out into open water.

[TnRiver46]

It would be nice for me to pretend like the bass are telling me what they want and that I understand it perfectly and now I’m just going to unlock the magical tactic for catching them halfway back to the boat 

 

but then I realize it’s fishing and each fish is different than the next 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I catch 90% of my fish away from cover.

 

I catch 90% of my big fish over 7lbs directly on cover.

 

I lack the discipline to only fish cover methodically, I'm positive if I just fished the first several feet before and after cover with either moving baits or bottom contact stuff I'd have amassed a way bigger big Bass body count.      

 

I blame the Shad ? 

[CM-fisher]

8 hours ago, scaleface said:

Its more time consuming but I feel worth it . What you say?

I like to fish moderately slow to be more thorough, so I usually fish my lure almost to the boat. I do believe that the anglers who pull the lure out right away might be missing out on some fish.

[OkobojiEagle]

or the cover has changed to a shorter variety less visible to you