Ever had this happen?

[Swamp Girl]

There's a great article on the BR front page by M.L. Anderson. Anderson wrote that Rick Clunn said that bass relate to structure 98% of the time. At the end of the article, Anderson also shares this:

 

"One of the hardest things to learn is how long to stay on a spot or a pattern before giving up on it. Clunn knows the current pattern can change during the day, so he calls it current, not "all day." While leaving, biting fish is a mistake, so is dying on a spot.

O.T. Fears says he’s caught as many as forty fish off a single treetop. One year in the AllStar Bass Championship, Rob VanderKooi, and his partner won with a 42-pound 6-fish limit, all caught off one tree. If you're catching fish consistently, it can pay to stay put."

 

Have you ever plucked bass after bass from one piece of structure, like apples off a tree?

 

I did. Once. I was wading a point on the north shore of Lake Michigan and catching nothing. I must have waded a mile, casting and not catching. Then I saw a rock about the size of a VW, the only vertical rock I'd seen on this submerged plain of rock. I cast and caught a bass. If I made a hundred casts, I at least had a hit on 97 of them. All the bass on that shallow expanse were clustered around that one rock. There was a guy wading about 30 yards away. He watched me catch fish after fish while he caught none. I waved him over to join me.

 

He said, "Thanks, but they can't all be where you're fishing."

 

But they were. All around one rock. 

 

Do you have a similar story?

[roadwarrior]

 

 

                                             

[Jar11591]

About a decade ago I was fishing on Black Lake in northern NY. We came across a little hump on the depth finder. Nothing crazy, it just went from a 10' flat bottom to about 4-5' with some grass. So we started fishing, and the smallmouth must have been stacked gill to gill down there because we started catching them non stop. 12" up to 19". This tiny mid lake hump must have had hundreds and hundreds of bass on it. Any cast that didn't produce at least a bite was surprising. Each fish would have 2-3 followers. I was throwing a DT-6, but it didn't matter. Anything you dropped down they would demolish. One of the craziest days of fishing I've ever had.

[Way north bass guy]

I get that quite often on Georgian Bay for smallmouth. Some days it takes a while to find the right rock hump, but when you do they can be stacked up on it like a pile of firewood. I’ve sat with my trolling motor down and caught fish after fish on a drop shot for over two hours, never moving more than about 20’ in any direction. Every time it hits bottom just close the bail and set the hook cause there’s another one on, and most days they’re all clones around 4-5lbs or so. Spoils you for other spots when you can’t hardly scratch together a decent sized limit ?

[Deleted account]

Yes, but not often. I can remember catching 10-30 bass from one spot a handful of times but when it's multiples it's usually more like 3-5 or so.

[Susky River Rat]

On the river I will stay at a spot awhile. then when it dies out for me I will move to a different area and let the one I was at “reset”. I’ll head back to it and most times pull a few more off that area.

[Mobasser]

The first time I used a Ned rig, I caught eleven bass in about 30 min from the bank. Later I found a shelf the bass were hanging on with my depth finder. Now, I always fish this spot. That was several years ago.

[islandbass]

I wish that were my case. I am however a shore angler so I can’t always reach where I want to place my lures. I can only get 2-4 bass in a spot IF I am lucky. It’s usually just one and then move on. 
 

It’s almost as if the caught bass sends the others a signal to the other bass with a communique I imagine goes like this:

 

Caught Bass: “Dagnabbit. Islandbass suckered me again with that spinnerbait.  Whatever you do don’t bite it. Only bite if he throws a whopper plopper.

 

Other bass: Why?

 

Caught Bass: Because I just read here on BR that he doesn’t have one.”

 

I also have reason to believe that our bass population aren’t as large or as dense in the smaller lakes I fish. In addition, bass are transplants and not native here. They receive no support from our fish and wildlife department.  It leads me to believe that 40 bass day is not going to very likely. 

 

[A-Jay]

Yes.

One time I was catching so many bass,

they finally asked me to stop casting and just go home.

I made one more cast.

A-Jay

 

[T-Billy]

I occasionally run into a big school early or late in the year, but it happens most often for me with post spawn bass at night. It can be fast and furious with a chatterbait after dark. 

[Swamp Girl]

16 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I occasionally run into a big school early or late in the year, but it happens most often for me with post spawn bass at night. It can be fast and furious with a chatterbait after dark. 

 

Are they structure-centered, Tim?

 

@A-Jay, it's good to see you post again!

[scaleface]

Several times.

[Mike L]

The year I won the BFL Gator Division Championship, the first day of competition my boater pulled up to an area on the east side of Okeechobee just before they started to release water from a control dam. 
 

We both won our respective divisions from that one spot over 2 days. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[N Florida Mike]

I caught 35 bass one day, and around half of them were caught in the same 150 foot area. It was a big eel grass patch on the windward side of the lake on a very windy day…and I caught every one of them on a UV speed worm…

[Bird]

Y'all sure you're not talking about Crappie ? ?

They don't stage up that heavy around here, maybe a half a dozen from 1 tree.

 

Now Smallmouth below a dam here can be all day action but never the case with Largemouth.

[WRB]

Fished long enough to be blessed with several outstanding days on the water.

Still in high school when my brother and I fished Casitas from a rental boat. Long day with a few bass when heading back to the marina cast a black/orange 300 Bomber as we entered the break wall and caught a big bass. My brother and I kept catching big bass over an hour until the patrol boat made us stop fishing. Good memory with my late brother.

Told the story of my Castiac catch over 18 DD bass on a Scrounger/Sluggo off mud point non- Stop until the Scrounger was gone.

Lots of stories of running into wolf pack bass at both Castiac and Casitas during their hay days.

Tom

 

[Team9nine]

Have done it so many times over the years. It’s kind of the ultimate goal for Spoonpluggers. The lake and its bass population can make a big difference, and it doesn’t seem quite as common as it once was, but still happens enough times to keep things interesting.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

11 minutes ago, WRB said:

Fished long enough to be blessed with several outstanding days on the water.

Still in high school when my brother and I fished Casitas from a rental boat. Long day with a few bass when heading back to the marina cast a black/orange 300 Bomber as we entered the break wall and caught a big bass. My brother and I kept catching big bass over an hour until the patrol boat made us stop fishing. Good memory with my late brother.

Told the story of my Castiac catch over 18 DD bass on a Scrounger/Suggo off mud point non- Stop until the Scrounger was gone.

Lots of stories of running into wolf pack bass at both Castiac and Casitas during their hay days.

Tom

 

18 DDs in one day on the same bait?.....if so that's mind blowing 

[Catt]

17 consective cast to 4' diameter oak tree stump produced 17 bass with the largest 5 @ 30.667 lbs. 

 

Can't tell y'all how many times I've sat anchored on a single piece of structure & caught bass all night long.

[king fisher]

Yes.  The first time it happened was 1976.  I was thirteen years old.  Days like that are what bass dreams are made of.  Times like that are why I have spent most of my life in pursuit of a fish I don't even keep to eat.  

[WRB]

My 1st 5 bass 40 lb limit was at Lake Sherwood in the late 60’s. With my 510 paper graph I found a mid lake stump and it was a gold mine. 
When the lake was drained in the late 80’s that stump was a groove of Oak tree stumps!

Tom

[scaleface]

One that comes to mind was in autumn and I found bass in the back of a creek stacked up in the remains of a silted in creek channel . I caught maybe 70 bass in that hole with a square bill crankbait . They were still biting when I left . No big ones  but it was almost every cast.

[Dogface]

8 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

About a decade ago I was fishing on Black Lake in northern NY. We came across a little hump on the depth finder. Nothing crazy, it just went from a 10' flat bottom to about 4-5' with some grass. So we started fishing, and the smallmouth must have been stacked gill to gill down there because we started catching them non stop. 12" up to 19". This tiny mid lake hump must have had hundreds and hundreds of bass on it. 

 

I think I fished that same hump on Black Lake. BTW did you find the single tree with all the crappie? ? Seriously I have had experiences like that on Black Lake. 

[Dogface]

There are times and places on the Susquehanna River when we just keep catching SM cast after cast. I look for areas with unique current seams and flows. If everything is right the fish stack up in some locations.  We usually do not catch big fish but a lot of smaller fish. 

[papajoe222]

I had it happen to me on TableRock the first time I'd ever fished it. There was a bluff wall that extended 300yrds. or so on the north shore of a cove.  I found an outcropping of chunk rock in 20ft. of water. It wasn't very big, but if I missed it with a cast, nothing.  When my casts landed past it and I crawled a worm up on to it, I got bit.

It happened again on TableRock three years later, but this time it was 3lb. schoolers and a Cordell Super Spot was my offering. The school had encircled a ball of shad and kept them pinned in one area.  Best day I ever had for numbers. I lost count, but it only lasted for 30min. or so