Turn around for bigger fish

[txchaser]

I'm sure I learned this on BassResource, but I couldn't find the thread anywhere so here goes. 

 

If you want bigger fish, find smaller ones and then turn around. Those big fish are often deeper unless you've got a good canopy to punch.  Sometimes they'll be at the same depth as your boat so a parallel cast will do too, but part of the point is over and over again I find that big fish don't do little fish things. Generally I have far better results sitting shallow and casting deep when it's hot; I don't know why, but it's pretty consistent. 

 

Also, it's been discussed before, but it's really important - the intersection of the thermocline and structure or cover is a really important depth to look for big fish. 

 

This weekend, the little ones were in 15 FOW and nothing bigger than 2lbs. They were about 10ft outside the outside weed edge, in the sparse grass. I turned around, and well, the day changed dramatically. Best three fish went 24lbs. No new PB, but I've never stacked up three fish like that ever. They were just further out chilling and were more than happy to eat a deep crank.

 

Turn around

 

I'm sure @WRB and @Catt will have a bunch to add, and this is probably their lesson the first place... but it worked so well for me this weekend I had to share. 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

My head says that you're likely correct, the majority of big fish spend their lives in deeper water and that's a relative term and especially in the WRB vs. Catt's home ponds deal.             

 

On the other hand, when I look at the several dozen 5+, and my top 5 for the year, I'm catching these fish in depths ranging from 30ft to a 7.1 in January in less than FOW.   The majority of the big fish I catch I have been in that 3-8ft range.....which is what I believe is the prime feeding range.   These fish want to push up shallow to limit the area of escape when feeding, but the majority of the time I bet they slide off and live in deeper haunts.

 

One thing that is always consistent for me with big fish, they LOVE points, and the more unique those points are, the more big fish they hold I've found.   Ones that have great dropoffs to deep water with little 25sq yd type "feeding flats" are prime to me.     

 

Once I get the LVS 34, I think I'll understand this idea better.    

[slonezp]

Agree, depending on the particular body of water.

Fish of a similar year class/similar size will tend to congregate together. The larger the class of fish, the less the population. Regardless of size, they're still going to relate to the forage. Regarding size, the forage may/will be different. Different forage means different cover/structure to relate to.  

 

That being said. The turn around thought process is a good one. If I fish alone, I cast both sides of the boat and if I fish with a partner, we cast opposite until we hit on something. 

[txchaser]

10 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

One thing that is always consistent for me with big fish, they LOVE points, and the more unique those points are, the more big fish they hold I've found.   Ones that have great dropoffs to deep water with little 25sq yd type "feeding flats" are prime to me. 

Feeding flat with a dropoff into deep water, tasty. 

 

[Catt]

Not only does it depend on the body of water but it also depends on the individual bass.

 

Recent radio telemetry studies coupled with foward facing sonar shows a portion of the population lives near the shoreline, while a portion of the population lives offshore, & a portion of the population moves between the two.

 

I've caught bigger bass shallow, I've caught em deep, & I've caught em everywhere in between.

[Bankc]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Not only does it depend on the body of water but it also depends on the individual bass.

 

Recent radio telemetry studies coupled with foward facing sonar shows a portion of the population lives near the shoreline, while a portion of the population lives offshore, & a portion of the population moves between the two.

 

I've caught bigger bass shallow, I've caught em deep, & I've caught em everywhere in between.

My own personal research shows that big bass are almost always located in the third most likely spot to hold big bass. 

[Pat Brown]

It is my belief that a lot of larger fish behave like ocean fish and they spend a lot of the hot day being lazy and then they move up onto the flats during opportunities that they perceive as viable.  

 

This could be a strong wind, clouds rolling in, pressure drop, temperature drop, rain, sunset, etc etc etc.

 

These fish will eat during their dormant periods, but it does become a matter of eliciting some kind of reaction strike and I do think a deep diving crank is a great bait for those times when they're holding deep off structure waiting for the right time to move up.

 

Of course you have the strictly pelagic offshore fish and the more solitary 'bully in an area' shallow fish and both are fun to catch also and I think operate under similar rule sets but on different scales.

[gim]

21 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

It is my belief that a lot of larger fish behave like ocean fish and they spend a lot of the hot day being lazy and then they move up onto the flats during opportunities that they perceive as viable.  

 

This could be a strong wind, clouds rolling in, pressure drop, temperature drop, rain, sunset, etc etc etc.

 

These fish will eat during their dormant periods, but it does become a matter of eliciting some kind of reaction strike

I'd found this to be true too.  Relief from the hot sun whether that be in deeper water, thick weeds, under docks, etc is important.  A weather change often triggers an aggressive feeding response from the larger bass (and other predators) in the system this time of year.  When they are in a neutral mood, you have to run a lure right past their nose or drop it on their head to make them even consider biting.

 

Granted, I think we're targeting a different strain of bass being I'm in MN and you're in NC.  Florida strain largemouth are more tolerant of hot weather and less tolerant of cold weather, and vice versa for the northern strain.

[Captain Phil]

21 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

It is my belief that a lot of larger fish behave like ocean fish and they spend a lot of the hot day being lazy and then they move up onto the flats during opportunities that they perceive as viable.

 

For many years I had a spot that produced 6 pound plus bass on a regular basis.  It only produced if you fished it at the right time, which was a couple of hours in the middle of the day.  Before 11 AM and after 2 PM, you couldn't buy a bite.  Few people knew the right timing.  Whenever I needed a kicker fish, I knew what to do and it saved me in many tournaments.   To this day I have no idea why this occurred.

[roadwarrior]

3 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

To this day I have no idea why this occurred.

 It has been well documented here on the Forum. Primetime for bigger fish

is 10:00 - 2:00.

[Catt]

52 minutes ago, Bankc said:

My own personal research shows that big bass are almost always located in the third most likely spot to hold big bass. 

 

My personal experience shows bigger bass are where they wanna be, when they wanna be there. 

[Pat Brown]

51 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I'd found this to be true too.  Relief from the hot sun whether that be in deeper water, thick weeds, under docks, etc is important.  A weather change often triggers an aggressive feeding response from the larger bass (and other predators) in the system this time of year.  When they are in a neutral mood, you have to run a lure right past their nose or drop it on their head to make them even consider biting.

 

Granted, I think we're targeting a different strain of bass being I'm in MN and you're in NC.  Florida strain largemouth are more tolerant of hot weather and less tolerant of cold weather, and vice versa for the northern strain.

 

 

We got Northern and Florida!

 

Depends on the lake but I have caught both strains!  I think when stocking the DNR stocks a mixture of both so we have the lunkers and the fun aggressive fish.  I think we naturally have produced some 'F1 hybrids' as a result in our home lakes.

 

You definitely catch more of the northern strain when it gets cold and you catch more of the Florida strain in the dead of summer.

[gim]

10 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

We got Northern and Florida!

Did not know that.  Figured pretty much everything south of about Missouri was Florida strain and everything north of it was Northern Strain.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

 It has been well documented here on the Forum. Primetime for bigger fish

is 10:00 - 2:00.

This really shines true in the winter months, sure it does in July as well, but who the heck is fishing in the middle of the day in central AL.......the Debil, that's who?

[Captain Phil]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

 It has been well documented here on the Forum. Primetime for bigger fish

is 10:00 - 2:00.

 

This is why I no longer get up early. ?

[Pat Brown]

14 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

This really shines true in the winter months, sure it does in July as well, but who the heck is fishing in the middle of the day in central AL.......the Debil, that's who?

 

 

I am a glutton for punishment in the hot months just like the cold months to be honest.

 

Late Summer and Late Winter are my favorite fishing seasons for most of the same reasons.

 

Nobody on the water.  Easier to catch giants consistently.

 

It's weird how similar they are.

 

Dead of summer you sweat a lot and it is hard to stay conscious and dead of winter you shiver and fingers hurt and it's hard to tell if a fish is biting.

 

Both suck at times but both can be fun when you get out on the right day.  Both seasons seem to be easier to consistently find larger fish that are willing to bite.  If you can find a way to comfortably endure the extremes, you will be greatly rewarded.

 

Fall and Spring are great but it's way more of a numbers thing and EVERYONE is out fishing and fish get all pressured and tight lipped.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

5 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

I am a glutton for punishment in the hot months just like the cold months to be honest.

 

Late Summer and Late Winter are my favorite fishing seasons for most of the same reasons.

 

Nobody on the water.  Easier to catch giants consistently.

 

It's weird how similar they are.

 

Dead of summer you sweat a lot and it is hard to stay conscious and dead of winter you shiver and fingers hurt and it's hard to tell if a fish is biting.

 

Both suck at times but both can be fun when you get out on the right day.  Both seasons seem to be easier to consistently find larger fish that are willing to bite.  If you can find a way to comfortably endure the extremes, you will be greatly rewarded.

 

Fall and Spring are great but it's way more of a numbers thing and EVERYONE is out fishing and fish get all pressured and tight lipped.

Alabama is pretty hot right now, and I'm not a fan of skin cancer.   

[TnRiver46]

43 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Did not know that.  Figured pretty much everything south of about Missouri was Florida strain and everything north of it was Northern Strain.

No Florida strain near me although they tried it. They have them about 100 miles downstream 

[gim]

1 minute ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Alabama is pretty hot right now

You could sizzle like a piece of bacon out there.

 

[TnRiver46]

^me at work all day 

[Pat Brown]

4 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Alabama is pretty hot right now, and I'm not a fan of skin cancer.   

 

 

That's valid but if you're fishing from 10-2 in the winter you're increasing your chances plenty!  Wear sunscreen and sun gear!  Heat is annoying.  Cold is annoying.  I fish with folks who will do one but won't do the other.

 

It's all good.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

Primetime for bigger fish

is 10:00 - 2:00.

 

10 PM - 2 AM ?

[roadwarrior]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

 

10 PM - 2 AM ?

No, no, no...Night time is for drinkin'...

[the reel ess]

I've been fishing a place with a good many 5-8 lb bass. I've been fortunate enough to catch probably 20 in that range with 2 over 8 lbs. Only once in all that time did I catch 2 big bass close together, geographically. And that was an hour or more apart, same spot, same day, same lure. They weren't the same bass because one was 7-something and the other 5-something. Both on the Whopper Plopper for what it's worth.

 

This goes to the OP's statement that big bass behave differently than small bass. 

[WRB]

16 hours ago, txchaser said:

I'm sure I learned this on BassResource, but I couldn't find the thread anywhere so here goes. 

 

If you want bigger fish, find smaller ones and then turn around. Those big fish are often deeper unless you've got a good canopy to punch.  Sometimes they'll be at the same depth as your boat so a parallel cast will do too, but part of the point is over and over again I find that big fish don't do little fish things. Generally I have far better results sitting shallow and casting deep when it's hot; I don't know why, but it's pretty consistent. 

 

Also, it's been discussed before, but it's really important - the intersection of the thermocline and structure or cover is a really important depth to look for big fish. 

 

This weekend, the little ones were in 15 FOW and nothing bigger than 2lbs. They were about 10ft outside the outside weed edge, in the sparse grass. I turned around, and well, the day changed dramatically. Best three fish went 24lbs. No new PB, but I've never stacked up three fish like that ever. They were just further out chilling and were more than happy to eat a deep crank.

 

Turn around

 

I'm sure @WRB and @Catt will have a bunch to add, and this is probably their lesson the first place... but it worked so well for me this weekend I had to share. 

 

You could look back over the years on this site when targeting outside structure bass was relatively untapped by shore pounding anglers. 

Look over your shoulder the bass are  out there was a suggestion made several times.

Good to read that you had a great day on the water?

Tom