For the scopers

[RHuff]

 

I started off the year back in March slaying it with the ballhead/minnow my exact deal was a 1/8oz yum FFS jighead and a Crush City Freeloader in gizzard shad but now I can’t buy a bite with any combination of color, size, fall rate… I may have 50 bass a trip track it, follow it, swarm it, but won’t commit to it. I’ve also tried jerkbaits, hover rigs, finesse worms without much success..Anyone got any advice?? 

 

[Pat Brown]

Do different stuff.  Fish get conditioned easily to baits!  I'm guessing the fish on your lake are done with jig head minnows like the fish on my lake did with the whopper plopper in 2020 😂

[gim]

3 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

like the fish on my lake did with the whopper plopper in 2020

 

Haha.  Been there, done that.  That lure is so 2018.

[Woody B]

If you're fishing pressured waters the Bass are probably seeing the same lures you're using multiple times a day.   Get away from the "popular" new stuff and go back to a spinnerbait, bladed jig, lipless crank, or even a lipped crankbait that runs the depth you want.  

 

In the past everyone around here was either using spinnerbaits or jerk baits.  This year they're all using the new stuff like you are.  (I call them fancy FFS baits)    I couldn't catch anything on a spinnerbait in the past, but now that everyone is using something else they're tearing up spinner baits again.

 

Also,  I'm not much of a video watcher but the ones I've seen and the articles I've read says to keep your bait above suspended Bass.  Lately I've been having pretty good luck rolling a spinnerbait, or bladed jig near the bottom under the suspended Bass.  You might get "catfished" doing this though.  

[TnRiver46]

Worm. They never learn 

[Team9nine]

Possibly fish something that can be burned back faster at the depth they're hanging - crankbait, heavy Trap, large hair jig, etc.. Often, as the water warms up, you have to increase the retrieve speed considerably at times to generate bites. Trolling can often be better than casting this time of year for that exact reason if you're into that type thing. Bill Murphy had an entire chapter on this in his book.

[Tennessee Boy]

4 hours ago, RHuff said:

..Anyone got any advice?? 

I don't know how long you've been using FFS but this has been my reality in warmer water.  Once I started watching them I quickly learned that they do not act the way I always thought they did.  

 

Biologist say that a bass' metabolism slows down when the water temperature drops and they eat considerable less.  How can this be when the fishing is so good in the winter time?  My new theory is that for whatever reason fish are just easier to catch in cold water.  The percentage of biters vs followers is much higher in the winter.  Targeting individual fish with FFS just doesn't work as well in warmer months.

 

Look at the pro tournaments this year.  The early tournament were dominated by the Scopers.  I only saw one guy doing it in the Wheeler tournament over the weekend and he ran a long distance to target fish below Guntersville dam.  My guess is he had success because of the cooler water below the dam.  When they go up north in a few weeks,  my guess is you will see FFS come into play again.  

 

I've had FFS a little over two years and I'm still learning but this has been my experience so far.  In warm water expect more active fish that are harder to catch.  In other words more followers that are less likely to bite.  Don't waste too much time trying to get an individual fish to bite.  I'm betting that what worked for you this March will start working again by next March.

[RHuff]

4 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I don't know how long you've been using FFS but this has been my reality in warmer water.  Once I started watching them I quickly learned that they do not act the way I always thought they did.  

 

Biologist say that a bass' metabolism slows down when the water temperature drops and they eat considerable less.  How can this be when the fishing is so good in the winter time?  My new theory is that for whatever reason fish are just easier to catch in cold water.  The percentage of biters vs followers is much higher in the winter.  Targeting individual fish with FFS just doesn't work as well this time of year. 

 

Look at the pro tournaments this year.  The early tournament were dominated by the Scopers.  I only saw one guy doing it in the Wheeler tournament over the weekend and he ran a long distance to target fish below Guntersville dam.  My guess is he had success because of the cooler water below the dam.  When they go up north in a few weeks,  my guess is you will see FFS come into play again.  

 

I've had FFS a little over two years and I'm still learning but this has been my experience so far.  In warm water expect more active fish that are harder to catch.  In other words more followers that are less likely to bite.  Don't waste too much time trying to get an individual fish to bite.

 

 

 Good advice right there! 

[Woody B]

8 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Biologist say that a bass' metabolism slows down when the water temperature drops and they eat considerable less.  How can this be when the fishing is so good in the winter time?  My new theory is that for whatever reason fish are just easier to catch in cold water.  The percentage of biters vs followers is much higher in the winter.

Fishing pressure.

[Texas Flood]

27 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Worm. They never learn 

As a late bloomer to fishing plastic worms, I've learned that this is very true. 

[LrgmouthShad]

Bass can barely remember a straight tail worm on a shaky head. There are no negative cues at all, besides the visual appearance of a hook. They can note the worm’s size, its color, and perhaps how it moved. Since every angler cannot work a worm exactly the same, plastic worms are incredibly hard for bass to remember.

[Catt]

What we've learnded down here is to swich back to old school techniques. 

 

Deep diving crankbaits, Carolina Rigs, Jig-n-Craw, & the Texas Rigged big worms.

 

Instead of targeting suspended bass we're targeting bass relating to the bottom.

[crypt]

7 minutes ago, Catt said:

What we've learnded down here is to swich back to old school techniques. 

 

Deep diving crankbaits, Carolina Rigs, Jig-n-Craw, & the Texas Rigged big worms.

 

Instead of targeting suspended bass we're targeting bass relating to the bottom.

this is the ticket.....

[fishhugger]

 

not to be a dufus, but what is ffs???? is it sonar?  if so, i'd assume this thread will be moved to 'lectronics?  

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, fishhugger said:

not to be a dufus, but what is ffs???? is it sonar?

Forward Facing Sonar

Garmin Livescope and Lowrance ActiveTarget are the two biggies.

[Bird]

2 minutes ago, fishhugger said:

 

not to be a dufus, but what is ffs???? is it sonar?  if so, i'd assume this thread will be moved to 'lectronics?

Forward facing sonar 

I agree that bass can't resist a worm regardless of mouth wounds.

I also agree that the whopper plopper is out dated..... bass laugh at them now.

[Catt]

Something else we're doing is once the school is located we turn the FFS off.

[Tennessee Boy]

17 hours ago, Woody B said:

Fishing pressure.

There is certainly less pressure in the winter and you could be right but I see a correlation with water temperature.   I see very few people around here that are targeting suspended fish with FFS so I don’t think the pressure on these fish is very strong  but there is a huge difference in the way they respond to all lures in February compared to June.  I still catch as many fish as four months ago on the same lures.  They just act differently in warmer water and I saw the same change in behavior last year.  
 

FFS has a lot to teach us and we are all still learning from it. In another ten years I’ll have some answers 😆

[webertime]

Duo BR Fish.

 

 

[Choporoz]

I don't have FFS, but I am always enthralled when I hear Drew Gill talk about how he uses it with Jighead minnows.  He doesn't rule out the presentation until same fish pass on a variety of sizes and weights.  So even if just two weights and three sizes, you should attempt six different offerings before bailing, if you subscribe to that process.  (Not to mention colors...but I have pretty much given up caring about colors 90% of the time)

   Early summer is just weird, and bite windows can be tough to figure out with any presentation off the bottom

[Koz]

Are the bass feeding on something else this time of year? Are the baitfish they are feeding on now bigger than the baitfish in the spring?

[Woody B]

Regarding Summer vs Winter,  I don't think Bass feed at night during the Winter.   

[softwateronly]

10 hours ago, webertime said:

Duo BR Fish.

 

 

 Playing around with this the last couple times out.  One bite is all I've managed so far, been trying the "dirting" action.  A med-slow cadence of half reel turns and rod pops, 7/16oz weight.  I'm thinking I'm 15-18' down on a 25' flat based on what it takes to return to the bottom when paused.  I don't know if I've been putting it in front of fish yet, but open to advice on techniques to try.

 

scott  

[RHuff]

8 hours ago, Koz said:

Are the bass feeding on something else this time of year? Are the baitfish they are feeding on now bigger than the baitfish in the spring?

 

That’s the $1,000,000 question

[Sasquatch]

One of the lakes I fish right down from the house is around 70 acres and the thermocline has pushed up to about 8-9ft. I thought the jig head minnow would be great here this time of year because it really forces the fish to suspend just randomly it seem. Can’t hardly get anything to react here lately though other than the crappie.