Using our senses to locate bass

[Swamp Girl]

I know many anglers use FFS to locate bass, but our senses can also find them. An example: Last night, I only had an hour and fifteen minutes to fish, so I tried these places:

 

A stretch of fertile water that is often loaded with bass. My count? 1 bass

A reef with both muddy and rocky bottom, so it attracts both SMBs and LMBs. My count? 1 hit

The dropoff from the reef. My count? 1 fine SMB that jumped and threw the lure.

A grouping of lily pads in 5' to 6' of water. My count? Skunked.

 

So, in four, prime places, I'd caught one bass and the clock was ticking because I don't like walking through the woods alone at night. I decided to burn about five minutes paddling across the pond to a marshy shoreline. I knew that bass liked to hunt parallel to that shoreline in wolf packs at dusk, but when I reached it, I saw no feeding bass. So, I simply paddled quietly along the marshy shoreline and watched. Up ahead, I saw a wave of slight ripples coming out of an opening in the marsh. I hadn't heard a fish feeding, but I figured the waves were made by a feeding bass, so I positioned my canoe for a cast, lobbed my underspin into the opening, and it was fish on. Repeating that pattern, I caught another six bass in eight casts and picked up my ninth bass on the paddle back. Here's one of the indentations and that first bass:

 

 

 

I'm wondering when one of your senses clued you to the location of bass, something you saw or heard that broke the code for you.

[Susky River Rat]

I cast aimlessly and pray.

[Zcoker]

I use my senses all the time out in the glades, have to. Electronics are useless, literally. Look for the gators, find the fish. Listen for the frogs, find the fish. Follow the birds, find the fish. Feel the current, find the fish. Punch the cover, find the fish. Bass also make a distinct sound at night when they are busting on something topwater. Hear the explosions, find the fish. Many such sites or sounds or natural occurrences offer strong clues as to where the fish are and what they are doing. All one has to do is follow those clues.

[GreenPig]

I'm a serious bird watcher for locating fish. I scan the entire time I'm on the water looking for busting fish or shad being pushed on the surface. 

[Swamp Girl]

45 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

I'm a serious bird watcher for locating fish. I scan the entire time I'm on the water looking for busting fish or shad being pushed on the surface. 

 

I used to do that with white bass. It was so exciting.

 

1 hour ago, Zcoker said:

I use my senses all the time out in the glades, have to. Electronics are useless, literally.

 

It comforts me that there's a place where electronics don't work, just as I'm comforted by bass boats being unable to be launched at the places I fish. 

[king fisher]

I can find a snag in any body of water, at any depth, around any type of structure all without the help of electronics.  If there are no snags in the water, I am perfectly capable of using my senses to find a tree branch 30 feet above the water.  It takes years to develop the natural senses and skills to always be able to come home with less tackle than I left home with.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

28 minutes ago, king fisher said:

I can find a snag in any body of water, at any depth, around any type of structure all without the help of electronics.  If there are no snags in the water, I am perfectly capable of using my senses to find a tree branch 30 feet above the water.  It takes years to develop the natural senses and skills to always be able to come home with less tackle than I left home with.

The crazy thing is that even when I know exactly where a piece of heavy cover is, I will sometimes have trouble finding/feeling it dragging a bottom contact bait across it.

 

Then I'll throw a crankbait, chatterbait, etc. near it, but purposefully not on it.....and will snag the dang thing every single time.     

[Catt]

Being able to fish Louisiana & Texas marshes/swamps or Toledo Bend & Rayburn is why I love living where I do.

 

Not only do I use all my senses but I can use electronics to verify what my senses are telling me.

[Swamp Girl]

Just now, Catt said:

Being able to fish Louisiana & Texas marshes/swamps or Toledo Bend & Rayburn is why I love living where I do.

 

Not only do I use all my senses but I can use electronics to verify what my senses are telling me.

 

You're a swamp boy and I'm a swamp girl. 

[Catt]

6 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

You're a swamp boy and I'm a swamp girl. 

 

Sounds like a Conway & Loretta song 😄

 

[BrianMDTX]

I'm always watching the water. Either baitfish on the move, bass breaking the surface, etc. 

 

Haven't been able to sniff 'em out yet though! 😂

[Swamp Girl]

For @Catt, the swamp boy:

 

Conway: Well, the ol' boy he came from deep in the swamp.

 

Loretta: Didn't dare look at the girl, she was sure to womp

 

Conway: So, he sent her a redfish and crawfish for stew.

 

Loretta: But in his swampy heart, he knew she was more than he could chew. 

 

Chorus: Oh, a swamp girl bites worse than any old snapper

And when she grows old, she becomes quite a yapper

But a swamp boy can't help it, she's his one true love

When he looks at her, all he sees is a gentle, sweet dove. 

[TOXIC]

My saying has always been…..  if you are going to show me where you are, I’m gonna fire a cast at you.  

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

My saying has always been…..  if you are going to show me where you are, I’m gonna fire a cast at you.  

 

Amen.

[Mike L]

Sometimes it’s hard to know what your senses are telling you. 
Not every flying bird will tell you where the bait is.

Not every splash you hear is a bass coming up.

And not every “tick” you feel is a hit. 
 

Relying solely on your senses is a lot like playing poker where you don’t play the cards, you play the men at the table. 

The trick is to accurately read what they’re “telling” you. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Zcoker]

29 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Not every flying bird will tell you where the bait is.

 

 

 

They may not tell you all the time where the bait is but they sure can point you in the right direction to get the fish. This bird here was my FFS for the day lol and said, “follow my lead.” One cast below it got me a decent one. Happens all the time out in the glades. 

 

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@Mike L: You betcha to all of what you wrote above. 

 

Here's what I feel retrieving my underspin through weeds: Tick. Tick. Tick-tick. Tick. 

 

It's the tick that pulls a bit that's not a weed. 

 

My only quibble is here:

 

45 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Not every splash you hear is a bass coming up.

 

In Maine, there's not much else that can make a splash. I see turtles, but not on logs. A beaver splash sounds like a bowling ball dropped into the water. Ospreys and eagles splash on their dives, but they couldn't be mistaken for a bass. If I hear a splash in Maine, I'm 99% sure it's a bass and I hear a lot of them. I once asked my cell phone to play some jazz. I listened for about two minutes before I realized it interfered for listening for bass. 

[Mike L]

39 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

 

They may not tell you all the time where the bait is but they sure can point you in the right direction to get the fish. This bird here was my FFS for the day lol and said, “follow my lead.” One cast below it got me a decent one. Happens all the time out in the glades. 

 

 

 

 

No Doubt!

Not implying that they don’t. 
 

I’m on the Lake (Okeechobee) more than any other for longer than I can remember and in certain areas they are the only thing keeping me company, but in others I wave as they go by. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Koz]

It is my personal experience that in smaller bodies of water I can scan the area and find “fishy” spots.

 

But on large bodies of water, more often than not it’s the surrounding structure (switchbacks, creek beds, roads, bottom composition, ledges, etc.) that play an important role in whether that fishy looking spot is a frequent spot for bass.

[Swamp Girl]

5 minutes ago, Koz said:

 

But on large bodies of water, more often than not it’s the surrounding structure (switchbacks, creek beds, roads, bottom composition, ledges, etc.) that play an important role in whether that fishy looking spot is a frequent spot for bass.

 

I totally believe you. I also know nothing about all of the above. As I shared in another thread, when it comes to electronics, this is me:

 

[TnRiver46]

15 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I used to do that with white bass. It was so exciting.

 

 

It comforts me that there's a place where electronics don't work, just as I'm comforted by bass boats being unable to be launched at the places I fish. 

When the pros recently fished the TN river in Alabama they said “FFS doesn’t help on this river because of all the trash fish” 😂 

 

Its a drum party all day and night and the gar are always invited 

 

I love gar fishing and I always sight fish for them 

 

@Zcoker, I had an osprey fool me once in the saltwater. I saw them repeatedly diving so I paddled my tiny kayak over in excitement. After a few minutes of fruitless fishing I sat and watched the birds. An adult bird was just teaching a juvenile how to dive bomb into the water, they weren’t grabbing any fish and neither was I hahahah

[Zcoker]

6 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

 

 

@Zcoker, I had an osprey fool me once in the saltwater. I saw them repeatedly diving so I paddled my tiny kayak over in excitement. After a few minutes of fruitless fishing I sat and watched the birds. An adult bird was just teaching a juvenile how to dive bomb into the water, they weren’t grabbing any fish and neither was I hahahah

 

I hear you on the birds. Gotta read their behavior, kinda like reading a FFS screen. That one particular bird that I posted was stationed on a tree, like a fixture, just sittin there doing nothing. So I took a closeup birdy shot, and it smiled for the camera and then took flight. I continued onward. Moments later it started circling around the same area but this time near the open water between the tree and a pile of vegetation, as if saying, "right here, buddy" lol So I turned around and headed back to the same spot and took a cast and boom! Fish on. 

[gim]

I often hear fish surface when I'm fishing but as it turns out, most of them are carp.  I'll hear one, look for it, and I can't quite spot where it occurred.  Then later, I'm more attuned to it happening and I look quicker when it occurs and actually see the carp.  Doesn't really do me any good.

[Reel]

I'm lucky.  I often fish a river where you can see the bass you are fishing for.  (St Lawrence). That is not common,  but I can go to several different areas, in fairly shallow water ( 3 to 6 feet), and sight fish for smallmouth.  It's like bonefishing on flats.  The bottom is whitish so you can see the fish.  This is not during the spawn, so the fish act differently. They are not tied down to a spot and they can roam.

I use FFE: foward facing eyes.  I've been doing it for the last 20 years so I'm getting good at it.  The first years, the fish were easy to catch.  Now it's getting more difficult.  I don't know if I should write some of the thing I learned.  They sound funny, but here goes.  You can do what you want with the information.

Lone bass are the most difficult to catch.

Groups of fish with uneven numbers ( 3, 5, 7... ) are the easiest.  One fish on the edge of the group will often head for your bait.  

The first cast is the magic one.  If you miss your target, it gets more difficult.  

Then you are better of going to another group of fish and coming back after a few minutes.  

You can ''activate'' fish by casting to a loner that is a few feet from the group, making it head for the group and then casting to the group.  

When you cast to a group, you can see the if fish get excited by the way they move.  

 

The last one... yes, sometimes you can smell bass feeding... You get a faint cucumber scent.  

 

[TnRiver46]

41 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I often hear fish surface when I'm fishing but as it turns out, most of them are carp.  I'll hear one, look for it, and I can't quite spot where it occurred.  Then later, I'm more attuned to it happening and I look quicker when it occurs and actually see the carp.  Doesn't really do me any good.

If I had a nickel for every carp I’ve bombed a topwater at……..

 

id have like $35 😂 

 

I always tell my buddies the bass will usually jump more than once in the same spot and you’ll see the shad jumping trying to get away. Eventually you can distinguish the sound difference in a bass engulfing something and a carp just jumping for fun. But better safe than sorry so I bomb the topwater anyway