Big bass patterns

[basspro48]

If you saw the TV broadcast of the 2006 Bassmaster Open Championship on the AL River you saw the "bass-tracker unit". The deal was they went out and caught 3 bass 2 weeks before the tournament, a 2 lber. a 3lber. and a 6lber., and fitted them with a tracking device. Then they would follow the bass's daily movements. Well, it was very interesting in that the smaller bass never moved more than a hundred yards for 6 weeks, while the big 6lber. would swim almost 1/4 mile a day. What was really interesting was that the 6lber. had this one stump on a point he would always gravitate to, whenever the barometric pressure would drop he would swim around the point into a shallow ditch and feed but when the pressure started to rise he would go back to his stump. During the tournament a boat ran right over the 6lber and he didn't even move . But what I found really strange was 2 weeks after the tournament the 6lber. swam 5 miles up a creek, in one day, and sat up on a shallow point .  

I just think that is really strange in that most people think that big bass don't move around to much.

[Will]

I seen most of the tournament, I missed the part though when the 6 pounder moved 5 miles up a creek, had to leave for work. It was very interesting. That would be cool to fish for him, knowing where he is at to see which presentation he would fall victim to.

[KS_Bassin]

That was some really cool information they got by tracking the bass. Also i thought that it was interesting how the two smaller bass actually switched brush piles one day that was very interesting to me. One thing that i wonder is why the big bass swam up the river so far food ? maybe the barametric pressure changing....if so why didn't the smaller bass move...?... or maybe he knew he was being tracked and wanted to confuse fisherman? Can't wait till tomorrow BASS saturday, and it's darn cold so it'll be a great day to watch tv.

[CJ]

That's interesting.In another post they were talking about the studies John Hope did out in Texas.I also have spoke with some guys from a local bass club who had tagged some fish.Alot of what I have collected has been somewhat contridicting.I believe bass's habits may vary with different bodies of water.

[j-bass]

I'm not 100% sure on bass, but a study done by In-Fisherman noted that a taged blue catfish traveled 498 miles in 5 months.

[CJ]

Well here is a short summary of what I have gathered.John Hopes studies showed that a bass stays within 400 yards of an area.In other words it has a home.What I gathered from some local guys here in Ky.,the bass that were caught and tagged then released at a tournament sight moved only down stream.John Hopes study also shown that a bass will go back to the exact spot even if released 18 miles away.Then what B.A.S.S showed it all kind of sounds contridicting.

[ARCHER]

Don't forget that Jerry Mckinnis also said there wasn't anything scientific about the study that they did on that show. He stated that it was just interesting (like Basspro48 said).

That show only involved 3 fish, hardly even a study, and you can't really identify any trends from it.

I'd like to see more of these experiments (tracking bass), to see if trends can be proven.

I was amazed by the movement of that big bass. Pretty cool stuff, no doubt!

[cart7t]

Yep, check the thread going about the Hope studies. You're 6lber scenario sounds textbook according to his studies.  A more interesting finding was these big basses home point is often very close to the very bank that they were spawned from!  

[BD]

Don't forget that Jerry Mckinnis also said there wasn't anything scientific about the study that they did on that show. He stated that it was just interesting (like Basspro48 said).

That show only involved 3 fish, hardly even a study, and you can't really identify any trends from it.

I'd like to see more of these experiments (tracking bass), to see if trends can be proven.

I was amazed by the movement of that big bass. Pretty cool stuff, no doubt!

I agree. The hope studies makes sense to me, that big bass 'own' that part of the lake for the most part. When I saw that lone bass move that far , I thought that didn't make sense. Also big bass zone book states that big ones don't go to far. Murphy's book I can't remember if he noticed them moving far or not.

[405z06]

I guess it's possible the 6lber was caught and released and was resting before heading home or maybe decided to hang around for a while. At Lake of the Ozarks, my stepfather routinley catches large fish on all parts of the lake and releases them at his dock at the end of the day. We've always wondered how many stay around...

[Chris]

The Chris Study (from another post):

If you are aloud to use outboards on the lake take a good tally of how many docks and boathouses there are. Now figure out which ones have boats that are used often. If you have a lake or pond that the whole shore out to 4' has weeds when these guys with boats use their boats they are cutting a lane in the weeds with the outboard. This is something that causes a irregular feature in the grass. This also creates and ambush point for the bass and a highway. Up in the shallows there is shade under the boathouse. You have an irregular feature that is different then the rest of the weeds (the boat lane). You have a short distance to deep water.  Add in any brush that the owner might have discarded (or you placed) into the lake and you have a bass magnet. A big bass can tuck itself up under that boathouse to spawn and never get bothered or even get any notice that it was there. If you find the right one that has everything you just weeded out 90% of the docks. Places where the grass forms a point and anywhere that the grass line has a depression or indention will hold a good fish. The grass line if it just stops and forms a wall of weeds will hold fish but not trophy fish. You need to find something different from the rest and that is what will hold a trophy. It is unique features that hold trophy fish and a big bass will defend it also so your only fishing for lone solitary fish. A big fish will take up the best house he can find because he is king as long as it has everything that it needs it might stay there year after year and might not travel far from it unless things change. Either the food source moved or was depleted or the cover/ structure content drops off. Sometimes if you have a small weed patch that is a different color because it is at a different stage of growth will draw a trophy. If you have a large flat with nothing on it and you stick a brush pile on the edge not far from the drop off you stand a high percentage chance of drawing a big fish. Why? You just gave a bass everything it needs. The flat is its hunting ground and spawning area, the brush pile is its home when it is inactive and is an irregular feature different that the surrounding area, the drop off gives is its escape route from danger and a place to go to when conditions are sour and the drop edge is a highway to a new home if needed. <~ This is the kind of stuff you need to be looking for and the questions you need to ask each time you find something and start to wonder if it has the potential to hold a trophy. This also weeds out most of a given area or lake and lets you focus on high percentage areas. Take a hard look at the cover or structure and ask yourself what is the natural flow of bait and if I was a big bass where would I position and which direction would I be pointing to intercept this flow of bait. Big bass hide and ambush and know the difference between natural flow and unnatural flow. If you don't bring your bait from the right direction and the right depth a big bass will never hit because the way he is postioned is in such a way that he will nail something with a 90% success rate. A big bass wants to surprise its prey not scare it away and will not move far to expend to much energy if it doesn't need to. It would rather wait for the next dummy to run by. A swim bait is a heck of a bait if you find the right direction and depth on the right irregular feature. If you don't figure these three things out you might as well be fishing in the middle of the lake. You have got guys that say big bait big fish but there is more to than that. I can throw the wrong bait in the right place and run rings around most people throwing the right bait because they don't understand those three key things. You will tempt a larger fish with a big bait more often because of the energy expended is worth the reward. The same will hold true with any bait of any size if it is fished right. When a trophy has found its home you can bank on it being there year after year. Most people either hook a trophy because it was looking for a better home range and in transition or the fishermen had stumbled onto the trophies feeding area. Very few people ever locate their home. Most of the guys that you see in Cali who are talking about catching the same bass year after year has found their home. The guys who say that they have only caught 3 or less trophy bass in their life caught fish in transition more than likely. You have guys on this forum that give praise to people who catch the same trophy often which isn't a great feat in my opinion. That just tells me that they fish a lake a lot and have found maybe 4 key trophy bass homes and have figured out how to catch them. You take most of them to a different state on different water then see who can duplicate the same success. Just something to think about.

I am feeling kinda saucy so here is some more.  

 

Most of the bass caught in California are caught deep most of the bass caught down south are caught shallow. What's the difference? In shallow water a trophy bass will make a home in areas that you can not get to with a rod or reel. In places that have good deep structure with a deep water food base, clear water, and a lack of good nasty hard to get to shallow cover the bass make their home deep. Deep water structure is easy to get to you just got to find it. Do you see the difference? The fish you are fishing for are feeding and the window is short when you can get your fish before they go back to their home. The fish in California  are sitting at home inactive or neutral or waiting to feed and can be accessed anytime. Whether they will bite or not in deep water that's a different story you just need to hit it at the right time. A California bass will suspend to feed on trout a Florida bass will move shallow to feeding areas, flats, edge of drop offs, irregular features to feed. Take a good look at the guys from Florida who catch trophy bass a lot most of the time they are flipping in jungle areas(That's their home) KVD caught that big bass in the E-50 event in Texas on a shakeyhead/ worm (home) Takahiro at that Toho tournament (feeding flat) Ike caught one deep on a crankbait (home)