Bass Triggers

[Mottfia]

The was just brought up in any other topic but it sounds like a great question for everyone to get in on.

What triggers a bass to eat a lure? Is it a type of action, look, etc. let's get everyone's ideas

Mottfia

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

To me:

Forget color

The fish is attracted to something

A. probably edible by the looks/sound of it ( something alive i.e. "moving", usually is "good enough" for a Bass)

B. Is it moving slow enough.   Will the bass expend more or less energy catching it than it would get from eating it (Big baits rule!! )

D.  Did it land too close and get attacked out of "reaction"

[JellyMan]

I have a theory that it is similar to sharks. Bass are a 100% preditory

fish and their bite will change due to what I believe is water temp,

weather, presentation, color, and size.

I also believe that it can change depending on the feeding situation

presented. Like a shark when there is blood and meat around. Bass.

after a rain or during a drizzle seem to go into a feeding frenzy and

hit it all the bigger, louder, and more active lure.

I also think they are smarter than we give them credit for. Well

maybe not smarter but we "humans", have a lack of understanding

just what makes these fish tick.

Bass are usually always feeding and it is those days we get skunked

that we wonder why.  We need to figure out why they

change their habbits of moving, depth, and bite so frequently.

:-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/

Here in Florida, we are in warmer conditions most of the time and it changes day to day even when the weather is exactly the same as yesterday. Frustrating to say the least >

[WRB]

The basic 2 types of strikes are;

1. Reaction strike.

2. Prey strike.

First try to visualize a bass or school of bass suspended or swimming.

The single bass waiting for prey to come within striking distance is located at a ambush site. When a lure comes within it's window of opportunity and looks like something to eat, it strikes the lure.

When a school of bass are hunting prey and a lure that resembles that prey, the bass closest to or the quickest bass strike the lure.

The reaction strike occurs when the lure passes close to a bass and the bass strikes it without hesitation, it reacted to the lure.

The prey strike occurs when the bass sees or hears the lure and makes a commitment to strike the lure that looks and acts like prey the bass is targeting.

WRB

[Busy]

I've really never heard of bass biting in the rain too much.  It was my understanding that rains muddy up the water and that fish won't like to eat in the mud.  If a big storm is coming, I always try to go fishing right up until it starts raining hard.  Seems they know they'll be hungry for a day or so and try to fill up before it starts raining hard.

As far as triggers go, I think that you have to fish the water too.  More violent, or active water allows you to use bigger, louder, more violent lures.  Calm waters require more subtlety.

I think that movement and presentation are probably the biggest triggers there are for bass, and your presentation has to depend on the environment you are fishing.

[D4u2s0t]

i've yet to figure out exactly why they strike.  of course i know the main reasons why a bass would bite (instinct, to eat, just to be a bully, etc) but my lake is pretty clear, and you can see a good ways out.  i've seen the bass just look at the worm and not do anything, with it literally right in front of it's face.  then another one comes out of nowhere and takes it.  from my experience, sometimes they take the bait as it's falling from the cast, sometimes when shaking the worm, and sometimes just sitting there.  I haven't been out there enough to know yet if it's letting the worm fall, the way the bait moves, or just letting it sit at the bottom, vs. a combination of all of the above.  so i'm going to keep my eye on this to see what the more experienced guys have to chime in.

[senile1]

I posted the following comment in a thread about matching the hatch:

  Quote

In the book, Knowing Bass, the author states that we don't actually know with certainty what triggers a bass to want to bite our lures. There are logical things we can try such as trying to match the action or the appearance of forage but these are just educated guesses. According to this author, there could be a specific factor, completely unrelated to the type of forage, that actually triggers a bass to bite. If that particular factor (or factors) could be determined and then implemented in exaggerated fashion in a lure it might be possible to create a lure that is more appealing than actual forage. I don't have any opinion regarding this assertion. I just thought it was an interesting idea to explore.

My opinion falls along the lines of what WRB stated but I thought the idea from the book, above, was an interesting one.

[WRB]

The notion, IMO, that we can think like any other animal, including bass, is ridiculous. As fishermen we just need to know what triggers a strike so we can select lures to catch the bass.

My observations indicate, to me, that bass are not aggressive often and spend the majority of their time resting or inactive and a short period of each day actively feeding. For my own use I break the activity levels down into active cycles during each day or night and try to be at the right place at the right time with a lure I believe is the right choice.

Bass that are active are catchable, bass that are inactive are not. Bass in transition or neutral are also catchable with slower precise presentations. This means the same bass is active, neutral and inactive during any given day, at different times.

Present a fast moving crank bait or spinner bait to neutral or inactive bass and catch nothing. Present a slow natural prey type lure to active or neutral bass and catch them. Present a fast moving lure to a active bass and catch it. You need to determine the basses activity level and use the appropriate lures. Knowing the difference between a reaction strike and a prey strike helps to determine if you should stay and saturate the area or keep moving and what type of lures to be using.

WRB

[bigtimfish]

Why do bass hit swimbaits?Or lipless cranks? I honestly do not know. Is it a reaction strike? IMO bass strike at the weakest easiest prey it can get. Because they are lazy and do not want to use a lot of energy to get a meal.Especially in the dog days of summer. I have seen bass swim with bluegill and sunfish a bunch of times. Why didn't they eat them? I think it's because none of them had an erratic movement and did not appear to be injured or dying. I'm pretty sure I'm wrong, but I can't come up with another reason.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Lots here to comment on and I'm not being confrontational, it's just that we have very different observations.

  Quote

I have a theory that it is similar to sharks. Bass are a 100% preditory

Yes, a predatory specie but they eat more often out of opportunity

  Quote

I also believe that it can change depending on the feeding situation

presented. Like a shark when there is blood and meat around. Bass.

after a rain or during a drizzle seem to go into a feeding frenzy and

hit it all the bigger, louder, and more active lure.

The rain and it's low light, high oxygen offerings often trigger a better, more active bite. They are willing to take a wider variety of lures not just bigger, louder or more active ones.

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I also think they are smarter than we give them credit for.

I feel most people give them WAY too much credit. It's an animal with an IQ lower than 2 that lives on instinct. No rationalizing or reasoning capabilities. People WAY overthink fishing IMO

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Bass are usually always feeding and it is those days we get skunked

that we wonder why.

They feed typically during specific time ranges, not just randomly, 24/7. Figuring out the "other" places and times is the tougher part. Some patterns are obvious and easier to find during certain conditions, i.e.-rain, but what differentiates an angler at the next level is being able to find them and eventually catch them,....in a wide range of conditions.

[The Outdoorsman]

I feel each bite has its own place due to the time of year or even day.  Pre-spawn, looking to beef up for the exhausting process.  Spawn, simply protecting their fry.  Post-spawn, building the energy back up.  Being that they will take advantage of the times of day or weather conditions to suit their predatory habits.  Then again, its all theory.  

[RoLo]

  Quote

Present a fast moving crank bait or spinner bait to neutral or inactive bass and catch nothing. Present a slow natural prey type lure to active or neutral bass and catch them. Present a fast moving lure to a active bass and catch it.

As Translated:

Slow Retrieve For Active Bass & Neutral Bass

Fast Retrieve For Active Bass

Correct me if I'm wrong, so you're suggesting that Neutral bass cannot be triggered by a Fast retrieve (impulse strike).

Roger

[cart7t]

  Quote

The basic 2 types of strikes are;

1. Reaction strike.

2. Prey strike.

First try to visualize a bass or school of bass suspended or swimming.

The single bass waiting for prey to come within striking distance is located at a ambush site. When a lure comes within it's window of opportunity and looks like something to eat, it strikes the lure.

When a school of bass are hunting prey and a lure that resembles that prey, the bass closest to or the quickest bass strike the lure.

The reaction strike occurs when the lure passes close to a bass and the bass strikes it without hesitation, it reacted to the lure.

The prey strike occurs when the bass sees or hears the lure and makes a commitment to strike the lure that looks and acts like prey the bass is targeting.

WRB

You missed one, territorial strike.  

[tnhiker44]

  Quote

  Quote

The basic 2 types of strikes are;

1. Reaction strike.

2. Prey strike.

First try to visualize a bass or school of bass suspended or swimming.

The single bass waiting for prey to come within striking distance is located at a ambush site. When a lure comes within it's window of opportunity and looks like something to eat, it strikes the lure.

When a school of bass are hunting prey and a lure that resembles that prey, the bass closest to or the quickest bass strike the lure.

The reaction strike occurs when the lure passes close to a bass and the bass strikes it without hesitation, it reacted to the lure.

The prey strike occurs when the bass sees or hears the lure and makes a commitment to strike the lure that looks and acts like prey the bass is targeting.

WRB

You missed one, territorial strike.

And perhaps the selfish strike. I often get the feeling, especially with a Fluke bite, that the fish are striking it (not necessarily eating it) simply because they do not want any other fish to get it. I probably am giving the fish too much credit for 'thought'... but I would swear there are times they are just hitting a bait for 'selfish' reasons, almost out of spite. I guess that is a reaction strike... but with a tad bit of reason.

[Sam]

According to Dr. Keith Jones, in his book, Knowing Bass, he  discusses The Final Analysis (pages 120-121) and give us:

Acoustics. Hearing and vibration detection.

Acoustics is the triggering factor, before sight.

Acoustics cause the bass to strike a prey through vibrational analysis of the potential prey.

Then again, sight plays an important role, too, as do many factors.  

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

  Quote

According to Dr. Keith Jones, in his book, Knowing Bass, he discusses The Final Analysis (pages 120-121) and give us:

Acoustics. Hearing and vibration detection.

Acoustics is the triggering factor, before sight.

Acoustics cause the bass to strike a prey through vibrational analysis of the potential prey.

Then again, sight plays an important role, too, as do many factors.

I think it's vibration on the lateral line first, then sight followed by odor.

[Paul Roberts]

Man...this is a big and fascinating discussion. Would love to weigh in but it scares me to think of the time it would take to put it all together, considering my work schedule right now. Lots of pieces that can fit together here that explain a lot I believe. Another time unfortunately.

[WRB]

  Quote

  Quote

The basic 2 types of strikes are;

1. Reaction strike.

2. Prey strike.

First try to visualize a bass or school of bass suspended or swimming.

The single bass waiting for prey to come within striking distance is located at a ambush site. When a lure comes within it's window of opportunity and looks like something to eat, it strikes the lure.

When a school of bass are hunting prey and a lure that resembles that prey, the bass closest to or the quickest bass strike the lure.

The reaction strike occurs when the lure passes close to a bass and the bass strikes it without hesitation, it reacted to the lure.

The prey strike occurs when the bass sees or hears the lure and makes a commitment to strike the lure that looks and acts like prey the bass is targeting.

WRB

You missed one, territorial strike.

Missed several, but most of the others are a variation of the 2 basic strikes.

During the spawn the bass protects it's nest " territory", they are not striking for food to eat. I'm not convinced bass are like cats that you tease them into striking or protect their home site by striking a lure. Bass are predators and will strike if the opportunity seems right for a kill. Bass are also curious and check out new critters that come near or fall on top of them. Bass don't have hands and use their mouth to test it by nipping or biting it, if they like it they may engulf the critter.

If the bass is inactive, you can stick your rod down and push them with it until they wake up and swim away. The same bass in the same spot when active will take off the instant it sees you approach. Same thing with a lure, it could bounce off them and they don't move or land within 5 feet and they run over and strike it. Are they protecting the ambush sight or active or inactive? I don;t think believe they are protecting territory.

WRB

[senile1]

  Quote

  Quote

According to Dr. Keith Jones, in his book, Knowing Bass, he discusses The Final Analysis (pages 120-121) and give us:

Acoustics. Hearing and vibration detection.

Acoustics is the triggering factor, before sight.

Acoustics cause the bass to strike a prey through vibrational analysis of the potential prey.

Then again, sight plays an important role, too, as do many factors.

I think it's vibration on the lateral line first, then sight followed by odor.

I may remember this incorrectly but I believe Keith Jones states that the lateral line and inner ear are not very accurate at determining location unless the vibration occurs in close proximity to the bass.  So the vibration triggers the bass to start looking (use of sight) for whatever created the appealing vibration.  However, the bass doesn't know which direction to look so it takes a little searching, except in situations where the vibration is only a few feet away.    

[WRB]

  Quote

  Quote

According to Dr. Keith Jones, in his book, Knowing Bass, he discusses The Final Analysis (pages 120-121) and give us:

Acoustics. Hearing and vibration detection.

Acoustics is the triggering factor, before sight.

Acoustics cause the bass to strike a prey through vibrational analysis of the potential prey.

Then again, sight plays an important role, too, as do many factors.

I think it's vibration on the lateral line first, then sight followed by odor.

Bass are both sight and sound predators, odor or smell is less important and the least developed senses. Bass have big eyes located near the top of their head for good visual coverage. Bass also have highly developed lateral line sense and ear type head hearing, long and close distance, high and low frequency, allowing the bass to find prey in cover or out in open water. The sense of smell maybe more important to confirm what they see and hear is prey and not another predator.

WRB

[Dalton Tam]

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I've really never heard of bass biting in the rain too much. It was my understanding that rains muddy up the water and that fish won't like to eat in the mud. If a big storm is coming, I always try to go fishing right up until it starts raining hard. Seems they know they'll be hungry for a day or so and try to fill up before it starts raining hard.

As far as triggers go, I think that you have to fish the water too. More violent, or active water allows you to use bigger, louder, more violent lures. Calm waters require more subtlety.

I think that movement and presentation are probably the biggest triggers there are for bass, and your presentation has to depend on the environment you are fishing.

What I've found about bass fishing in rainy weather is that the bass will feed during a rain shower especially because the barometric pressure usually drops but everytime its starts lightning the fish tend to quit biting. I don't understand why but this is what I've found. I think I'll make a post out of this question maybe someone can answer it.

[WRB]

  Quote

  Quote

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According to Dr. Keith Jones, in his book, Knowing Bass, he discusses The Final Analysis (pages 120-121) and give us:

Acoustics. Hearing and vibration detection.

Acoustics is the triggering factor, before sight.

Acoustics cause the bass to strike a prey through vibrational analysis of the potential prey.

Then again, sight plays an important role, too, as do many factors.

I think it's vibration on the lateral line first, then sight followed by odor.

I may remember this incorrectly but I believe Keith Jones states that the lateral line and inner ear are not very accurate at determining location unless the vibration occurs in close proximity to the bass. So the vibration triggers the bass to start looking (use of sight) for whatever created the appealing vibration. However, the bass doesn't know which direction to look so it takes a little searching, except in situations where the vibration is only a few feet away.

Sound travels through water far better then air. I don't know if you have ever dove or swam under water, you can hear underwater sounds, even with our ears that are not developed for under water hearing.

I have watched bass on several occasions, take off or swim away when a boat is barely in hearing distance. The bass have learned that prop sounds are a danger. I have also watch bass come from more then a hundred feet away to hit a buzz bait in clear water. Bass in marina's are conditioned to boat sounds and don't move, so it is hard to fit everything into one box fits all conditions.

WRB

[RoLo]

Unlike air which is highly compressible, water is highly incompressible.

As a result, sound waves travel "through" the fish's body. For this reason, bass do not have ear holes (auriculars)

but have internal ears instead. It stands to reason that the lateral lines of the bass are designed

to detect low-frequency vibration. Low-frequency waves are most dependable at close range,

because they dissipate sooner than high-frequency waves.

I'm sure we have all been amazed by a bass's ability to locate a lure in muddy water.

Even soft plastic lures without any rattlebox will catch bass in muddy water, so it appears as though they have some tracking device.

It is also suggested that the lateral sensors of fry fish, enable them to stay in a unitized school even in muddy water.

Roger

[Mottfia]

ok so let's see if we can put all this together. we have two types of strikes, prey and reaction. I agree that there is a territorial strike but  I'm not worried about it cause its not spawn and I'm sure that reaction can cover that category if it exists outside of spawning. We also have acknowledged they focus highly on sight, sound and vibration.

The prey strike seems to me that the fish would already be in a feeding mode so it wouldn't take much to get them to eat so creating a reaction style retrieve would still work.

The sight, sound, and vibration should come down to how you work the bait. Since I am really concerned with triggering a bass to eat, I want to talk about creating a reaction strike, which should use all of them in some way I'm sure and I hope that some of the guys that understand the situation better can give me deeper insight or correct me if I'm wrong

a reaction is by definition a response to a stimulus

KVD always says in his video that a reaction technique is where the lure in in the bass's face before he knew it causing him to impulsively eat it. of course thats why flipping can be so good but there are more.

The biggest to me is drop it on his head

Another would be creating the illusion of a frightened baitfish or crawdad.

The last one that comes to mind would be creating the look of a dying shad.

I believe that a bass that is active or neutral will jump on those three looks if it got in his strike zone. The question is how do yall emulate each one? Catt was telling us about his grass technique a day ago and the first thing I thought about was how it was a reaction strike in a sense. The lure is hidden from the bass but it is curios by all the commotion. then BAM the lure pops out it is in his face. Its great advice that everyone should note.

Mottfia

[senile1]

  Quote

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According to Dr. Keith Jones, in his book, Knowing Bass, he discusses The Final Analysis (pages 120-121) and give us:

Acoustics. Hearing and vibration detection.

Acoustics is the triggering factor, before sight.

Acoustics cause the bass to strike a prey through vibrational analysis of the potential prey.

Then again, sight plays an important role, too, as do many factors.

I think it's vibration on the lateral line first, then sight followed by odor.

I may remember this incorrectly but I believe Keith Jones states that the lateral line and inner ear are not very accurate at determining location unless the vibration occurs in close proximity to the bass. So the vibration triggers the bass to start looking (use of sight) for whatever created the appealing vibration. However, the bass doesn't know which direction to look so it takes a little searching, except in situations where the vibration is only a few feet away.

Sound travels through water far better then air. I don't know if you have ever dove or swam under water, you can hear underwater sounds, even with our ears that are not developed for under water hearing.

I have watched bass on several occasions, take off or swim away when a boat is barely in hearing distance. The bass have learned that prop sounds are a danger. I have also watch bass come from more then a hundred feet away to hit a buzz bait in clear water. Bass in marina's are conditioned to boat sounds and don't move, so it is hard to fit everything into one box fits all conditions.

WRB

The fact that sound travels better in water is common knowledge, and I believe that is the problem with determining direction. I haven't looked at the book, Knowing Bass, in awhile, but I believe it states that the magnitude of the vibration is to such a degree that the bass is overwhelmed with it and can't tell what direction it is coming from. However, when the vibration is in close proximity it can. When a bass hears/senses your buzzbait from 100 feet it hears it but then it looks for it and homes in on it. It doesn't home in on it by hearing/vibration only when a lure is a great distance away. In the stained to muddy water I fish, I guarantee the bass never travel 100 feet to a lure because they can't see what the exact direction to the lure is, even if they can sense by vibration that something interesting is out there.