Suspended Bass

[Mottfia]

Hey Guys,

  I need some advice here. I have been pre fishing for a tournament the past two weekends on a river section that it loaded with ledges. We fished them hard without much success, a few nice fish but nothing consistent by any means.

  After studying what was going on around us, I believe the fish are suspended off the ledges.

  How would yall target these fish?

Thanks,

Mottfia

[JuniorFisherJJ08]

Drop shot. DEEP diving cranks, dt20 maybe. or traps.

[Paul Roberts]

They may be difficult as they are likely resting. You may have to "make the magic". You will have to decide how much time and effort you are willing to put in on 'em. Hopefully you have some other fish located too.

If you can see them on sonar, or ID their depth (nearest shelf/drop-off depth is a good guess), first try a finesse grub, or 4"worm swum through, on the drop, or rising above them. May have to play with speed (jig head weight/body style, ...) . You'll need good depth control to do this well. A lot of anglers don't REALLY know where their lure actually is.

No go (not surprising), get just off them and try to get an appropriate depth crank to rise in front of them -impetus to make/force a decision (some call it a reaction strike). This is something that works only when the plug rises just right in front of one. So (like the grub) you may have to keep trying -figure out the proximity, angle and speed. What you're really hoping for is that first bite. It may turn on some of the others.

Whether the crank works or not, then follow up again with the finesse bait again. Sometimes just moving them a bit, with the crank, may get you a bite.

Another thing to think about is that this resting behavior is not all there is to their behavior, nor the only habitat element they are relating to. If you've got a group of good bass suspended and resting, this will change. They'll become active and go a-huntin' So be aware of things that might trigger this, like developing clouds, wind causing chop, passing bait, ...

Further, even if a developing wind and chop doesn't put them on the hunt, it may attenuate lighting enough that your attempts at presentation are of greater interest.

If this suspension isn't the norm here it may be due to fluctuating water levels -just something to keep in mind as you try/if you try to track them.

Good luck. Let us know how you make out.

[fishfordollars]

I suggest printing Paul's response to refer to while on the water. Suspended fish are the hardest for me to set up on.

[Catt]

The deadliest fall & winter technique for suspended bass

[senko_77]

If the fish are suspended off the ledges then you have a few things to look for and try.

1.  Try and find when those fish move onto those ledges and catch them with a bottom contact bait.  (c-rig, crankbait, t-rig, etc.)

2.  Find the depth they are suspended at and look for ledges in that depth zone.  Again, now you can catch them with bottom contact baits.

3.  Look for shad near the suspended fish.  If there are shad nearby, the spoon will work like Catt suggested.  

You can sit there and drop shot them all day, but if you have inactive suspended fish I wouldn't waste my time.  Sure you could get a few willing biters in the well but go look elsewhere.  You say your fishing a river, so try and go look for some shallow vegetation or wood.

Good luck dude  

[CJ]

Like Senko77 says, don't waste your time. Those fish are resting. When they move in or on top of the ledge, that's when they will feed. If you show up at the right time, you could load the boat. If I was fishing a tournament, I would check it again to see if they will move in and feed. The bright moon right now seems to be cutting down on the feeding during the daylight hours. This is the time of year things will change from day to day. Look for something else to serve as a back up.

Good Luck

[Paul Roberts]

If the fish are suspended off the ledges then you have a few things to look for and try.

1. Try and find when those fish move onto those ledges and catch them with a bottom contact bait. (c-rig, crankbait, t-rig, etc.)

2. Find the depth they are suspended at and look for ledges in that depth zone. Again, now you can catch them with bottom contact baits.

3. Look for shad near the suspended fish. If there are shad nearby, the spoon will work like Catt suggested.

You can sit there and drop shot them all day, but if you have inactive suspended fish I wouldn't waste my time. Sure you could get a few willing biters in the well but go look elsewhere. You say your fishing a river, so try and go look for some shallow vegetation or wood.

Good luck dude

That's really sound advice. Bottom contact can cure a lot of presentation ills.

Like Senko77 says, don't waste your time. Those fish are resting. When they move in or on top of the ledge, that's when they will feed. If you show up at the right time, you could load the boat. If I was fishing a tournament, I would check it again to see if they will move in and feed. The bright moon right now seems to be cutting down on the feeding during the daylight hours. This is the time of year things will change from day to day. Look for something else to serve as a back up.

Good Luck

And feeding fish can sweep away much of the rest!

Good stuff.

[Catt]

First off not all suspended bass are inactive

Second you have pre-fished these fish for the past two weekends with limited success and you haven't considered changing locations?

Third when is the tournament and do you think this is a reliable enough pattern to stick with through the tournament?

[RoLo]

I agree with the consensus that suspended bass are typically but not always passive fish, and probably not worth your time.

(If bass depth and bottom depth are the same, technically they're not suspended)

IMO, a healthy mindset is to call that electronic tool a "depth sounder" instead of "fish finder",

because a 'high' percentage of good structure holds bass but only a 'low' percentage of suspended bass are biters

Roger

[Paul Roberts]

...

IMO, a healthy mindset is to call that electronic tool a "depth sounder" instead of "fish finder", ...

Roger

It may be even better to call it a 'distance finder', as all those marks 'down there' are often off to the side and actually shallower than the chart offers. Since the Earth gives us the densest return, it makes the gizmo into something of a depth finder. ;D The rest (fish-n-stuff) can be pretty sketchy. :-/

[Mottfia]

First off not all suspended bass are inactive

Second you have pre-fished these fish for the past two weekends with limited success and you haven't considered changing locations?

Third when is the tournament and do you think this is a reliable enough pattern to stick with through the tournament?

Haha yes Catt I've looked around. I've split the day looking at different stuff and continuing to see the river. Basically fishing ledges and backs of creeks throughout the day

The size of the ledge fish is much bigger than the creek fish...its just slow. My thought is that if I buckle down and ledge fish all day I can pull out 5 fish but thats just a thought in my head and I'll have to see how the day treats me. But I do feel that its my best chance.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll post Monday when I get back to let yall know how it went.

Mottfia

[Catt]

5 bites is all you need

[Triton_Mike]

First off not all suspended bass are inactive

Common myth is that suspended fish are inactive.  Nothing further from the truth.  if your a spotted bass guy fishing for suspended fish is a way of life.  If you aren't comfortable working the middle depths you will always be fighting an uphill battle especially in the summer and deep of winter.  

My first choice would be the Fish Head spin,  2nd would be the spoon 3rd would be float N fly..  Reverse the order of this list in the winter.

Mike

[Paul Roberts]

First off not all suspended bass are inactive

Common myth is that suspended fish are inactive. Nothing further from the truth. if your a spotted bass guy fishing for suspended fish is a way of life. If you aren't comfortable working the middle depths you will always be fighting an uphill battle especially in the summer and deep of winter.

My first choice would be the Fish Head spin, 2nd would be the spoon 3rd would be float N fly.. Reverse the order of this list in the winter.

Mike

Thanks for piping in. Is he just not getting his lures to those fish's level accurately enough -probably what you mean by not being comfortable with mid-depths?

Also, would you say (quality-sized) LMs are in any way different from quality spots? In what way?

[Triton_Mike]

First off not all suspended bass are inactive

Common myth is that suspended fish are inactive. Nothing further from the truth. if your a spotted bass guy fishing for suspended fish is a way of life. If you aren't comfortable working the middle depths you will always be fighting an uphill battle especially in the summer and deep of winter.

My first choice would be the Fish Head spin, 2nd would be the spoon 3rd would be float N fly.. Reverse the order of this list in the winter.

Mike

Thanks for piping in. Is he just not getting his lures to those fish's level accurately enough -probably what you mean by not being comfortable with mid-depths?

Also, would you say (quality-sized) LMs are in any way different from quality spots? In what way?

Paul,  What I mean is that alot of people don't fish for suspended fish because they think the are inactive or they just don't know how.  I honestly feel that every fish needs to be coaxed some more than others but every fish has a strike zone granted some shorter than others..  Alot of people catch suspended fish but just don't realize they are in a suspended state.  Every catch a fish at the boat while your sitting in 30ft of water??  Chances are likely that that fish was suspended.  

Having said that most anglers fish top, bottom or sub surface.  Not many key in on mid level fish ie suspended.  It's jup to us to figure out what the best method is for attacking these fish.  I will say that that the BIGGEST of the biggest spotted bass that I catch the vast majority of them are caught while suspended.  

Mike

[Paul Roberts]

First off not all suspended bass are inactive

Common myth is that suspended fish are inactive. Nothing further from the truth. if your a spotted bass guy fishing for suspended fish is a way of life. If you aren't comfortable working the middle depths you will always be fighting an uphill battle especially in the summer and deep of winter.

My first choice would be the Fish Head spin, 2nd would be the spoon 3rd would be float N fly.. Reverse the order of this list in the winter.

Mike

Thanks for piping in. Is he just not getting his lures to those fish's level accurately enough -probably what you mean by not being comfortable with mid-depths?

Also, would you say (quality-sized) LMs are in any way different from quality spots? In what way?

Paul, What I mean is that alot of people don't fish for suspended fish because they think the are inactive or they just don't know how. I honestly feel that every fish needs to be coaxed some more than others but every fish has a strike zone granted some shorter than others.. Alot of people catch suspended fish but just don't realize they are in a suspended state. Every catch a fish at the boat while your sitting in 30ft of water?? Chances are likely that that fish was suspended.

Having said that most anglers fish top, bottom or sub surface. Not many key in on mid level fish ie suspended. It's jup to us to figure out what the best method is for attacking these fish. I will say that that the BIGGEST of the biggest spotted bass that I catch the vast majority of them are caught while suspended.

Mike

Thanks Mike. Great post.

I think a lot of fish are missed, not due to the 'wrong lure' as much as putting an appropriate lure in the right place, and sometimes, in the right way.

Ever catch a fish at the boat while your sitting in 30ft of water?? Chances are likely that that fish was suspended.

Getting a crankbait to rise at the end of the retrieve -start coming up toward the surface -can trigger that "reaction strike" in suspended fish sometimes. It is similar I think to the surprise strikes we get under our rod tips -at boatside, or at our feet at shore. "Lunch is gonna get away and I'd better move it or lose it!"

But your overall point is a good one -they could be willing biters. To do this you gotta know what depth the fish are at, then where your lure is. Otherwise those surprise catches will remain just that.

Real good stuff here.

[5bass]

We're fishing for suspenders on my home lake right now also. We dont have many ledges at all but I have found the better fish are still on the main lake, suspended over the ends of the points. It's tough, as you know but Paul has some great advice on this one...nail down their exact depth first, then put your baits in the strike zone and keep them there. The reaction strike is critical right now, at least in my neck of the woods.

[ABLE2DISABLE1]

I fished a tournament at Lettuce Lake, salt fed to brackish water, river system.A tough time, then put the drop shot under a slip bobber system with a finesse worm and two styles of minnow baits on, set to the depth that was needed to catch fish.Came in second place with the wait at 17lbs give or take a few ounces.Since then I have been playing around with a drop shot under a CORK.IT WORKS.Just an Idea.

[Randall]

Here is part of a little lesson I gave a guy two days ago on suspended fish in the channel. I just moved down the channel until I found bait in the middle of the channel. (See the Video)

 The fish weren't feeding on the bait but they were nearby so I knew these were more neutral than inactive. Then I told him to wait while I got my camera ready because he was going to catch a fish on his first cast on a buzzbait in the middle of the day and I wanted to get it on video. His first cast was too slow to trigger the suspended fish. His second cast was faster and got two strikes. It ended up being a hybrid but we did the same thing with both buzzbaits and swimbaits for the next hour and had over forty strikes and a best five of largemouth over twenty pounds. The best five largemouth all hit a 6 inch or 7 inch Bull Shad swimbait burned as fast as you could reel it on the surface to trigger strikes. It was all about the reaction strike. If you slowed it down any you didn't get bit.

If I wouldn't have been able to get the topwater strikes I would have used a senko or light splitshot rig and pulled it off the edge of the ledge and let it fall into the channel to get the fish suspended near the edge of the channel since they are usually easier to get to bite than ones out in the center of the channel.

If that doesn't work throwing into the channel and bringing baits back uphill out of the channel will get the same fish suspended near the edges.

[Paul Roberts]

I fished a tournament at Lettuce Lake, salt fed to brackish water, river system.A tough time, then put the drop shot under a slip bobber system with a finesse worm and two styles of minnow baits on, set to the depth that was needed to catch fish.Came in second place with the wait at 17lbs give or take a few ounces.Since then I have been playing around with a drop shot under a CORK.IT WORKS.Just an Idea.

Nifty! Never tried that one. Depth (and speed/action) control is pretty basic, and a chunk of the ticket in.

Interesting you are on brackish water. Although I haven't fished it (for LM) from what I read and hear, brackish water anglers have to deal with suspended bass a lot, between tides. I'm assuming it's the fluctuating water levels that keep bass from getting too married to bottom structure. Vertical structure/cover and open water (as in channels) should hold fish in slack tides. Would love to hear more from tidal anglers on this.

Here is part of a little lesson I gave a guy two days ago on suspended fish in the channel. I just moved down the channel until I found bait in the middle of the channel. (See the Video)

The fish weren't feeding on the bait but they were nearby so I knew these were more neutral than inactive. Then I told him to wait while I got my camera ready because he was going to catch a fish on his first cast on a buzzbait in the middle of the day and I wanted to get it on video. His first cast was too slow to trigger the suspended fish. His second cast was faster and got two strikes. It ended up being a hybrid but we did the same thing with both buzzbaits and swimbaits for the next hour and had over forty strikes and a best five of largemouth over twenty pounds. The best five largemouth all hit a 6 inch or 7 inch Bull Shad swimbait burned as fast as you could reel it on the surface to trigger strikes. It was all about the reaction strike. If you slowed it down any you didn't get bit.

If I wouldn't have been able to get the topwater strikes I would have used a senko or light splitshot rig and pulled it off the edge of the ledge and let it fall into the channel to get the fish suspended near the edge of the channel since they are usually easier to get to bite than ones out in the center of the channel.

If that doesn't work throwing into the channel and bringing baits back uphill out of the channel will get the same fish suspended near the edges.

Randall, thanks for posting. Always appreciate your input. You seem to have a bead on just what's important. Would love to spend a year in a boat with you.

Yeah, the surface film and the bottom are two edges/ ambush points /strike zones that can tip the odds.

[Under the Radar]

Here is part of a little lesson I gave a guy two days ago on suspended fish in the channel. I just moved down the channel until I found bait in the middle of the channel. (See the Video)

The fish weren't feeding on the bait but they were nearby so I knew these were more neutral than inactive. Then I told him to wait while I got my camera ready because he was going to catch a fish on his first cast on a buzzbait in the middle of the day and I wanted to get it on video. His first cast was too slow to trigger the suspended fish. His second cast was faster and got two strikes. It ended up being a hybrid but we did the same thing with both buzzbaits and swimbaits for the next hour and had over forty strikes and a best five of largemouth over twenty pounds. The best five largemouth all hit a 6 inch or 7 inch Bull Shad swimbait burned as fast as you could reel it on the surface to trigger strikes. It was all about the reaction strike. If you slowed it down any you didn't get bit.

If I wouldn't have been able to get the topwater strikes I would have used a senko or light splitshot rig and pulled it off the edge of the ledge and let it fall into the channel to get the fish suspended near the edge of the channel since they are usually easier to get to bite than ones out in the center of the channel.

If that doesn't work throwing into the channel and bringing baits back uphill out of the channel will get the same fish suspended near the edges.

Randall, was that a Buzztail Shad on the right side your console?

[Randall]

Its a Gambler bait that I cut the tail on. I was throwing it over grass mats a day or two earlier and left it there incase I needed it.