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Summer 2023
page 30
or topwater can excite the entire pack. Back-to-back-to- back catches are a result of firing up a feeding pack of bass that keys on their competitive nature.
Match the speed and action of the lure to the metabolism of the bass. A perfect time to use fast presentations are when water temperatures allow the peak metabolism. When cold water slows the metabolism of bass, it also slows the metabolism of prey making soft plastics and jigs better choices since they move slowly.
REST
As mentioned before, for any predator to be successful they must consume more calories than they expend to catch their prey. On any given day, in any given season, weather and water conditions can deteriorate making it harder for bass to find or consume prey. When bass can’t eat, they rest to conserve their energy for use during better times when prey are available, or more easily seen.
Bass utilize many senses to capture prey. The two primary senses are sight and vibrations felt by their nerves along their lateral line. A sudden change in water clarity or available sunlight can affect the feeding of bass in normally clear water and put them into rest mode. A lack of shade may reduce the feeding desire of a bass that prefers to ambush its prey, and therefor put it into rest until later in the day when the sun provides shadows.
Bass located in deep water during cold-water periods often bite better when the sun is shining directly overhead where it illuminates the depths so bass can feed by sight. At low light levels these same bass often revert to rest mode.
There is an exception to the rule of slow presentations to a resting bass. As the top predator in their environment, they can sometimes be coerced into striking as a reaction. While in cold water they won’t move far or fast to chase prey, but if a lure is moved quickly directly in front or above a resting bass it may strike out of reaction. Before giving up on resting bass, if you have their location pinpointed it is worth trying to change
their mood from rest to eat by using a reaction bait and presenting it in their face.
Even deep and cold bass when resting can be provoked into striking by using a blade bait, or spoon, a stroked jig, or even a heavy dropshot weight that causes your bait to fall quickly in front of its face.
When you simply cannot get resting bass to eat, it is time to find a new population of bass that are feeding. Moving to another region of the lake or even a different depth can make the difference. Too often we try to force bass to eat what we want to present to them, rather than letting the bass tell us what their mood wants.
SPAWN
As the daylight hours of spring get longer, bass change their behavior. Spawning becomes their focus. The early days (or pre-spawn period) put bass into a feeding mode to store energy for the rigors of spawning and protecting the nest. Male bass are first to show up in the shallows to scout for prime spawning sites which will have protection from silt and good sunlight penetration to incubate the eggs. Pieces of cover such as a stump or boulder on one side of the nest further protects the nest and makes it more defensible. Once the site is chosen, eating is no longer their prime motivation. Males secure the site and build the nest. Females move shallow and get herded to a nest by a suitable male when their eggs are ready to drop and be fertilized.
Spawning is the focus, eating is not. Like many
animals, “biting” is not
always because it wants
to eat. During the spawn
biting is done to intimidate
egg and fry predators
and discourage them
from raiding the nest. The
females only remain in the
nest long enough to lay
her eggs and may deposit
eggs in multiple trips
and in multiple nests.
Both sexes will bite a lure
that irritates them into
eradicating the bait from
the nest.
If no female has
yet laid eggs in the nest
the male tends to easily
spook away from the
nest. These bass can
be coaxed into biting. A
stealthy approach and
gentle placement of your
lure so it remains in the
bed can cause the male
to pick up your bait to
clear it out of the nest.