Suspending bass

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on February 5, 2011 at 3:09am

Hi John,

  I have found smallmouth suspending over open water in the state of Washington.  I have caught fish suspending from late spring to early fall on lakes with open water baitfish.  Smallmouth seem to suspend and chase Kokanee in open water in any bodies of water where the two mix.  Also, I have witnessed smallmouth suspending over open water and chasing American Shad fry on the Columbia River. In both of these instances it seems that any lure worked in the upper portion of the water column will produce.  Swimbaits, topwater, lipless cranks, double willow spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and flukes are my favorites.  I am sure that smallmouth and largemouth both suspend and chase other types of baitfish as well.  These are just the two instances in this state that I have had success catching suspended bass.  

Permalink Reply by P.J. Koshi on February 6, 2011 at 11:32am

It's hard to beat throwing a spinnerbait or a jerkbait through fish that are suspending and actively feeding.  I see it in the summer probably more than any other time, but early spring I have seen largemouth suspending.

Permalink Reply by troy kelly on February 6, 2011 at 1:40pm

When I fished tapps regulary I found that fish suspend there during the summer months and at times you could really get alot of fish throwing topwater and jerkbaits.  Seemed like they suspend more in the morning and then would relate to structure more once the sun climbed up and the boat traffic increased.  Like david said I also saw this once on the columbia when we were running down river and a bass came up practically directly in front of the boat.

 

troy

Permalink Reply by John Mark Minica on February 6, 2011 at 2:48pm

Thanks for the replies. I kinda figured there would be times that they would cruise open water chasing fry. I guess I need to take that into consideration on those days that it seems that the fish have left their usual structure, and are seemingly no where to be found. I also need to get a main sonar unit on my boat so  I can do some open water scanning....just workin with one on the bowmount.