Suspended bass 2024
bubbler reply :
ok guys i got a hard one for u. The water that i fish is clear and is about 70 degrees now in souther california. the bass are suspended in the brush and timber that has been suspended. i went out today and only got like a few small fish that were on the shore but i dont know how to catch those suspended ones.. any help is great and if you could give me some advice on baits to use....thanks guys.
SWH reply :
What are you trying? Any cranks? Lipless?
bubbler reply :
i tried a crank bait and no strikes what so ever, the bass seem to be realy inactive.
WBFishing reply :
What lake are you fishing?
bubbler reply :
lake casitas
senile1 reply :
How deep are the fish suspended? What techniques have you tried so far? Are these fish fairly inactive? What is the typical forage?
There are so many things you could try and I'm sure some of our Cali anglers could probably give you some good ideas for Casitas. If the fish are very inactive try a dropshot or jigging a spoon in their face. If they are more active try swimming a swimbait, crankbait, lipless crank, spinnerbait, or similar plastic bait and killing it in front of them. Maybe you could drop a weightless senko type worm on them as well. The devil is in the details.
bubbler reply :
ya i pulled up at one of my favorite spots (deer slope) and started to throw a crankbait while my dada threw a topwater. there was no acton at all for 30 min on the baits. then i saw a fallen tree in a cove and wanted to pitckh it so i didand a 7 lber. stared my bait down for like 5 min but wouldent take it. i figureds that the bass ewere suspended in timber and when i went to otherspots with such cover iwas right and found the mother load of bass on my graph. the buggers wouldent bite no matter what.. i threw a drrop shot, crank bait, jig, c rig and couldent get them to bite. the fish held in like 37 to 14 feet of water around timber in the center of coves. and by points. i got a bunch or shot strikes on the borman and a crap load of nibbles on my t rig but couldent get the hook in. i tried wownsizing but still nothing, the bigges fissh seem to be suspended in 30-40 feet of water at the topes of trees at about 10-15 feet of the bottom.
Grey Wolf reply :
Quoteya i pulled up at one of my favorite spots (deer slope) and started to throw a crankbait while my dada threw a topwater. there was no acton at all for 30 min on the baits. then i saw a fallen tree in a cove and wanted to pitckh it so i didand a 7 lber. stared my bait down for like 5 min but wouldent take it. i figureds that the bass ewere suspended in timber and when i went to otherspots with such cover iwas right and found the mother load of bass on my graph. the buggers wouldent bite no matter what.. i threw a drrop shot, crank bait, jig, c rig and couldent get them to bite. the fish held in like 37 to 14 feet of water around timber in the center of coves. and by points. i got a bunch or shot strikes on the borman and a crap load of nibbles on my t rig but couldent get the hook in. i tried wownsizing but still nothing, the bigges fissh seem to be suspended in 30-40 feet of water at the topes of trees at about 10-15 feet of the bottom.
Please use the "CHECK SPELLING FEATURE" ,it's a very helpful function.
WRB reply :
Casitas bass are extremely line wary due to high fishing pressure. Suspended bass are suspended for a reason; they are inactive or feeding on shad schools.
If you can meter bait and the thermocline depth, that should put you on feeding bass at the right depth.
Structure spoons are very effective fished on 8 lb FC and drop shot 5" Roboworms fished on 5 to 6 lb FC in red crawler is a good choice at this time. Good luck.
WRB
PS; the spell check is located on the right side in blue letters.
roadwarrior reply :
Another Magic Lure?
Sworming Hornet with a Lake Fork Tackle
Live Magic Shad:
http://www.sworminghornetlures.com/index.asp?listname=Products/Ordering&listid=74&task=inside&articleid=139
http://www.lftlures.com/categories/soft-plastics-lft-live-magic-shad-3-1-2/products/1032
8-)
J Francho reply :
Thanks Kent....I hope none of the guys in my club read this, LOL. Yeah, those Swarming Hornets are good with just about any shad type plastic. Take an Albino Super Fluke, put a black dot on its side, and use a bait marker to put a chartreuse stripe on the side.....
roadwarrior reply :
There is some issue with losing them... :-?
My ponds have been slow lately, so Sunday
I pulled out my last Hornet. Two gooduns
and one biggun before it found a new home!
Buy several at a time. When they're working
and you run out, you'll feel lost. "Similar" is
not the same.
8-)
Matt Fly reply :
need depths, we can offer techniques to attack suspended bass, but in Cali, suspended can be 40 feet or deeper on some Socal bodies.
Never seen the Hornet, indeed, thanks RW, just a version of the Lil George and others.
Those and spoons are great suspended bass getters.
WRB reply :
Aaron Martens used the Sworming Hornet during the 2004 Bassmaster classic and referred to it as a fish head. Blakemores early Roadrunner, horse head jig was the fore runner of this type of underspin jg.
Martens made a deal with Blakemore shortly after the 2004 classic.
Another good underspin is Bladerunner tackles spintrix http://www.bladerunnertackle.com
A little off topic; the underspins work OK at Casitas when the bass are feeding on shad and excellent at Castaic year around.
WRB
roadwarrior reply :
Yeah, the Chin Spins appear to be the same lure.
In the previous post I didn't mean the same design
in another brand wouldn't work, I was thinking a
different blade bait with other action and profile.
8-)
bassmajor reply :
x2 on the hornet. I like them because I can control the depth by how I hold my rod and how fast I retrieve them.
WRB reply :
Scroungers with flukes work good, different tight wiggle and the collar pushes a lot water. We use the 1/4 oz with baby flukes, 3/8 oz with standard fluke and 1/2 oz with super flukes in shad colors to work the water column. The collar helps to prevent brush snags, not to good in weedy cover. Good lure in clear structure lakes to work the entire water column.
WRB
PS; Bladerunner's spintrix works great on the hollowbody soft baits.
Triton_Mike reply :
Actually WRB Aaron used a horsey head spin jig similiar to the Sworming Hornet. My friend Pete Robbins was with him on Day 2 and wrote an article in Bass West and stated exactly what he was using along with pics. There was speculation about him using a Fish Head Sworming Hornet bait but if he used it he certainly didn't use it on day 2 when Pete was with him and he didn't have one tied on on day 2. But essentially they pretty much serve the same purpose and both are great baits for suspended fish..
Mike
QuoteAaron Martens used the Sworming Hornet during the 2004 Bassmaster classic and referred to it as a fish head. Blakemores early Roadrunner, horse head jig was the fore runner of this type of underspin jg.Martens made a deal with Blakemore shortly after the 2004 classic.
Another good underspin is Bladerunner tackles spintrix http://www.bladerunnertackle.com
A little off topic; the underspins work OK at Casitas when the bass are feeding on shad and excellent at Castaic year around.
WRB
WRB reply :
The guy in the boat with Aaron would know. Aaron fished Sworming Hornets a few years prior to that event, they were very popular out west back then and still are for that matter.
I see Aaron got a lot of ink in Bassmaster on his version of the Scrounger jig. Aaron took credit for the development without mentioning his partners or the original inventor Bill Waters. The scrounger is a good suspended bass lure at Castias, Castaic or anywhere else.
WRB
Triton_Mike reply :
Actually WRB the actual Fish Head Spin by Sworming Hornet came out right before that time frame of that Lake Norman Classic. Wasn't too much earlier maybe by a year or so if I remember correctly. Rick Steckleberg lives here locally and was the designer of the Fish head and is a staple in these parts and has been since it came out. But there was a rift between Aaron and Sworming Hornet about what bait was used at the Classic as apparently there was a phone calll between the two during pre practice for the Classic so alot of assumptions flew from that. Then Pete's article came out and settled it.
But you are correct about the Scrounger. It was made long before Aaron's version. He improved upon it from what I remember viewing pics of Mr. Waters version. Both are great baits in their own right.
dodgeguy reply :
or you could do what i do.when the fish are in a funk i run and gun and try for reaction strikes from fish that want to bite.i have much better luck with this then wasting time on fish with lockjaw.
Triton_Mike reply :
Quoteor you could do what i do.when the fish are in a funk i run and gun and try for reaction strikes from fish that want to bite.i have much better luck with this then wasting time on fish with lockjaw.
I don't think Aarons fish had lockjaw LOL. He just needed to find a bait that could get that he could suspend that deep and represent a shad. There aren't too many baits that you can effectively use for suspended fish compared to the amount of bottom baits, sub surface and topwater baits available. I personally think fishing for suspended fish is something the general public has garnered as uncatchable. I honestly feel my odds are better at catching a trophy fish that is suspended than one that is on the bottom. I know that's contradictory to what the books say but 90% of my 5lb + spots are suspenders. If your a spotted bass guy you'll be lost many times of the year if you don't learn how to catch suspended fish. There are ways around it but not as consistant.
WRB reply :
QuoteActually WRB the actual Fish Head Spin by Sworming Hornet came out right before that time frame of that Lake Norman Classic. Wasn't too much earlier maybe by a year or so if I remember correctly. Rick Steckleberg lives here locally and was the designer of the Fish head and is a staple in these parts and has been since it came out. But there was a rift between Aaron and Sworming Hornet about what bait was used at the Classic as apparently there was a phone calll between the two during pre practice for the Classic so alot of assumptions flew from that. Then Pete's article came out and settled it.But you are correct about the Scrounger. It was made long before Aaron's version. He improved upon it from what I remember viewing pics of Mr. Waters version. Both are great baits in their own right.
Underspins have been around since the 60's, dart heads with underspins since the 70's, a fish head is a dart heat flatten. What was new was the tiny willow leaf blade. It's like saying Tom Mann invented the little George type tail spinner when that lure came out in the 50's as a Spin Rite by Pedigo. Mann's little George was a better shape and more successfully marketed as a bass lure as was Sworming Hornets, both excellent lures.
I have a great deal of experience with Scroungers, tail spinners and underspins and was fishing them in the 70's for bass.
What is important the tail spinners, underspins and scroungers are all good suspended bass lures.
WRB
Paul Roberts reply :
Thanks Mike. Great stuff.
Triton_Mike reply :
I agree with you 100% 
. They are all old school lures that don't get much attention.. Don't forget to add the spoon to the list of good suspended fish lures
Mike
QuoteQuoteActually WRB the actual Fish Head Spin by Sworming Hornet came out right before that time frame of that Lake Norman Classic. Wasn't too much earlier maybe by a year or so if I remember correctly. Rick Steckleberg lives here locally and was the designer of the Fish head and is a staple in these parts and has been since it came out. But there was a rift between Aaron and Sworming Hornet about what bait was used at the Classic as apparently there was a phone calll between the two during pre practice for the Classic so alot of assumptions flew from that. Then Pete's article came out and settled it.But you are correct about the Scrounger. It was made long before Aaron's version. He improved upon it from what I remember viewing pics of Mr. Waters version. Both are great baits in their own right.
Underspins have been around since the 60's, dart heads with underspins since the 70's, a fish head is a dart heat flatten. What was new was the tiny willow leaf blade. It's like saying Tom Mann invented the little George type tail spinner when that lure came out in the 50's as a Spin Rite by Pedigo. Mann's little George was a better shape and more successfully marketed as a bass lure as was Sworming Hornets, both excellent lures.
I have a great deal of experience with Scroungers, tail spinners and underspins and was fishing them in the 70's for bass.
What is important the tail spinners, underspins and scroungers are all good suspended bass lures.
WRB
WRB reply :
We could do a new post on deep water vertical structure fishing for suspended bass in addition to the aforementioned scroungers, underspins and tailspins;
1. Structure spoons
2. Ice & airplane jigs
3. Buzz bombs
4. Doodling
5. Drop shot
6. Split shot
7. Bobber & jig (fly & bubble)
8. Dart jig
9. Deep swimbaits
10. Matty jig
During the cold water period, in deep structured lakes that don't freeze over, all of the above can be very good presentations. It's not always about power fishing cover or bottom contact, or crank baits and jerk baits, the above mid water column lures work very well.
WRB
Triton_Mike reply :
LOL I can relate to #7 . Deadly!
dodgeguy reply :
QuoteQuoteor you could do what i do.when the fish are in a funk i run and gun and try for reaction strikes from fish that want to bite.i have much better luck with this then wasting time on fish with lockjaw.I don't think Aarons fish had lockjaw LOL. He just needed to find a bait that could get that he could suspend that deep and represent a shad. There aren't too many baits that you can effectively use for suspended fish compared to the amount of bottom baits, sub surface and topwater baits available. I personally think fishing for suspended fish is something the general public has garnered as uncatchable. I honestly feel my odds are better at catching a trophy fish that is suspended than one that is on the bottom. I know that's contradictory to what the books say but 90% of my 5lb + spots are suspenders. If your a spotted bass guy you'll be lost many times of the year if you don't learn how to catch suspended fish. There are ways around it but not as consistant.
i wouldn't know because up here we have no spots.from what i do know they react differently than largies.
WRB reply :
This thread started out with a ? about a specific lake, Lake Casitas in CA that doesn't have a spotted bass population. Casitas is a world class trophy bass lake with a population of Florida strain LMB.
What difference does that have to do with suspended bass in other lakes around the country? Big difference.
Lakes located within 50 miles of Casitas with northern strain LMB for example, the bass are easier to catch, much more aggressive with predictable habits. The FLMB are still adapting to their new environmental niche out west, although it's been several generations, it takes a long time to change genetic memory. FLMB prefer large baitfish over any other type of prey; golden shiners were the primary forage fish for FLMB for centuries.
In Lake Casitas threadfin shad and planted rainbow trout became the baitfish of choice; both are off shore fish the majority of the time. The bass tend to roam the off shore areas targeting these bait fish and move up towards the bank during the night when both the shad and crawdads are located at that time.
NLMB tend to be more shore cover oriented, preferring smaller young of the year pan fish like crappie, bluegill and crawdads, plus threadfin shad when they are near cover.
It's been my experience that both spotted bass and smallmouth bass also like to roam, similar habits to the FLMB transplanted into deep structured lakes.
WRB
PS; note, before Casitas was planted with FLMB in '69, the lake was a very good NLMB fishery. I have fished Casitas since '58 and never caught a bass or watched bass chase or eat a trout and rainbow trout were planted weekly, until the FLMB were established. Now it's common to watch bass chase trout or see a tail in the throat. Threadfin are also fairly new out west, arrived in the early 60's at the Colorado river lakes and now are a primary baitfish everywhere.
Catt reply :
11. Tail Spinners
12. Blade Baits
13. Deep Crank Baits
What one must keep in mind not all suspended bass are inactive
WRB reply :
Sink or swim; bass have another choice, it can suspend, that is why they have air bladders and spend a majority of the time suspended. When the bass is suspended, neutral buoyancy at whatever depth is comfortable, resting and waiting for the dinner bell ring and it's up to the fisherman to figure out how to ring it.
When the bass is swimming, it's on the hunt, patrolling it's territory or alarmed, definitely active.
WRB
WRB reply :
Bubbler, how about a response or update to your success. The bass in suspended about 40' now at Casitas.
WRB
bubbler reply :
so yeah guys thank for all the help, actually i used a suspended jerkbait and a jig spoon last time i was out and got the ones suspended on bait balls in like 30 feet and the ones that were suspended around shallow cover (15-20) were super finicky.
NewKidInTown reply :
Quoteok guys i got a hard one for u. The water that i fish is clear and is about 70 degrees now in souther california. the bass are suspended in the brush and timber that has been suspended. i went out today and only got like a few small fish that were on the shore but i dont know how to catch those suspended ones.. any help is great and if you could give me some advice on baits to use....thanks guys.
Dropshotting is a possibility.
TimJ reply :
I saw the bobber and fly mentioned but no other variations on the bobber. what tool do we use that keeps exact depths better than a bobber? I use it on StClair when bass are off the bottom in 18 ft or so. using a senko or other lighter drop type plastics works and a bit of chop just makes the lure work better. yeah, I know its only 18 ft...lol
TJ
Crestliner2008 reply :
One other technique, that has not been mentioned here, is to suspend a Senko under a slip bobber - to the depth that the fish are holding. Works for me in a very clear, deep reservoir that I fish for small mouths. It could work for you? Here's the link to the prior discussion we had here:
http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1251054672
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