does anyone ever wonder about multiple bass?

Ok so, I catch myself always wondering. Are there tons of bass I am passing with my lure that just look at it as it goes by? Do bass have personalitys like humans where it makes some not as aggressive or hungry? Anyone else ever wonder that?

Always wonder how many almost hit my lure then just like "nah, I'm good". And let it pass on by.

Lol me too... I seriously think that when I miss one or catch one. There are sometimes 10 more there just hanging out playing cards being stingy.

there's probably lots more bass that chase your bait than bite it, once had a nice 3-4lber follow my chatterbait all the way back to the boat and makes you wonder how long he had been chasing it.

me and a friend one time used his underwater camera on a crappie spot and was just amazed at what we saw. Then we barley caught any. Looked like 100's of crappie swimming around. Then I'm like does color really matter? Seems like it does and sometimes seems like it doesn't. That's why it's fishing I guess.

Thousands.. I have a green light at the end of my dock. Most nights there are 10 -20 sand bass with a mix of blacks swimming in the light at a time so theres hundreds all around. Cast a small sq bill and can catch one almost every cast. but lots will look before one hits it. You catch a sand bass a 50 had a chance at it.

Tons. For every fish you get a bite from, I GUARANTEE multiple fish look at the bait in a typical situation. Go look for some actual underwater footage on youtube of fish following and short striking a lure. It can be really unbelievable. Even more unbelievable is watching vids of bass taking a whole crank in their mouth and spitting the damn thing back out without a hook ever touching them. Check it out.

If you develop the mentality that a fish is ALWAYS looking at your lure, waiting to strike, it gets much much easier to fish slow too.

That's great advice! A lot of times I struggle with maintaining a positive mental attitude, and I firmly believe that's the biggest hurdle in bass fishing.

You would be amazed at how many fish just watch your lure. Just have to find the active ones

I have fished the COMAL River many times and water clarity is VERY clear. It's nothing to see MANY, MANY, MANY large bass swimming around. Getting them to bite is another thing. I've passed my lure countless times in front of fish to study their behavior, and have luckily seen BOTH sides of that activity. Lake Austin can be the same way. How many times have you chunked a lure at an obvious fish, and it simply ignores it like you're throwing an old cell phone at them. "Reaction strikes" can happen, but when fish are actively feeding, that's when the fun begins! Of course I like CATCHING, but I love the challenge of FISHING!!!

I always assume there are large numbers of fish down there laughing at me.

I know for sure I'm passing bass when fishing down a bank. I just don't want to know how many lol

Honest to god man, it made me twice the fisherman. I used to have no patience. Then I started fishing a lot of clear water and actually seeing TONS of fish come by for a look and take off, on various lures. It changed my world.

Now I assume there is ALWAYS a 10lber staring right at my bait, waiting for me to make the right move. Apparently I still haven't made the right move since my biggest fish is in the 9s, but I'm getting close. I had never caught a bass over 6lbs before I changed the way I fish. Now I've caught 2 over 9 and I dunno how many 8s.

Great advice so far, I'll just chime in with an quick observation from this past weekend of rain.

I had an unusual event happen. I fished a clear pond filled with hydrilla and another pond empties into this pond...
I saw 8 bass stacked up where the run off was going into the pond. (With polarized glasses and cloudy conditions it was perfect sight fishing)..
I caught about 4 of them using a using a 5 inch watermelon green senko and moved each one to the pond behind me so as to not disturb the others. One of the fish that was swimming around was a half blind 6lber..way bigger then all the 1-2lbers I was seeing...
After I caught the 4 little guys the bite just stopped...(the last one splashed all around in the water, which I assume sent the others a signal) but I could still see all 4 of them sitting there and swimming around...

After a few minutes with the same lure and no action, I decided to change it to a green fluke, few casts...nothing, then changed the color to a white fluke..nope.. then a tiny red drop shot worm...nope...a black curly tail worm..that should do it...no thank you...then I tried a a baby paca craw....nada....they would just look at the lure uninterestedly or swim off...I tried about 8 lures...slow presentation...but they weren't having it.. but they did see it...they just lost interest. It was so frustrating...

Frustrated but still determined..I dug to the bottom of my tackle box...and I know, everyone of us have that one lure at the bottom of your box that you have been holding onto since 1980.... Mine was dilapidated, melted skirt, rusty hooked, chipped paint 1980's..hula popper... I was like why not.

Well I tied it on...sent it sailing and I kid you not the FIRST Freaking cast, a 3 lber (which I thought was a 1 lber) nailed it right when it hit the water...boom. That is when I learned something...
I realized that switching to a reaction lure was the key to continue catching fish when a slow presentation wasn't working if they are stacked up there...

I conclude that the bass are there and looking but sometimes they just want something different.

Never did catch the big one..he swam away and never got another chance at him...I'm heading back there tonight though..hopefully I'll have better news.

The entire time I'm fishing. And I know they're there.

KenA told a compelling story about fishing a stretch of lake one day. Good fish were boated at a fairly steady pace. Say 3-12/hr. Ken was fortunate to be aboard while TPWD biologists electro fished the same stretch after KA fished it. The number and size of fish present dwarfed what K and crew caught on rod and reel.

What haunts me even more are the times I've felt something "funny" or realized too late a fish had my lure in its mouth. Those bites can be so subtle.

"Chrissy" was a bass I caught at Camelot Bell on my first trip. Late March. She weighed 14.75 and lived in a 1,500 gallon aquarium at the ranch for 10 months thereafter. Observing Chrissy taught us a few things about giant bass and their feeding behavior.

We watched that fish inhale fleeing 8" Gizzard Shad, blow them out and re-inhale them head first in milliseconds. Barely visible it happened so fast.

What if that was my lure? I've had this happen most often with slow, bottom presentations. Crankbaits would be a close second.

Cool topic!

Absolutely happens. Have talked to Kim Stricker of Hook n Look many times, seen some video, it's nuts.

https://www.youtube.com/user/KimStrickerProduct

More frustrating in the spring when you see 8 + lb females cruising the beds and winking at you while they swim bye!

If anyone knows it's Kim. The footage those guys get is almost unequaled.

I don't really want to know how many fish my baits pass by with no reaction.
I'm afraid I might chunk all my stuff in the lake and take up golf...

I always say this to my friends who don't fish as often as I do, "if your lure did not pass by a fish, then that lake/pond/river etc does not have fish in it." From my experience this is true too. Unless a body of water is void of fish or has a very low population of fish, your lure will almost always pass by at LEAST one fish and you can bet that fish knew it too.Of course there are other circumstances, such as winter and if a novice angler is using a buzzbait....all the fish will be deeper so even in a good lake the lure might not be in striking distance as they will all be deep. But in MOST cases, yes your lure went by a fish, and that fish knew it. It always makes my friends mad when I say this, yet it also makes them slow down, try different techniques, etc. Knowing that info really brings out the stubbornness in some people I also preach to them to cast towards structure/cover and not blindly into open water. "If you get upset that the bump you just felt was only your lure hitting a log...don't worry...odds are a fish is just as mad that your lure invaded its home." That's my favorite.

great topic Barry

Lake Fork is so unique. Ride around the thousands of other lakes in this country and tell me a time on any of them when your fish finder/down scan or whatever always has some fish showing. Only Lake Fork it seems to me.

Every lure thrown is viewed by some species of fish on every cast. There is just the really rare time when the FF is devoid of fish images.

So when I spend a day of the lake and try every thing and catch nothing I know it's got to be the "cold front". the barometer rising, the water temps, the cows are laying down, or I didn't wear the right hat this morning and my luck has run out.

Sort of the same thing with buying lottery tickets.

That's why it's important when you catch one, to grow back to the same spot. Maybe the one you caught got the rest of them fired up. I fished a lake last weekend where I caught 8-10 fish in three different areas casting to the same 10sqyd area. They stack up and you gotta get em excited about eating.

Once upon a time I used some shiners. I had previously fished good looking spots that I thought surely should hold fish with jigs, worms, etc for naught. I was correct. They did hold fish. The shiners proved it. It was like the difference between night and day.

I know there are fish everywhere in the lake, everywhere. They are deep, shallow, shoreline, trees, laydowns, rocks, and brush piles. Its all about presentation, and what they feel like hitting. IMHO.

Great link Jay,

This video with Kevin Van Dam shows there are a lot of bass around and some may actually look or follow the lure...but often do not bite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB9aVmdxyX8&list=PL7698784456E9D8A9
Very cool footage.

The reason I asked this is, awhile ago I was flipping some laydowns and I made a quick pass with a squarebill to find the fish like I normally do. I caught 3 within a 10ft stretch and decided, "ok they are hanging out here". Casted that area and 20ft to the left and right with atleast 5 different types of approaches. Nothing, said the heck with it and went back to my squarebill. About 5hrs later came back to the same area and caught 7 on a trick worm. Could it be they moved up to feed? If so then why wouldn't they ambush my worm at the boat when I was far enough away I passed right thru that "staging" zone.

Also like I have said before, I am not scared to go behind someone in a tourny or just fun fishing. Someone might have a fast retrieve or a bump bump pause (reel slack) bump bump. I might have a different presentation. No different then the person fishing on the front of the boat an me at the back. There has been many times I have caught 4 fish before my partner has caught 1.

It could have been a few things, but most likely it was their feeding timing. They were probably all there the whole time, you triggered a few aggressive ones the first time but they weren't actively feeding. Next time around you caught them in feeding mode. IMO.

I'm a firm believer that the trolling motor and maybe the fishfinder are two of the biggest detriments to catching fish. Have seen it with my own eyeballs how bass have moved away in mass from the shallows when the approaching boat was approximately 60 yards away. As the boat (using only trolling motor) continued on down the bank, at about the same 60 yards distance and moving away, the fish slowly moved right back to the shallows. Don't know if anyone can cast a bait that far but I know I can't.

Spent a summer fishing exclusively for bonefish years ago and noticed that for some reason I couldn't get within casting distance of them without them knowing I was there and I was trying to be as quiet as possible in a kayak. Finally figured out that as I was gliding into position after a few quiet paddle strokes my bow wake would continue on ahead of me once I came to a stop. Just that almost invisible wake on glassy water was enough to change the bonefish feeding habits. The tale tale sign would be the quick drop of their tails for just a second or two and then their tails would all pop back up. They knew I was there. The key was to get way ahead of where they were going, and sit and wait for them to come to me.

Now days, for bass, I will often try to drift into position, wait for things to settle down, then try to make the most quiet presentation I possibly can. Since I like to throw big baits in shallow, I'm often casting onto the bank and dragging it into the water or aiming for vegetation above the water line that I can gently pull bait through and back into the water and throwing baits way past the area I'm targeting.

I also rarely make any fast manipulations of my lure, preferring slow retrieve, dragging, or subtle lifts of bait with rod tip. Hold the pause. I always assume the fish is there, just trying to quietly get my bait right in front of its mouth without scaring it.

I have always wondered the same thing but I wonder how many 15 lb fish my bait just went past and they just yawned at it....

One day during prespawn I pulled into the back of a very clear creek in about six feet of water. I could see at least 50 fish swimming around down a stretch. I started casting a jig through them. They ignored it. I switched baits two or three more times. Nothing. I picked up a jerkbait. They just ignored it. Finally a two pounder started to follow it. I just kept twitching. It came up behind the bait and took at least half the bait into his mouth and immediately blew it out. I never felt the bite but I saw it.