Forage base

[jt24]

So we all here about matching the hatch and forage base in a lake but how do you tell what there really is? I know most lakes have sunfish and perch but is there others in minnesota that bass feed on. How about a chain of lakes with a river running thru it? Can there be shad or shiners?

[Craigums]

A few good ways to find out....

1) feel the stomach of a bass, sometimes you can tell what they have been feeding on just by the shape of the prey in their stomachs. i.e. a sunfish will have an elliptical shape in the bass' belly

2) if you have a live well, take a bass for a 30 minute boat ride, sometimes they will puke up what they have been eating.

3) look down the gullet of the fish occassionally you can see part of there meal sticking out of there throat

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Shad, probably not, maybe southern MN, in the Mississippi or connected lakes but yes to everything else. You can also add bullheads to the list.

For the most part I think perch and bluegill probably make up the largest portion of a bass' diet. Check on the DNR's lakefinder survey it will tell you what species showed up in the lake and the estimated population.

[Deitz Dittrich]

My own personal opinion.. I think its more towards trout anglers and or southern fishermen. Our bass up here will eat just about anything it can get its lips on... I think our main food for our bass here are small sunfish and crappie, crawfish too.. beyond that, they will eat bullhead, Perch, small bass.. Spot tail shiners, suckers, golden shiners.. But to spend a bunch of time trying to find what they are feeding on seems silly. Put it in their face.. if they are hungry or you can get them fired up.. they will eat it. Look at it this way, think of your best lures.. what do they look like? i often fish small 3" beaver type baits, and 4" senko type baits on a small jig head. Cant really think of anything they may or may not look like that is natural.

[Nick Kuhn]

This time of year they will be wolfing down YotY bullhead if they can find them. I agree though they eat what they eat, put something close enough to them and hope they're aggressive.

[TonkaBass]

I think it is important to figure out whether or not they are on a minnow bite or crayfish bite sometimes. You can really narrow down your starting lure selections from there... but as I have said many times, there are no rules in fishing!

Speaking of... I caught a dock fish once that had a bird in its gullet... made me think! lol They aren't too picky sometimes, just opportunistic feeders