Pesky rockbass................any avoidance tips???

[bmc]

My daughter and I were on a lcoal lake the other night trolling #5 Salmo Hornets for walleyes.

A few weeks ago, a buddy and I did really good and the rockbass weren't a PITA.

The other night, the rockbass were thicker than thick. We probably caught 50 of them in a couple of hours and 6 small 'eyes.

Nothing more frustrating when trolling cranks after darn than getting your line/lure out to where they need to be and WHAM! stinkin' rockbass hits the lure.

We tried the windy side of the lake and that seemed to help a bit w/ more 'eyes and less rockies.

Brian

[Avid Angler]

I have a tip. Eat them!!

They are part of the sunfish family and are good to eat. I am not sure why they get a bad rap. Tasty!

Avid

[PerchJerker]

Could try a bigger profile baits -- hornets are great but they're so small the panfish will go after them!

[Northlander]

I was also going to say bigger bait at a faster speed if possible. Then again them dang rockies will hit some pretty big baits at times.

[srfishin15]

Go bigger/faster,got to try to get away from them somehow.

[JBMasterAngler]

Going bigger might only cut the rock bass numbers from 50 to about 40 I've trolled some pretty big jointed raps for pike and was still catching rock bass left and right...and they weren't even big ones! Perhaps go deeper?

[TruthWalleyes]

Put the Really big hornets on

[bigbucks]

The pound the regular #9 Tail Dancers no problem, they don't care. Stupid rock bass!

[Stick in Mud]

As someone already said, eat them! I know this advice doesn't solve your problem, but it will get you a meal if that's what you're after. I've had dozens of folks tell me they're "wormy," but I've never encountered it, to be honest. I've also conducted a few controlled experiments where I put rock bass in with walleyey and/or sunny fillets, and no one can tell the difference.