Help! Where Have The Big Bass Gone?

[PerchJerker]

7-10 days ago I was catching a lot of quality bass ..... 17's, 18's, even a few up to 20" .... ....on deep weedlines with a dropshot rig. I had a lot of spots going where I was catching these fish pretty consistently. And I was getting TONS of panfish bites too.

But over the last 7 - 10 days this bite has really cooled off for me. I am still getting okay numberrs of fish deep but the size has really fallen off, with only a few fish over 15" or 16" now. And it seems like a lot less panfish bites now too.

The water has cooled off thanks to these cold nights, and it seems like it's cleared up a bit too.

So where did the bigger fish go?

Every time I'm out I'm trying new spots and fishing a lot of spots. I've hit my old reliable spots and checked a lot of new spots. I've gone from the weed edge into the weeds to look for them, gone over the weeds, gone to the docks and pads and slop ..... and am not finding much for size anywhere in the last week..

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

[RK]

Fishing last weekend I thought fish were starting to bunch up more like they kind of do in August and September. Would fish a fairly long stretch of weedline without much happening then catch 5 or 6 in a dozen casts from one little area. At one point this past weekend I had a 20" largemouth hooked with another about the same size chasing it around. Not unusual for smallies to bring a friend but not something you see with largemouths all that often in my experience. It was pretty cool.

Also definitely found some concentrations of fish and some bigger fish around hard bottom areas adjacent to some of the weedlines I'd been catching fish on earlier. Fished a gravel seam running alongside a coontail flat on Saturday with a football head and did very well, but didn't do much in the coontail nearby.

The good news I guess is once you find a concentration they tend to stay put so you can kind of put together a milk run and cycle through them. A school will spook down after you catch a few but you can come back after an hour and catch some more. Can sometimes catch a few more by changing baits too. A crankbait run through the area can get them going again too.

I actually love this time of year. Finding a school is pretty dang fun and if you stay on them and the weather stays stable you can really light them up sometimes.

[shamalex72]

At one point this past weekend I had a 20" largemouth hooked with another about the same size chasing it around. Not unusual for smallies to bring a friend but not something you see with largemouths all that often in my experience. It was pretty cool.

I had the same thing happen last weekend, only they were about 18". First time I had seen largemouth do that.

[Fairchild_82]

How deep are you fishing those weedlines?

[RK]

I had the same thing happen last weekend, only they were about 18". First time I had seen largemouth do that.

Really? Huh... You're #3 then. Talked to another friend of mine last night that had it happen with LMB this weekend too.

As Major Hochstetter would say "veeerryyy interesting."

I wonder if it's more of a schooling behavior now that fish are starting to bunch up. Smallies do it all the time but they're more gregarious than LMB to begin with.

I have always thought they hit different when there's a school - they sometimes take off running with a jig rather than just eating it and chomping on it, for example. I always figure that's a dead giveaway that there are more fish there. Plus it's kind of what makes the school thing fun.

Hmm. Cool.

[thatoneguy]

I've noticed that too, RK - when I have a lmb hit and immediately run with it, I take that as a strong sign that I ought to work that area over pretty thoroughly.

[Craigums]

Very interesting theory. I'll have to pay more attention next time I see my line run away

[RK]

Very interesting theory. I'll have to pay more attention next time I see my line run away

I'm a big believer in the idea that how fish bite can tell you a lot. Fish that engulf a crankbait vs getting hooked outside the mouth, for example. Short hits or barely-hooked fish to me are a sign that I don't have something quite dialed in. Had one morning earlier this summer where fish were hitting jigworms but I was missing fish and coming back with a worm with no tail. Switched to a wacky-rigged Dip Stick worm on a jighead and the fish would take off with it at 100mph. Don't know if it was drop speed or the wacky rigging but it was night and day.

When fish run with a bait I take it as a competitive feeding behavior and figure there are more fish in the area. Not always the case but often enough. Sometimes switching baits can get them to respond differently too.

[EBass]

Very rarely do I find schools of largies, but I haven't paid attention to what RK said about the bite. Interesting indeed. Thanks for the insight. Now if I can ever make time to get out there.

[th64]

Anyway! What about the bigger LMB? I am yet to get a 20'' this year. !8s 19s, yep yep. Where is ugly bug eyed piggy?

BTW have you ever seen bass in an aquarium? The bass are mellow and not at all territorial with each other until food is added. A bass will swim around with a minnow in its mouth like it is smoking a cigar! The other bass will chase it around and pull the minnow right out of its mouth and eat it. Not too shocked to hear about this in the real world. Would be cool to see.

[RumRiverRat]

Used a 6" Lunker City Salt Shaker on a 1oz jig head to fish isolated coontail clumps on a large 7 to 10 foot flat and put 27 fish in the boat in about 5 hours of fishing.

Average fish was 17" biggest was just under 20".

Water temps are way down from last week.

The fish are schooling up and fishing should only get better.

[PerchJerker]

Thanks for the advice. I had been doing well on deep schools but they disappeared on me for a while. But the last two times out I stayed on the deep weedlines and rocks and had some really good fishing ...... one day it was a fish here, a fish there, with no real flurries of bites, but they were all good fish including a bonus 19.5 inch smallie (metro lake). And the next day I got on a school where it seemed like it was a fish on every cast for a while .... and when it slowed down we changed up bait profiles and colors and got a few more to go. Just have to keep the faith I guess.

[Fairchild_82]

that's a big +1 to what RumRiverRat said. Patterns like what he described are going to put the larger fish in your boat during the summer. hands down.