Bass in open water?

[Slyster]

I usually search for bass in waters on weed lines and humps with weeds etc.... but.. I never try open water outside the deeper weedlines.. where there aren't any weeds.

Do bass ALWAYS relate to structure (i.e. weeds) or do they sometimes just hang out 50' or more from the weeds?

[outdoor ran]

I was doing a little bass contest one year and I was working a top water bait towards shore above the weeds. Well I got one of them loopie things in my reel so I turned around and fired my bait out deep in the middle of nowhrere so I could get it out and not mess up my partners fishing. I had my head down working the line when bam a nice bass came up and grabed it.

I thought cool must be something out there for him to relate to. I picked 3 bass off that spot and then went out there to see what was there. Nothing I could see a sandy bottom in about 20ft of water. I'm not sure if they were chasing baitfish or maybe just cruising to one of the mid lake weed beds.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Sometimes bass will suspend away from structure in deeper water usually around a thermocline this time of year. These fish are usually in a neutral mood and can be a bit harder to trigger. But fish also with cruise open water following schools of baitfish. Cranks especially suspending can be good for open water fish. also you could try jigging spoons for those neutral fish as well.

[Wayne Ek]

Smallies are notorious for suspending, especialy when targetting a pelagic food source. But, largemouth also suspend out away form the weedlines. We have all been sitting in 30 plus feet of water and had large schools of 2 to 4" sunfish all around the boat. If the schools are large enough they will attract the attention of largemouth, which then suspend below those schools.

[Deitz Dittrich]

pelagic?

[Fishin4Life]

LOL I had to look that one up too Deitz

"Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters: IE pelagic birds. "

[ocf]

ah now i get it.

[Deitz Dittrich]

wayne you goof, no seas or oceans in MN... LOL

[Superduty]

That is a pretty fancy word for a bass guy! I had to grab an old fisheries/limnology textbook from my college days to make sure it was spelled right. I've caught smallies in MN that were relating to roaming offshore baitfish, but never largemouth.

[Boedigheimer]

Slyster, any lake that has a good population of smelt or tulibee will have some suspending bass, mainly smallmouth but some largemouth. These fish are on average quite a bit larger than your typical bank-runner.

The Fort Frances Bass Championship, which attracts the best smallmouth fisherman around, is a good example of this. The guys who can find and catch these open-water fish on game day WILL cash a check. These fish are difficult to pattern to say the least, moving with the baitfish and wind, but the rewards oh so sweet.

I fished a tournament on Sunday and my game plan was to fish the in-side turns and mainlake points adjacent to the lakes basin areas, places I knew the smelt were using. Swimming jig-worms and big swimbaits out away from the break (10ft. down over 15-30ft) had produced lots of nice bass during pre-fishing but come tournament day they were gone and I was left with a humiliating finish and tufts of hair that I had ripped from my head, frustrating to say the least.

My three year old is more predictable than these darn brown bass, I can always get her to open up for a cherry skittle, hey....maybe I'm onto something.

[Wayne Ek]

Deitz, if you would fish deeper than 3 feet, you would understand the word... and no bullheads are not pelagic