I guess it all depends what your calling a "yerk" Just kidding

I still have a few questions about this also. One thing comes to mind, is that several times the T's Big Fish (or close) has been caught by one of the wives. What were they doing? Sitting in the back of the boat, dragging a Carolina Rig while reading a book! Hubby was in the front of the boat, easing along slow, casting to shore (beating the banks), getting dinks or not much. The wives were fishing deeper and slower...which is a good way to score a big fish almost anytime.

ANY time I fish a slow type bait, I have the line hooked on my index finger or I'm holding the line between finger/thumb on a baitcaster. This is a major improvement in detecting the bait. Yes, it slows you down, but usually, with our weather, that's a good thing.

What I find mysterious is:  When to go with a Reaction Bait? First thing in the morning, I'll throw a jerkbait (Rapala suspending type, fairly big, can't remember the size code 12 or 14, maybe). If it doesn't get hit the instant it hits the water, it doesn't get hit. What am I doing wrong? Not enough slack after the yerk? Too much action?

C&R, Steve

Great advice from everybody!!  Just another comment, toss out typical unproductive water each trip out.  Try not to visit areas that you have not had success before.  I know it sounds simple, but all of us have been guilty of pounding stretches of water time and again with no luck, simply because it looks fishy.  I know I have wasted hours of good fishing time beating my proverbial head against this wall. 

There have been great posts here about what the fish may do or not during a typical outing based on the weather and the season.  What is worth mentioning is taking a look at what you, the angler is doing.  THe fish may be there, but our presentation may be all messed up.  For example, I have faced exactly what Russ mentioned earlier, fish moving deeper into cover following a front, but my skills in flipping and pitching at the time, meant that the fish were safe form my temptations.  I could not present a bait in a tight spot for my life.  I knew that I had the right bait, but getting it to the fish preseted problems for me.  I lost a big lead in a tournament because of it, and I vowed to improve.  I began to spend a few more bucks for better equipment, rods, reels, trolling motors, trolling batteries, and fishing line.  I also began to practice in the house, on the deck or anytime I had some time to kill, I would pitch and flip.  It has paid off.  This is really helpful through the winter, then when spring arrives, I am ready to go, as this is the normal time for extreme changes in weather that effect our beloved bass, and there position in the cover.
Kirk

Thanks,

Interesting read, I will try to remeber some of this next time out.

Backlash

Hey Jim,

Great question - hard to answer. 

For fish that are following your lure, something is almost right.  That's usually the time when I experiment with colors.  For instance, I know that if fish are following or short-striking spinnerbaits, the first thing to change is the color of the blade.  And it's a subtle change such as switching the back blade to silver on a double-gold bladed bait or vice-versa.  If that doesn't do the trick, I'll switch to a chartruese/white skirt from an all-white skirt, or maybe just change the color of the trailer.  Again, don't make sweeping changes (like to a completely different spinnerbait), just fine-tune the colors until they take the bait.

The main thing to consider when "listening to the fish" is to pay attention.  Take Goodwin last weekend for example.  Keri and I were throwing/skipping grubs under and around docks and getting no bites.  However, I noticed on several occasions fish following the lure out and/or striking it when we reeled back in to cast again.  On a hunch, I advised Keri to switch to a crankbait.  Wham!  3 1/2 pounder.  We both switched to crankbaits and got 7 or 8 keepers in the boat.

As for locating fish, it's like Russ said - If you've thoroughly fished the water column in an area with no bites, move on.  Once you find where they are, they aren't going to move far if a front moves through.  They have 2 choices, move shallow or deep, and neither will be far.  Russ guessed correctly, they moved into the cover.  However, had he not had a bite within an hour or so, it's easy to surmize dragging a Carolina rig in nearby deep water would've been the trick.

Here's an article that may shed some additional light on the subject:
http://bassresource.com/features/establishing_pattern.html

Hope that helps!

Jim,

I like, Faz'z answer!!!

No seriously Jim this is what I do. First when you fish an area and the fish aren't biting in shallow,deep, on top or on any of the baits that you are throwing I move immediately.

For example take the Potholes tourney. On saturday the Largemouth were every where in a bay that I was fishing. You could see them swimming from one part of the bay to another. They were easy to catch and extremely aggressive. On Sunday the weather changed and when I came into the bay there was no site of them.

Did I panic, no,I knew those fish had retreated to cover-deep cover. I pulled out my jig and pig and flippin stick and went to work culling two limits.

In another instance on Banks Lake. I was fishing in 12-20ft of water one afternoon in June and wasn't catching a thing-granted it was around lunch and the sun was quite hot. I moved to an area with less than two feet of water and started flipping-caught another limit of largemouth. Also did this same thing with Smallies on another outing.

So the moral of the story is yes let the fish tell you what they want and follow your instincts to move and try something different.
Russ

LOL! LAMO!!

Actually Jim, I think there are two ways to do this:

Number 1 is to use a bar-code scanner...... scan the stripes and see what it tells you  

Number 2 is take a boom-box and turn up the Bass 

Faz

Well although some of the pro's call me the fish whisper-er, and I have gotten alot of the fishes secrets from them, they do have me sworn to secreacy
I do agree on that one, I think that the bigger ones do stay out alittle  deeper...or below the feeders up above them during a feeding frenzy and easly pick up the scraps or stund bait that comes down to them. (I don't really know either)  Good question their Jim? anybody?

Since I joined this club I have learned a lot and keep learning. I thank everyone for the mind boggling amount of information. But one thing I haven't heard to much about is How people read the fish. I have read in magazines that to listen to what the fish are telling you.

i.e. what color they like, what jig they like etc.

My question is how do you read/ listen to the fish?

for example, I have had several times a fish chase or follow or even nibble on my lure. But how do I change the presentation or lure to match what they really want?

Its like I am so close with the correct lure and presentation that they want to but something is just not quite right.

How do I adjust?

Now I have heard that if you are continually catching dinks in the shallows then go deeper and you should catch bigger fish. Is this true? Has anyone had success doing this?