The Food Chain
September 9, 2009
It seems so much of what happens throughout the day when we are fishing goes undiscovered until we’ve had a chance to reflect on it all. Such was the case a few years back when I was fishing a small lake with my brother, Paul. This particular little jewel was about 100 acres, shallow and full of coon tail weed and lily pads -- a bassers’ dream!
One would think that any kind little ol’ offering would entice a strike from such a target-rich environment, but not this day. We managed to catch a few early morning fish on a Yamamoto buzzbait, and as the sun came up a few more on a weightless Senko fished dead slow. The conditions were quite still that day and with nearly every cast we could see the wakes of fish retreating from our baits.
I did notice an abundance of dragon flies buzzing near the surface and did not think much of it at the time. I’ve witnessed this before and typically have been very frustrated by it. How many times have you seen dragon flies buzzing the surface and not paid attention to them? How many times have you seen fish breaking the water, cast at them and had them refuse to strike?
About 10 AM I decided to try something a little unconventional. Often we have these hunches and ideas and it really comes down to just paying attention to what is happening around you. Both Paul and I figured for whatever reason the fish were close to the surface looking to feed on whatever was available. Upon closer inspection we factored into the equation the large amount of dragon flies buzzing around the matted grass and lily pads.
I decided to try two things; I put on a floating frog for Paul and I would experiment with something a little different. I rigged up a 4/0 worm hook with no weight and attached a Yamamoto Kreature bait weedless on the hook. The result was the transformation from a bait that is typically fished with a weight and either flipped, cast or Carolina rigged to a bait that now had a more subtle presentation and resembled one of those dragon flies. I’d cast it out over the vegetation and slowly wind it in. The result was just the opposite of our other offerings; the bass were now waking through the grass and attacking the Kreature.
My brother was also enjoying some great success on his frog but figured a much slower presentation than normal was the ticket. Most of his bites were extremely violent and occurred while the frog was just motionless on top of the water. These alterations saved the day for us and were ones I will remember for a long time.
I started this story talking about reflecting upon your day, and on the ride back home I did just that. Why were some of the things we did that day unproductive and others the total opposite? I started to think about the food chain. So often we think of bass as always aggressive and wanting to eat whatever comes their way, but just as I have talked about the subtleties of unique patterns in previous articles (shad spawn and bluegill spawn), there are also many other obscure things that happen out on the water. Insect life encompasses a huge revolving cycle of fish activity. It’s that entire chain of life, from very small insects all the way up to dragon flies and beyond. One very predominate pattern is the May fly hatch, typically a May/June thing, but what I discovered on that little pond that day made me realize the cycle goes way beyond that.
I have seen the dragon fly deal happen in other places as well and it seems to be more prevalent on shallow, weed-filled lakes. It makes sense that the dragon flies prefer to feed around these structures to sustain their life. In turn something is going to feed upon them. This is perhaps why both of the bait choices we made that day worked. I was fishing something that resembled a dragon fly and my brother was fishing something that preys on dragon flies -- the food chain. The bass were just simply responding to something that looked natural. Lots of things are happening out on the water that we often neglect to take notice of. That is why bass are such an intriguing fish to catch. They adapt to their environment and ever changing conditions and have no limits to what they will consume. When we start to think we know it all and stop being amazed at how many different crazy ways there are to catch a bass, it will be time to take up golf.
Food for Thought
I’ve expanded on a few different ways to catch bass when they get real spooky around grass and lily pads, I have added a couple of baits that work one 1 choice. A tube also works very well and I like the Yamamoto 4.5 Flipping Tube. It has high buoyancy and is even more subtle than the Kreature.
I usually start with the Kreature to test the aggressiveness of the fish and then may go to the tube if I am having trouble getting strikes. I fish this just as I would the Kreature on a non-weighted 4/0 hook, but give the tube a little more action. The Kreature has so much built in action this is typically not needed.
I’ve also been experimenting with the new Yamamoto 16L Double Tail Grub. I rig this with either no weight or just a real small pegged sinker (1/32 or 1/16oz) to make it come through the vegetation better and fish it with a slow to medium retrieve. Often the bass will wake right at the bait. The advantage of using the small weight is if the bass does not strike you can stop the retrieve and let the bait fall, enticing a strike. 
I like to get creative with the standard colors, using a die marker to add some flare to base colors like watermelon, root beer and junebug. I fish all of these baits with a 7 foot medium/heavy action Tica Tactica series rod matched with a Tica Tactica HJ casting reel and 20 pound test fluorocarbon line. www.ticaamerica.com
Fantastic Frogs
Possibly one of the most exciting ways to catch bass when this “dragon fly pattern” is happening is with a frog. There are so may styles available, both hollow body and swimming, but one that combines a little of both is the new high floating ProFrogger from ProSwimbaits (www.proswimbaits.com). Like their other products, these are works of art and are hand poured, hand painted with a wider body than a traditional swimming frog. The legs also have a subtle kick that makes it perfect for this presentation. I like the fact that you can rig this with simply a non-weighted screw-in frog hook and the bait will sit perfectly on the surface. One of the keys to this pattern, as opposed to the more traditional way we fish grass, is to be more patient, letting whatever bait you throw sit motionless on the surface for periods of time.
Next time you’re out on the water, remember the food chain and let it guide you to what the fish are really after on that body of that water on that day.