Throughout the vast world of bass fishing, past and present, many people developed ideas about what fish were feeding, and therefore ready to bite — ideas that became ironclad, at least, to them. Some say the fish glued to the bottom are the eaters, some say it’s the feeding fish that are schooled up, and some say the fish around structure are feeding.
Fish, like most animals, are creatures of habit; they’re always on the move, trying to find something to eat. But all bass anglers can agree that suspended fish are not feeding fish — right?
When many anglers see suspended fish on their 2D sonar, or even on their forward facing sonar (FFS), they consider them uncatchable, but just because they are suspended doesn’t mean that they aren’t willing to chase a bait. You could be surprised what could happen on a cast.
Understanding Why Bass Suspend
When you walk into a Bass Pro Shops or Cabela’s store and you check out the bass swimming in the tank, what do you see? A majority of the bass are just sitting there, suspended in the water column, not moving and oblivious to everything. But what causes them to do this?
Bass have what’s called a physoclistous swim bladder which allows them to regulate their buoyancy through gas exchange. They can determine exactly where they want to sit and stay there without exerting much energy.
Fish suspend for a variety of reasons — whether it’s to feed or to rest, bass will usually suspend in the water column for some portion of the day. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass are opportunistic feeders and will strike at something out of reaction, hunger, or aggression. Every bass is different, but a bass can always be triggered.
Your Electronics Are Your Eyes
Nothing shows you what’s going on beneath you in the water than electronics. FFS has taken over today’s fishing scene, and for good reason. It allows us to see a fish’s reaction in real time to a variety of baits and what the fish is actually doing.
But don’t overlook the traditional 2D sonar — it’s a more vital tool for suspended fish than you might think. While you can’t watch your bait in real time, you can still see your line and whether or not a fish rises and reacts to your bait. So, you don’t need FFS to catch suspended bass — it helps, but it’s not necessary.
Baits and Presentation
There are a variety of tactics that can get suspended fish to bite. Some are more orthodox than others, but all are tried-and-true techniques. Whether your target is largemouth, smallmouth, or spotted bass, these baits are proven fish-catchers for mid-water-column suspended fish if presented in the correct manner.
One thing is for certain: presentation is key for getting suspended bass to bite.
Deep Diving Jerkbaits
Jerkbaits are an often overlooked tool for catching suspended bass, but they shouldn’t be. During the right time of year, they can be deadly. Often, when you’re targeting suspended bass, you are in deeper water than you might think, so having a deeper diving jerkbait is key to success. Personally, I want a jerkbait to have more of an erratic action to it, especially as the water warms.
My go-to deep water jerkbaits are a Lucky Craft Pointer 100XD and a Booyah Flash Pointer Deep Jerkbait. Those two baits have some of the most erratic action, and suspended fish love them when presented correctly.
Mainly, I fish a jerkbait fast — ripping the bait fast and furious through the water column especially when there are multiple fish in the area. It’s mostly to catch the eye of the fish for a split second to, in turn, trigger a reaction strike. And when you get that school of fish fired up, it can make for an incredible day of fishing. Sometimes those suspended bass need a little coaxing, but when it happens, it’s game on.
Jigging Spoons and Jigging Raps
Jigging spoons and jigging raps may be considered two different lures, but they both can be used for the same applications. This is for all you anglers who say “suspended bass won’t eat” or “I don’t have FFS to chase fish that are suspended.” The truth of the matter is, you don’t need FFS to catch them, especially if they are under the boat!
Presenting a vertically-fished bait to them, if you can get over the top of them, can be absolutely deadly. This is a technique that I use mainly during the colder months of the year, when fish are lethargic and not willing to chase a bait.
When it comes to a jigging spoon, you can’t beat a Hopkins Hammered Spoon and the heavier the bait, the better! You want to fish it with two different retrieves: let the bait hit the bottom and reel it up to the surface, or let the bait fall to where you’re seeing the fish, and snap it hard. This imitates a dying baitfish erratically making its last movements, causing a reaction strike or a feeding strike.
With a Rapala Jigging Rap, it’s essentially the same thing. When slowly jigged in place, the bait will swim around in circles, and when stopped, it will trigger a strike. It’s just like ice fishing, but so much better.
Ol’ Faithful: The Jighead and The Minnow
At the moment, this might be one of the most controversial baits in bass fishing. Of all the baits available on the market, there is nothing that can compete with a standard jighead and a soft plastic minnow bait. It can be paired up in so many different ways and retrieved in just as many ways to make bass bite. This has been the hottest bait on the market for the past few years, and for good reason: It straight up cracks ‘em.
With so many different varieties on the market today, it’s hard to choose. There are two different jighead/minnow combinations I use throughout the year in a variety of ways to target suspended bass: a Northland Tackle Smeltinator Jighead paired with either a Strike King Z-Too or Baby Z-Too. I’m not much of a tournament angler, but I love fishing the local Tuesday night derbies around my house on the various local lakes. In these scenarios, it’s a feast or famine type of tournament where I need to get as many bites as possible.
It also helps that in many of my local finger lakes bass suspend almost year round. Casting to isolated schools using my Garmin Live Scope unit and this jighead/minnow combination has won me more lunch money than you might think.
My other preferred option is more of a shallow-water suspended bass technique. When I first started bass fishing, I had several Japanese anglers mentor me and it had a lot to do with making me the angler I am today. The technique that stuck the most from those times is mid-strolling in shallow water for big largemouth.
Often, in our pressured northeast lakes, bass would cruise the shallows in plain sight and not eat anything. It made you want to just give up. That changed when I was introduced to “mid-strolling” a jighead/minnow on light line. It made big largemouth in the shallows go nuts.
The combination included a 1/16-ounce jighead with a 3/0 light wire hook paired with a 4-inch Deps Deathadder Straight Tail worm. What makes the Deathadder different from all other minnow style baits on the market is the very bottom of the bait has a high salt content that allows the bait to always stay upright and to roll over while mid-strolling. A slow, steady reel on light, high-quality fluorocarbon, like Sunline FC Sniper in 5-pound-test, was critical for making pressured largemouth react.
Is It Really a Myth?
Trying to catch these suspended fish is one of the most frustrating things one can do on the water — pull-your-hair-out-by-the-root frustrating. In the end, I’ve learned so much from just watching these fish and how they react to baits. Being able to see them on my 2D sonar in conjunction with my livescope has made me understand that 90% of most bass will react to a lure if it’s presented in a manner that doesn’t spook them. That leaves 10%, when fish will not react no matter what.
The most important piece of advice I can give is don’t get stuck on a singular bass or a school if they are not willing to bite. Trying to force-feed them a bait will only spook them, and you’ll be wasting your time. You can bring a horse to water, but that doesn’t mean they’ll drink. If one or some don’t want to play, move on. Keep moving, because suspended bass are always on the move at some point.
So is the notion that suspended bass won’t bite really a myth? My answer is, absolutely. People who believe that suspended bass won’t bite haven’t given it an honest try. It’s an untapped fishery that many anglers have yet to discover. Who knows, you just might pull your biggest bass ever from out in the middle of nowhere.
