Recently I met a fellow bass fisherman named Evan Schaible. After a brief conversation with him I knew he was a very knowledgeable bass fisherman so I asked him if he would consider sharing some of his tips and be a guest writer on my site, which is something I have never done in the past. At first he seemed a bit reluctant but finally figured he would give it a try. After I read the draft he sent me I was happy he decided to give it a try.
With that being said I give you Fishing for a Predator by Evan Schaible.
“It is no mystery that largemouth bass love to hide and ambush prey. This is because bass are predators by nature. It will drastically help our fishing when we thoroughly digest this fact, and fish accordingly. Many people who are new to the bass fishing arena tend to ease their way in by passively fishing as if the bass will help them get a limit. This is the reason why many people are discouraged at the sport.”
“When you approach this type of fishing you can’t just rig up a night crawler, drop it in the water and wait. You have to be just as aggressive as the bass in order to be successful. But this aggression must be accompanied by the proper knowledge, or you will end up just as frustrated as the guy who rigs worms and sits back with a soda waiting for the bobber to bounce. Float fishing is good, don’t get me wrong; but if you are serious about catching a few more bass each time you go out, than you have to fish for the predator.”
“What does it mean to fish for a predator? Bass fishing is a bit like hunting in that most of your time will be spent stalking the bass. But in elk hunting for example, you are acting as a predator stalking a prey animal. So often times fisherman can mistake what they are looking for on the water for being something that is prey (for us it is prey, that’s true). But in the freshwater food chain bass are among the top few hunters in the water, therefore making the methodologies we must employ drastically different than if we were hunting a prey animal. So in the remainder of this article I want to focus on a few techniques and tips that can help you catch the predator.”
“One key thing to remember is that you are not the hunter when you are bass fishing. You are in fact acting as the prey. This is integral, and cannot be stressed enough. We can talk about pitching into cover, and jigging a crawdad, but what we have to keep in mind is the fact that we are trying to impersonate something that the bass are in fact hunting already. So we can either have this working against us, or use it to our advantage. It can work against us if we fish in a way that makes the bass look elsewhere for food. Like any other predator the bass are not going to be as interested in prey that is large and perfectly healthy, and here is a prime area where many anglers fail. If you are fishing a crank bait for example, what you don’t want to do is pull it on a steady retrieve through the cover, missing everything that’s around you. This sends the signal of a healthy, mature prey animal that the bass will likely not be interested in.”
“The key to triggering strikes when fishing baits that are meant to resemble prey animals (shad, blue gill, crayfish, worms, etc.) is to make the bait look injured. This may seem fundamental, but it is often overlooked and taken for granted by many fishermen. This is the reason for bait patterns like the bleeding shad, as the bass, like any other predator, is attracted first to the wounded animal. Wounded animals are just easier meals, and in order to heighten our success as anglers we have to take advantage of this predatory nature inherent in bass. So when fishing cover keep this in mind. If you are throwing a spinner bait, bounce it off a log or stump and make the bass think that the shad you are impersonating is wounded.
The same applies for crank baits and jigs. Another useful method is stop and go retrieves with a little jerk in the middle. If you have a good crank bait you can even make it look like the little thing is injured by winding extremely fast for a couple of turns and the bait will almost roll over, signaling a weakness to the bass. There are innumerable ways to make your baits look injured, so take some time in shallow water and work on your presentations, it will pay off in the end I guarantee.”
“Another good thing to keep in mind is that bass are clever hunters, and love to ambush their prey. This again can be to our advantage or detriment. A lot of times anglers misjudge their target and fish open water, when there are great underwater structures, reed beds, grass lines, and other types of cover for the bass to hide in while waiting to ambush an unsuspecting shad. 
But you can’t just throw your bait at the cover and expect to get strikes, and here is another area where many fisherman fall short. There are a few key things to always keep in mind when fishing cover, and again, to understand why, we have to remember that bass are predatory fish.”
“Most of the time the bass will be on the edges of reed beds, just within the grass on a grass line, or waiting on the edge of stump or fallen tree. This is often as shelter for them as well, but the dual purpose of this is as ambush points. Again, you can’t just throw your bait at the cover and expect to succeed, you have to plan your presentation.
Take some time to practice laying your bait into the water as quietly as you can. While pitching a good way to achieve a quiet entry into the water is to slightly lift your rod tip just before the bait hits, and often this will just slide it into the water without hardly a ripple.
But again, the difference between success and failure is where you place the bait. Most anglers will cast just on the outside of the cover, and begin their retrieve. This leaves the lure in the strike zone for much less time, lessening your chances of getting a hit. If you are fishing grass lines, reed beds or other cover of this sort, cast into it as far as you think is safe, because your weed guards were made for just this occasion.
Also if you are fishing solitary bank cover such as a stump or fallen tree, cast just beyond your target and begin your retrieve. This will allow your bait to present its full action to the fish, and won’t just be getting started when it’s in the strike zone. This area of cover is extremely important, and bass are almost always using this method of hunting.” 
“Lions will often stalk water holes and wait for an animal to bend down and drink before attacking. This takes the animal off guard and gives the lion a brief window to get very close in order to strike. The same holds true for bass. This is the reason for the calculated action of many crank baits. This is, I think, the most overlooked way to fish a crank bait. What I mean is letting it bounce on the bottom so as to imitate a bait fish rooting and hunting for prey itself. As the little minnow shuffles by the ambush point of the waiting bass, the bass will almost strike on impulse as it passes.
These are what we call “reaction strikes”, and can be triggered in a plethora of ways. But the reason they are so crucial is because the bass will hit your bait without even thinking about it, because as a rule, when the specific scenario is played out, that means dinner. This rooting minnow scenario is one of those guaranteed meals for a bass. So when the little bait comes by and bumps that ambush point that bass strikes, and you have him. So don’t just fish your crank baits so they look like they are swimming or darting around, try this method and see how it works.” 
“You can also fish weedless rigged creatures baits, jigs, and spinner baits in this same fashion. And don’t mistake these techniques as only for searching the bass out, because you will drastically improve your cast/strike ratio if you consistently fish these styles, even if you think you have a good spot where the bass are biting your bait.
Presentation is literally everything in this sport, and the best actor will get the prize every time. 
So next time you are on the water, remember what you read here, and keep in mind that you are not hunting, you are baiting a predator into thinking he has a free , injured meal.”
Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
