Sometimes, a fry guarder will boil, follow or just push a bait without committing. Toledo Bend guide Darold Gleason said those fish are catchable — but you might have to work at it.
“One thing you can do is give him several options,” Gleason said. “If you’re throwing a swim jig or a swim bait, and he comes up and flashes on it but won’t get it, you might notice that he keeps going back to the same little point of grass or the same bush.
“Then you may try a Texas rig, a stick bait or a weightless soft jerk bait.”
When all else fails, Gleason suggests giving the fish some space.
“If I try four or five things unsuccessfully, I just punch in a waypoint and come back to it later,” he said. “A lot of times, what has happened is he’s already seen your boat and he knows something is a little off. He still wants to protect the fry but he won’t commit, so I’ll leave and come back.”
Sounds a little like bed fishing, right?
“You still want to be stealthy, even though the fry guarders are more aggressive than bed fish,” Gleason explained. “You’re still trying to agitate a fish into eating something he doesn’t want to eat. He’s only eating the bait to get it away (from the fry).
“So if you have one that’s boat shy, maybe because he’s seeing you too well, I’d leave him alone for a while, and when you come back, maybe come at him from a different angle.”
