Anyone who has ever set up on a bedding bass knows there’s the real potential to burn hours of fishing time without getting that fish to bite. Craig Graham said there are some considerations to deciding if a fish is even worth dealing with.
“Is the fish catchable?” Graham said. “Is it going to be scared off by the boat or bait?”
That’s pretty easy to determine: If the fish spooks and doesn’t return to the bed in short order, it’s probably best to move on.
Obviously, the clear water that makes for the best fishing can increase the difficulty in getting close to fish. So Graham will back off as far as possible while keeping the fish in sight.
Another factor is water depth.
“The shallower the water, the more scared of the boat a fish will be,” Graham said.
Why? It’s simple.
“Shallow fish are always harder to catch because they can see you as well as you can see them,” he said.
So he prefers to remain in deeper water, which provides fish with a sense of safety even if the boat is visible.
If a fish is being pretty finicky, he’ll make a change to see if it’s worth staying put.
“Sometimes you can park on top of a fish, and the boat doesn’t bother it, but some fish are just scared of the boat,” he said. “If a fish doesn’t like the boat, move it 5 feet, and sometimes the fish will calm down.”
If he’s lucky enough to see two big submarines on a single bed, Graham stops immediately.
“If there are multiple females on a bed, they are the easiest to catch,” he explained. “They’re fighting over that bed, so they’ll be aggressive.”
No matter what, there are fish that Graham will never even pitch to — even though they seem locked into an area.
“If you see a bass wallowing around in the mud, just keep going,” he said. “It’s neat to see, but that fish will never bite.”
Also, Graham wants nothing to do with a bed if bream are hanging over a bed, even if there are bass nearby.
“I won’t even go look at the bed,” he said. “If there’s a fish on it — and there probably won’t be — if it won’t run a bream off it’s not going to bite a bait.”
