Read The Bite – And Then React

By David A. Brown
Special to BassFan

(Editor's note: BassFan will suspend publication of First Cast stories during the holidays as it does each year, although important breaking news will still be reported. The staff wishes everyone a joyous and safe holiday. We'll resume feature publication on Monday, Jan. 8.)

I couldn’t take it anymore. I traded the camera and notepad for a Lew’s baitcasting outfit and, after clearing my traditional opening backlash, I found a plump taker that came so close to the 8-pound mark, I’ve been calling her an 8 1/2 for about a year now.

In all seriousness, the Texas-rigged Strike King Cut-R Worm that this beauty inhaled bespoke a very important principle: Don’t let a fizzled reaction bite prompt a relocation – at least, not before a thorough cleanup.

You gotta read the bite and make the right adjustment. In this case, Texas pro Todd Faircloth had caught a couple nice ones on a squarebill. Lots of wood-filled water to cover made this a sensible call.

But once it was clear they were off the crankbait, picking up the Texas-rigged plastic showed us there were more willing fish that were just a little too familiar with the source of their buddies’ new lip piercings. As Faircloth noted, this was a prime example of reading the bite and reacting.

“A lot of times, you start out with an aggressive-type bait; a moving bait, something that’s loud,” Faircloth said. “You’ll catch ‘em on it through an area, but then the fish start getting accustomed to it. They start slapping at it and getting it on the back hook.

“They see what happens and I think if you watch your buddy get slapped around by a hamburger, you’re not going to order that hamburger. You pick up a worm and it’s just a more subtle look, not as aggressive.”

A similar case can be made for silent versus rattling crankbaits, or subtle versus active trailers.

The Clues

Like most, Faircloth follows the simple logic: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“Obviously, if you catch a fish and he has the bait head-first and all the hooks in his mouth, you probably have the right bait and color,” he said.

Conversely, a missed bite, a lackluster swipe, a barely hooked fish, or one hooked outside the mouth tells you they’re kinda interested, but not convinced. Faircloth’s advice: Table the ego and keep an open mind.

“With sight-fishing, we often hear how ‘every fish is different,’ but I don’t think that only pertains to sight-fishing,” Faircloth said. “During a feeding frenzy, some may bite topwater, but others may want something subsurface or deeper in the water column.”

Recalling the ways of yesteryear, Faircloth said that catching only one fish off a stump, laydown or some other prominent structure led to the Lone Ranger assumption. Today, forward-facing sonar compels anglers to think deeper by showing what’s really living on a given spot.

Experience certainly factors into those read-and-react decisions, but “listening” to the fish often means observing their actions, as well as what’s going on in their world.

> Forage features: “I’ll look at what they spit up in the well, or it could be what’s floating on the surface like an injured bream,” Faircloth said. “I pay attention to all that, because these things are clues to help you get dialed in.”

> Calculate conditions: While behavioral observation reveals the fish’s daily mood, pulling back and looking at the key variables helps guide the adjustments.

In stained to dirty water, Faircloth will typically followup missed reaction bites with that Texas-rigged Cut-R Worm, or a Strike King Ocho on the same rig. If the water’s clear, he follows up with a finesse presentation; usually a wacky-rigged Ocho or a Strike King Filler Worm on a dropshot.

Sunlight and wind also influence how Faircloth reacts to lackadaisical fish behavior. If he has recently enjoyed an aggressive crankbait or jerkbait bite and that bite goes away, reeling that Cut-R worm across the bottom will clean up the remaining opportunity. If calmer, brighter conditions prevail, the dropshot’s his choice.

Adjustment Options

Looking at his common read-and-react decisions, Faircloth offered this: “If I’m throwing a hollow-body frog on a mat, and I get one to blow up and miss it, I always have a punch bait ready. There’s a good chance, if you throw back in there, you’ll catch that fish.

“Up north, a jerkbait is a great search bait for smallmouth, but you’ll get a lot of followers. You’ll raise fish that don’t always commit, so I have a dropshot ready for those (non-committal fish).”

Alabama pro Wes Logan often finds a flashy spinnerbait effective at closing the deal on bass that just bump his swim jig. His rule of thumb: “I like to give them two chances. Okay, he didn’t get it good, but was it my fault? Did I pull it away?

“But the second go-round, I’ll start making changes. If the fish had the perfect chance to get it and he doesn’t, I feel something was wrong.”

For example, Logan said he’s had a good shaky-head bite fizzle to the point where fish were just tugging at the tail and often ripping off half his worm. Here, it was a profile thing.

“They were biting the worm off behind the hook, so I changed from a full-size worm to a finesse worm and got ‘em,” Logan said. “I kept everything the same, but I just shrunk the size of the bait and started catching them.”

Fishing pressure plays a big role in dampening enthusiasm and Logan saw this firsthand during his 2021 Bassmaster Elite win at Neely Henry Lake.

“During that tournament, everybody was fishing one certain color, but I wasn’t getting the fish to commit; so I changed to the opposite end of the spectrum and started catching them,” Logan said. “It was a shad-spawn situation and I had started throwing a shad-color swim jig, but ended up catching them on a more natural color.”

Similarly, during a summer outing on Lake Yale (the only Harris Chain lake without navigational connection to the rest of the chain), Bassmaster Elite Series angler Bernie Schultz and local tournament competitor Eric Panzioni had caught a couple fish on ChatterBaits, but the bites became increasingly sporadic, with a lot of noncommittal bumps. Panzioni switched from a green pumpkin color to golden shiner and the fish promptly responded with arm-stretching aggression.

Tackle Considerations

While calculating potential bait size, color and action changes, alterations to the presentation tools may also hasten success. For example, Logan typically fishes shallow crankbaits and topwaters on his signature series Ark 7'2" medium rod; but if he finds colder conditions or fishing pressure has curbed the enthusiasm, he’ll soften his approach.

“If I feel like their not committing, I’ll go to my signature series Ark 6'9" jerkbait rod,” Logan said. “It’s a little lighter rod, so it allows them to get the bait better. Also, it’s a little shorter rod, so I can maneuver them around the boat easier if they only have one hook.”

Faircloth closes with this thought: “I usually fish my finesse baits on 8-pound Sunline fluorocarbon, but I’ll definitely have some 6-pound line ready. If it gets really flat and clear, I have seen a time when the lighter line has made a difference.

“A lot of people think the lighter line means they can’t see it as well, but I disagree. I think it gives the bait more lifelike action. Any advantage I can give myself increases my chances of getting bit.”