With all the emphasis on Big bass eating trout,I've been thinking alot lately about the Bass imitations in my swimbait box.I realize bass probably prefer a freshly stocked,lost and ,easily caught trout ,but what happens when the trout move out to deeper waters,stocking stops, and the free meals become less abundant? Bass must feed,I think this is the time to start fishing the "other" baits we have.But how do we as anglers figure out when the time is here to start using the other baits we have? that what has been on my mind lately is when to make the transition? 3 weeks after the last stock truck of the season? a month? I've seen Bass chasing a few trout in the middle of the summer at social security point on lake cachuma,the truck hadnt stocked in a few months by this time.I never know when to change ,what are your thoughts?
tight lines,
brian

i have seen trout imatation swimbaits work at lakes such as Poway in San Diego year round. While other baits might work better to imatate feed that the bass are currently feeding on i feel that trout imatations will still work year round. Just imagine if you were to put a trout in front of a bass midsummer, I am sure that he will eat it.

I agree ,i guess what im trying to relay is when does it change from trout to whatever as there primary forage? could you use a baby bass bait year round as well? or do they feed upon each other only when other sources such as shad/trout arent available readily?
maybe im just babbling but i do actually have a running thought in my head
:7
brian

if you are fishing ponds and very small lakes i think the baby bass and even adult bass imitations work very well. last time i went to one of my secret private ponds i saw a 2.5# bass floating with a bass about 1 or 1.5 pounds stuck in its mouth. this is probobly a cast of domestic violance (was probobly invading his nest or something...) but it goes to show that bass wont hesitate to eat other bass. ive also got a bass i was reeling in stolen by a 4# bass at that same lake and from then on i always see that bass chasing other bass that come by his log.

territorial pissing of a bass,gotta love it ,its like watching a big dog guarding his yard.lol...I caught a greedy bass with a smaller bass in his mouth i was amazed that he had the nuts to take a lure even while eating another fish.once while floattubing in lake otay my buddy got ran on a aat worm and lost the fish,1/2hour later i catch the same bass (about 2 lbs) with the same style ,size worm and low and behold hes got my buddys worm still stuck in his mouth.Bass are my favorite for these reasons!
greedy lil basstards they are,
tight lines y'all,
brian

Alot of times you will see bass will let other bass pass through their beds as long as their not eating the babies but if a bluegil gets anywhere close MUNCH!

I really like bass pattern lures, it's my favorite in senkos and slammers this season. I also have several other lures that are bass pattern that catch fish.

the whole reason I got into swimbait fishing was when i saw a 10 inch bass being reeled in by my dad, then a 8lb+ bass come slowly from the depths and inhales it withouth skipping a beat!!! Then of coarse my dad tried to reset the hooks to nail the bigger bass and yanked the little one right out of its mouth :o
I dont have the luxury of fishinng in a trout stocked pond, but i'm sure a small bass is still on the menu during those summer months, but what do I know, you guys are the experts.!!

BEN

Your best bet in a smaller pond is a bass pattern bait. Usually there isn't much other forage besides bass and maybe bluegill. Most of the small ponds I fish at the bluegill are almost extinct, maybe from being consumed? But baby bass is the way to go in places like that.

I've caught a couple of nice fish out of San Juan Village, basically a couple of fished out poop ponds the size of your sink, on the 9" Slammer and 9" AC Plug. These poor fish have never seen a trout, but a couple have dodged the local kids snagging them off beds to survive to 8 pounds or so. It's amazing that they will show themselves when you throw a big trout bait when you never see them all year- Instinct takes over when a hungry girl sees an easy meal-

Magmaster,
The ponds around here are the same way but I remeber years ago they had tons of bluegills. Now alot of bobber fish and that is what they catch I am thinking they were fished out rather than a natural thing what do you think.

Yep, bass eat bass.



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/3726-Seco_Bass_eat_bass_1a.jpg

too vicous for his own good lol. that fish should have known not to bite off more then he can chew :) and i have a picture like that on my cell phone, except the two fish were decaying on the concrete