Nick Simonson
By Nick Simonson
The summer feeding frenzy is on, and when fish are biting things can get downright competitive, even if the alleged piece of food being contested is an imitation made of salt-impregnated plastic polymer. The survival of the fittest fuels one of summer's feistiest fish – the smallmouth bass – to duke it out with one another in a natural display of aggression, where one fish with a full mouth of crayfish drops smaller portions of the crunchy crustacean that others below it might snap up. While the often-bigger lead fish feeds better on the larger morsel, others get a little snack too, and the rapid movement sets off a natural attraction that anglers can key in on as well.
Follow Me
Smallmouth bass will take to faster moving baits in summer, keyed up on warmer waters and higher activity levels. Thus, ripping jerkbaits, burning spinnerbaits, and retrieving crankbaits quickly will often elicit a reaction strike. In a boat with two anglers, however, that hooked fish can be the ultimate lure for other nearby bronzebacks that pick up on the commotion and drawn by the hopes of at least some scrap of food, home in on the hooked fish. Thus, having a second rod ready with an easily casted single-hook lure such as a bass tube, a jig-and-grub combo, or a bucktail jig can double the fun when a hooked fish brings a friend along.
Watch For It
When a lead angler hooks a smallmouth, it helps for both anglers to keep an eye out for any followers. Using polarized shades, it's easier to pick up on the flash of bronze behind the lead bass and ready a quick cast into the water around the already-hooked smallie. Oftentimes, all one will see is the flash of a tail or the blur of a streaking fish, but that's enough to elicit that second cast in hopes of a true daily double. In dingier waters, or flows with a good population of brown bass, oftentimes it's just a good guess to toss in a lure for followers, even if one can't see them below.
Pitch Perfect
The one cautionary point is to make sure the cast to the following fish doesn't interfere with the main one hooked. It can be as simple as a small flip a few feet behind the main lure to catch the attention of the trailing fish, while still being far enough away to prevent the secondary lure from tangling up in the first angler's line and potentially losing the fish or creating a bird's nest of a mess in the water. The second angler should size up the situation, and if that first smallie is a whopper, or a potential personal best for the lead angler, perhaps hold off, or wait until the fish is landed before dropping the offering alongside the boat to pick up the second smallmouth.
Follow-up smallies can show up quickly, and hooking into them can be an exciting summer experience. Have a rod with a compact, easily-thrown offering ready in the boat, keep an eye out using polarized shades for any motion behind a main fish, and time an accurate cast that doesn't interfere with the main fish and catches the attention of the one that's slashing around behind it. By doing so, you'll capitalize on one of nature's most observable feeding frenzy behaviors and double up on some awesome summer angling.
Simonson is the lead angler and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.
Featured Photo: Bass Bros. The author (R) and his brother Ben Simonson, with a pair of smallies caught in some fast, follow-up fishing on the Sheyenne River. Simonson Photo.
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