Wolf Packers

Hookset5 · Post by **Hookset5** » Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:02 pm

Asking for a friend

Was wondering if these schooled fish make a circle in their path? or do they typically pace JUST the shoreline?

ash · Post by **ash** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:29 am

ive seen them setup off shore and move trout against the walls and I've seen them running the bank. The interesting part is when i have been able to observe them they work in concert like each one knows its role in terms of chasers, flankers and the ones at the front to ambush them. It is quite a sight to behold.

callwakeup · Post by **callwakeup** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 5:31 pm

Wolf Packin' today at Castaic.. in three different coves, chasing tiny baitfish - shad? i presume? or silversides? the bass - looked like pods of 3 to 4 - with what seemed like 8 to 10 pods per cove really just seemed to be following underneath the bait - maybe they were pushing the bait. but they were all over the cove - shallow water, deep water- on the banks and out in the middle. - oh and high sun and blue bird skies; and boy were the bass active and feeding and some good sized ones too.
it wasnet a wide open bite, but we were able to get 15 or so in a couple hour period. and their bellies were FAT with food. they were gorging - its not always easy to catch em when they are locked on bait so hard.

callwakeup · Post by **callwakeup** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:14 pm

Wolf Packin' today at Castaic.. in three different coves, chasing tiny baitfish - shad? i presume? or silversides? the bass - looked like pods of 3 to 4 - with what seemed like 8 to 10 pods per cove really just seemed to be following underneath the bait - maybe they were pushing the bait. but they were all over the cove - shallow water, deep water- on the banks and out in the middle. - oh and high sun and blue bird skies; and boy were the bass active and feeding and some good sized ones too.
it wasnet a wide open bite, but we were able to get 15 or so in a couple hour period. and their bellies were FAT with food. they were gorging - its not always easy to catch em when they are locked on bait so hard.

Hookset5 · Post by **Hookset5** » Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:27 pm

Ash, they are incredibly smart to work together. Big, fat and smart. I was wondering if they circle around gill beads so I could predict their circle? or do they go left and then right.. never really making a circle at all.

WRB · Post by **WRB** » Thu Jul 26, 2018 4:47 pm

Bass are smart? bass are a predator fish with good instictively skills that adapt to take advantage of the predominate prey source. There isn't any planned attack pattern, the baitfish show up where a population of bass are resident, the bass work the baitfish agianst structure or the surface
and feed on them, simple predator prey herding behavior.
To answer your question there isn't a plan only opportunity.
Tom

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Fri Jul 27, 2018 7:58 am

WRB wrote:Bass are smart? bass are a predator fish with good instictively skills that adapt to take advantage of the predominate prey source. There isn't any planned attack pattern, the baitfish show up where a population of bass are resident, the bass work the baitfish agianst structure or the surface
and feed on them, simple predator prey herding behavior.
To answer your question there isn't a plan only opportunity.
Tom

Do packs of larger fish roam together in smaller lakes like the Castaic Lagoon, so they can work together to trap baitfish?

bassindon69 · Post by **bassindon69** » Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:08 am

The giant limits I've hit, I still question. I thought they stayed/schooled together. Bill Murphys book suggests.. I'm catching them in feeding grounds where they all seem to meet up and feed but otherwise live more separate lives. I'm talking big bass . The only way to tell is to track them after being caught together. I've had repeated DD'S caught, sometimes by themselves and other times with other DD'S. So without tracking them to me it's more fishermen talk. Watching smaller fish chase a tornado of shad isn't the same as Bass that feed on other larger prey . I think people have tacked them , but have they been tracked after caught in a group within a small window. These are the packs I want to learn more about. Butch Brown is very interesting to talk to about his tracking methods.

ash · Post by **ash** » Mon Jul 30, 2018 12:27 pm

Hookset5 wrote:Ash, they are incredibly smart to work together. Big, fat and smart. I was wondering if they circle around gill beads so I could predict their circle? or do they go left and then right.. never really making a circle at all.

As Don has pointed out I cant say what all bass do but I can speak to my personal Observations ie watching them and in several instances of being able to do so the bass I saw worked in concert. Once they made their ambush runs they damn near reset to the same places and waited for the next school of trout to come by.

I have also seen this with bait fish but with bait fish it was a little more chaotic - like someone yelled go and they all went with the big mamas at the front waiting for the slashers to push the bait to them.

In terms of clock wise vs counter clockwise unlike trout (who you can see a pole go bendo down the shore) i dont think bass necessarily follow this behavior. But they do tend to run certain lines and setup at the same spots for feeding or shelter during that day - but this changes given light, forage and pressure IMHO.

In regard to the bluegill beds i this is always great to see and again its usually the slashers running up and the hens setting back just a bit. Again this isnt scientific these are my personal observations over the years - sometimes is great to keep a line out of the water and just watch nature do its thing.

callwakeup · Post by **callwakeup** » Mon Jul 30, 2018 4:27 pm

tell you what.. i have observed a few wild LMB closely in fish tanks and can tell you with certainty that these animals are smart..
each bass will have certain friends and foes, and will put efforts in to protect friends and pick on foes. and they will choose friends from different species at times too. one bass choose to protect a smaller Payara for a week straight when another bass tried to pick on it. it literally put its body on the line to keep his buddy safe. it was incredible to watch.

Hookset5 · Post by **Hookset5** » Mon Jul 30, 2018 5:26 pm

Callwakeup -
I've seen LMB share a tree with bluegill like they were good-fellow neighbors. Yet, gills are a meal for bass also at times. Strange creatures

ash · Post by **ash** » Wed Aug 01, 2018 7:51 am

Hookset5 wrote:Callwakeup -
I've seen LMB share a tree with bluegill like they were good-fellow neighbors. Yet, gills are a meal for bass also at times. Strange creatures

Yup that's always a trip when they are not in feeding mode they will sit there and suspend no problem all together I guess when the appetite kicks in they just open up and say YUM!

WRB · Post by **WRB** » Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:02 pm

mark poulson wrote:
WRB wrote:Bass are smart? bass are a predator fish with good instictively skills that adapt to take advantage of the predominate prey source. There isn't any planned attack pattern, the baitfish show up where a population of bass are resident, the bass work the baitfish agianst structure or the surface
and feed on them, simple predator prey herding behavior.
To answer your question there isn't a plan only opportunity.
Tom
Do packs of larger fish roam together in smaller lakes like the Castaic Lagoon, so they can work together to trap baitfish?

The first time I watch a wolf pack of bass coral baitfish was at Little lake, a duck hunting private lake north of Red Rock on 395. I was standing on a bluff above a cove and the bass gathered up along a deep wall and herded a school of Sacromento pearch into the cove and started feeding on them.
It was definately a coordinated event that bass had developed.
Having fished all the local SoCal lakes for decades seeing a wolf pack of big bass work together is a rare event, but it happens. Casitas I was fishing with a freind when a wolf pack trapped a school of trout against a wall at the backend of deep-cat, a panicked trout tried to jump into my boat with a giant bass crashing into the side, what a site. At Castaic again fishing with a friend I noticed 3 blue herons standing in the water on mud point, big bass were feeding on trout they pushed up on the bank and caught 18 big bass before running out swimbaits, wide open bite. Again at Castaic I was returning to the marina and passed by Ball point and noticed some big splashes, stopped and enjoyed another hour long wide open bite on big bass that were feeding on a massive shad school.
Castiac in 1991 I caught a 5 bass limit that weight 62 lbs on jigs off the same point I now call the old folks home, a slow 3 hour bite in the rain, not a wolf pack, just a group of giant bass.
A 40 year period and 4 wolf packs isn't a common event!
Butch would be the expert on the big bass behavior in the lagoon, or anywhere else for that matter.
Tom

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:08 pm

WRB wrote:
mark poulson wrote:
WRB wrote:Bass are smart? bass are a predator fish with good instictively skills that adapt to take advantage of the predominate prey source. There isn't any planned attack pattern, the baitfish show up where a population of bass are resident, the bass work the baitfish agianst structure or the surface
and feed on them, simple predator prey herding behavior.
To answer your question there isn't a plan only opportunity.
Tom
Do packs of larger fish roam together in smaller lakes like the Castaic Lagoon, so they can work together to trap baitfish?
The first time I watch a wolf pack of bass coral baitfish was at Little lake, a duck hunting private lake north of Red Rock on 395. I was standing on a bluff a cove and the bass gathered up along a deep wall and headed a school of Sacromento pearch into the cove and started feeding on them.
It was definately a coordinated event that bass had developed.
Having fished all the local SoCal lakes for decades seeing a wolf pack of big bass work together is a rare event, but it happens. Casitas I was fishing with a freind when a wolf pack trapped a school of trout against a wall at the backend of deepcat, a panicked trout tried to jump into my boat with a giant bass crashing into the side, what a site. At Castaic again fishing with a freind I noticed 3 blur herons standing in the water on mud point, big bass were feeding on trout they pushed up on the bank and caught 18 Big bass before running out swimbaits, wide open bite. Again at Castaic I was returning to the marina and passed by Ball point and noticed some big splashes, stopped and enjoyed another hour long wide open bite on big bass that were feeding on a massive shad school.
Castiac in 1991 I caught a 5 bass limit that weight 62 lbs on jigs off the same point called the old folks home, a slow 3 hour bite in the rain, not a wolf pack, just a group of giant bass.
A 40 year period and 4 wolf packs isn't a common event!
Butch would be the expert on the big bass behavior in the lagoon, or anywhere else for that matter.
Tom

Thanks.
A 62 lb limit is amazing!