Surface Strikes And The One Second Eternity

The top water bite has been great lately, not just early and late in the day, but at most any time. It"s true: bass are on the ledges, too, and they can be caught with some consistence at 15- to 20-feet deep. In fact, that"s what most people do these days. But if that"s all they do, they"re really missing something.

Savage surface strikes from bass really tickle my fishing bone, and I"m most amused when a big one comes all the way out of the water to pounce on my Rattlin" Chug Bug or Zara Spook. These two baits are my favorites because they make bass acrobatically insane.

In one respect, surface lures are the easiest artificial baits to fish because you can see what"s happening. It"s not like Texas rigging or other forms of fishing where a developed sense of feel is imperative. When the water explodes, anyone can get the exciting and immediate message that they"ve got a bite.

On the other hand, this visual stimulation actually works against us when it comes to hooking and holding fish. Because we can see it happen, and because bass seem so abrupt about it, most of us react too quickly and literally jerk the bait out of the fish"s mouth.

Many fishermen believe that bass often "miss" top water baits. But that rarely is the case. Practically every time we miss or "just get a piece of" a surface-feeding bass, it is because we reacted to quickly.

Sometimes one of the treble hooks will catch slightly in the fish"s bony lips and come free, or the bass simply doesn"t open its mouth again fast enough to let it go before the fisherman feels something. In other words, they hang onto it. In either case, the fisherman "gets a piece of him."

And, yes, occasionally the hooks do catch on part of the bass" outer lips and a brief tussle ensues. The majority of the time, however, these fish shake loose before the fisherman can bring them to hand-usually during the first leap.

Leaping clear of the water is the most common way bass escape, regardless the method, and they leap a lot when they"re caught on top. In the first place, they"re already near the surface when you hook them, and I suppose that because whatever bit them back came from the surface, they instinctively try to get rid of it in the same place.

At any rate, the main reason we lose them so often actually begins with the physics of the top water strike.

Bass almost always approach a surface lure from the rear, which makes a lot of sense if you think about it. If you want to capture something, you sneak up behind it, instead of rushing toward it headlong or from the side where the thing could see you coming and dodge the attack.

They don"t approach from directly behind. Usually they come in from a few degrees to one side or the other. But it"s still mostly from behind and underneath where they can move close without detection.

Nor do they rush up to take a bait. Very small fish will do that sometimes, but any decent bass will close in on a surface bait just slightly faster than the bait is moving. They stalk it, so to speak.

It depends upon how fast you are fishing the bait, but most of the time they stalk so close to a bait that they are nearly touching it before they make their final commitment. This is especially true with poppers, chuggars, Spooks and similar baits that make a lot of commotion in a small area. But even with the popular buzzbaits that most of us fish too fast, rarely are bass more than their own body length away when they make those quick movements that mess up the water.

The whole process is methodical, precise and surprisingly slow-except for the actual split-second of the capture, which with a bass, is all mouth.

The only rapid movement of their surface feeding technique is when they actually suck the bait into their mouths, and this is done with such blinding speed that you almost have to see it in slow motion to tell exactly what is happening.

They turn their heads slightly, open their mouths wide and create a vacuum by instantly sucking water into their mouths and blowing it out through their gill covers as they close their mouths on the bait. The bigger the fish the faster it seems to happen.

The disturbance you see, and the "kerploosh" that you hear, is all created by this split-second suction. What we see is so rapid and calamitous it startles us into striking too soon.

As soon as the lure is inhaled, however, everything slows down again. The fish doesn"t need to expend energy with quick movements now. He has the bait in his mouth, so he takes his time to turn away with his meal. At this point, the bait is just inside his lips, not in his throat.

For the first second or two after a bass vacuums in a top water bait he"s is still facing the fisherman, so a quick reaction simply pops the lure straight out of his face.

The amount of time between the first visual indication of the strike and when the bass turns away is brief, but it can seem like forever. That"s why I call it the "one-second eternity."

It"s when a fisherman"s hands tighten around his rod and every muscle in his body tenses like a slugger waiting for a fast ball to come in over the plate. If he swings the second he sees the ball leave the pitcher"s hand, he"ll miss for sure. So he waits, tense. At exactly the right moment, he moves quickly to swing the bat.

Likewise, this is how an experienced fisherman reacts to a surface strike. If he can wait until the bass turns away, he"ll hook nearly every one of them deeply and securely because he will be pulling the bait into the side of the bass" mouth, not out the front of it.



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