How do you get bedding fish to bite?

[fishnfill]

How do you get bedding fish to bite? I see fish on the beds and throw everything at them but they won't bite. I read of a lot of guys love to site fish bedding bass. How? I've thrown lizards, worms, finnesse minnows and jigs. They just look at it and swim right over the the bait. Any help appreciated.

Phil

[20_lb_sack]

Practice, practice ,practice, some fish won't bite, other needs to be coaxed, and some just need to be make mad. It take time to learn the little visual clues that let you know whether a fish is catchable or not. How far they run off the beds, how long to get back, how they react to baits in the bed, how active are the fins etc. My best bait is a floating tube, rigged with a treble hook in the tail.

[dchance]

Sometimes it can take up to a couple hours to get one to bite, but if you know it is a 5+ lber or whatever, the time is worth the wait. You just keep pitching and pitching and pitching, many times they will get too aggravated and hit. sounds like you are doing the right thing by throwing different baits, but you may want to spend more time on that fish. My personal opinion is that if a fish is on the bed, it will bite, just don't know how long it will take.

[zippers]

Bed fishing really is an art form, it takes seasons of studying fish to really get excellent at it. If you have the opportunity just observe bed fish without fishing for them, this will help you with your overall spring time fishing as you can picture what is taking place when you are blind fishing beds.

Best suggestion for bed fish is SLOOOOOWWWWW DOOOWWWN way down. Dont fish the fish, fish the bed, observe the body language of the fish I can tell after two pitches if I will spend any time on a fish or not - the bigger the fish the more time I will spend or write off poor body language. Cast past the bed and drag onto it, study the fishes movements when your bait is on the bed, keep dragging through until you find the sweet spot then adjust your action acording to the fishes reactions... it really is an art form (that I have yet to master, but get better at over time)

[Hardhead1]

You should ask James O. that question, He's the best that I know and have watched him catch fish that others have given up on. one trick " white lizard " .

[fishnfill]

Thanks guys. I guess i'll keep trying. I see them chase bluegills but they simply ignore my bait. I saw a bed on a stump the other day that had two two pound bass on top of the stump, and one about four pounds slowly circling the stump. They did not spook easily. Got within about twenty feet with the boat. just wont bite.

Thanks again. Phil R

[zippers]

Did you try a Bluegill Swimbait?

[MikeSouza]

I love to site fish for bedding fish or crusiers. When bed fishing I throw a couple baits and seem to do well with them. My number one bait is a white 1/4-3/8 oz jig(no rattle). I then cut a white fluke in half and thread it on the hook of the jig. This bait is easy to see in the water and immatates a small fish. I use a push pole when searching for shallow bed and to approach a bed I know that is already there. My success rate has gone up with the push pole guiding the boat instead of the trolling motor. The more and more you bed fish the better you will understand the movemets of spawning fish.

[bassman05]

Dynamite or grenade either one will put them in the net