Your underwater footage has been so eye-opening to me. I learned things I never knew that I didn't know. I'm looking forward to the new surprises you cook up in 2023!
I am going to do my best to plan stuff way ahead of time and take a full month to get the underwater pieces I need. As you are well aware of being a content creator yourself, dealing with living creatures is so different than having a channel on a different type of topic. Lol
Steve i consider myself a seasoned bass fisherman, i study this fish daily. I have more tackke and gear than many pros. But you never know it all and never too old to learn. Your presentation is remarkable, and sheds alot new light on my favorite past time. Thank You.
That is so fun when they are piled up and biting! I am shocked how many catfish I have caught like that too. Especially deep divers. They put up a fight!
Something to add. I have caught bigger bass while crappie fishing 5-7 pounders. The bigger bass caught in open water will seek cover/brush once hooked. Bass definitely do purposely seek structure once hooked. Especially wise large bass, they know how to shake a hook.
Your underwater videos have truly changed the way I fish and read the water. I'm staying of the bank more. Fishing the first drop or edge. Another great video thank you
You deserve so many more followers. Your content is so clearly explained and presented. I wish you nothing but increased success! Thank you for your work and plethora of information!
Thank you for all your footage. I go as a co angler I'm always left with the back of the boat. You've given me a whole new idea of how to catch that my boater could have missed. Thank you
One hot summer I put on a dive mask and had a gander. In the thick brances of a fallen tree was a "shrimp city". And below it two large fish. My dad caught those fish on a spinner. My plug couldn't get deep enough.
Texas DNR did a 2 yr telemetry study that supports a lot of what you're saying. Most of the fish tracked never traveled more than 150 yards from where they were originally tagged. Most moved when idled over or pinged. But like you said, they did so casually. Even noisy lures were enough to move them off at times. The most interesting thing was that the biggest fish had a habit of hanging out on stumps and humps in otherwise featureless areas. They were typically alone. Most average sized fish were nearly never alone.
Y3ars ago there was a guy I think named Doug Hannan who did a lot of underwater video of fish behavior. I really got a lot out of your content and thank you for communicating in such a concise manner rather than the rambling that RU-vidrs often use
This is awesome. One way that I have absolutely learn more about fishing their behavior and what color lures they will like is through having exotic aquarium fish that are predators. Not only are they a fun pet to have they are very educational
Great information. Really appreciate your channel and how you share knowledge rather than try to sell lures, or gear,or whatever like everyone else. I trust what you are saying and use that knowledge to help put me and my son on fish. He loves catching them and you have helped me find those fish for him to hook. Thank you. 👍
Good stuff brother. Our local reservoir has been drained down 30-40' and I have found like 20+ lipless crankbaits. Restored about 19 LCs with new tackle, paint jobs, hooks, and added blades on a few.
During my off season I've watched your videos daily and maybe this year I'll have better success. Not sure if I'm just forgetting what I did know or the fishing is more difficult due to heavy fishing pressure. Your underwater videos remind me of the first ones I ever watched which Included Doug Hannons "Big Mouth".
Agree mostly with your last point. Recently caught 4 bass in the same spot. Just kept throwing back in and around there until I exhausted the spot. Rrare in my lake, at least I thought so until recently. Will work spots where I caught a fish more thoroughly in the future!
Awesome video buddy. You seem to always answer questions I didn’t even know I had if that makes sense. A lot of the things you teach me I might already have known but have forgotten or just didn’t think of in the way you present. This one however is full of behavior I didn’t realize. Please keep them coming and just know how much you are appreciated. God bless and stay safe out there!
Hey, Steve, great to see ya today. Love your underwater videos. Very informative for me. Have a great day and be safe. We have tornados possible for tonight and the temp will drop 30 degrees! Dang, this weather
Be safe! We have winter weather advisory here but hopefully it is not going to be too bad. It sure seems you get a lot of potential tornadoes through that part of the country. When I was in DC last week it was upper 60s and sunny. I would take that about now.
I love seeing these videos, tips that after hearing you would think it’s common sense or why didn’t I think of that in that way…thanks buddy, great stuff! Just subscribed, looking forward to seeing some of your past videos and some coming out
Thank you! Watching and observing bass underwater has been a real eye-opener for me. I think so many times we make it more complex than it really is. At least I do.
Steve I'd love to see a video of how fish respond to anchors being dropped and if they return after the anchor drops. Also another video for trolling with 4-10hp.
Wow!! Excellent video!!! So much helpful information!! Thanks Steve for sharing!! Will have to watch this one a few more times!!! Stay Safe & God Bless!!!
Wow Just found your channel! Thanks for some great info ! I will be checking all your stuff out ! Liked and subscribed! Great work and explanations ***
I had a SUNY ESF Fisheries student tell me how they netted fish at night in Onondaga Lake and Radio tagged specimens.Although not a Bass ,but interesting enough ,a mature Walleye Radio tagged at Night was located two and a half days later half way across the southern shoreline of Oneida Lake .They are connected through a canal / river system .That swim would have been 25 to 28 miles !
Steve I've just found your channel and this is great. I don't fish much anymore but it still interests me. I notice when watching our cats they play with the toys that are in the middle of the floor and not close to the wall or furniture. If it were a live mouse it would be out of place. Cats and bass are both predators so will bass attack bait that is away from cover or out of place? I always fished tight to cover like everybody else but being like everybody else in fishing is guaranteed failure. During or a day after a storm bass seem to be tight to cover but by the second day they seem to be moving out. You may have seen differently but that's how I fished.
I like to think about it with the easy meal mindset. If the lure, or prey, is just too simple to take advantage of it will often get those wary fish to commit even if they need to go out and get it in more open areas. But with that said, a good reaction bite is sure hard to beat. Thanks so much for watching!
@@SteveRogersOutdoors no matter how good your presentation, or your lure, Bass fishing always comes down to VOLUME: the more casts you make, at various angles, depths and speeds, the greater the odds you will entice one of them to bite. Local Bass tournaments does NOT inspire this: rather, it tends to engender a run and gun mentality, quick to fire up that big engine to the next "spot". My circle of angler friends fish the NYC reservoir system, where no motors of any kind are permitted, so here we are on thousands of acres impoundments in a row boat! It forces us to work a situation more thoroughly, because you physically cannot just run and gun at whim, even if you wanted to....
@@DrGargani this is excellent! Totally agree with you on the run and gun approach. Back when I fished tournaments it was so easy to turn the key and hope I would land on that magic spot. Thanks for sharing this.
I’ve actually noticed the bass roaming/patrolling behavior quite a bit. It’s not uncommon to see a bass kind of circling around a dock area, a rock pile, etc. The places I’ve noticed them somewhat more stationary is in thicker, brushy cover…obviously nothing is 100% either way but I feel like if I’m going to encounter a more stationary bass, it’s going to be in some shady, thick ambush point.
Thanks! To make it really simple, when I go fish a pond like that I gauge my starting depth on if I see life shallow or not. If there are minnows, panfish, etc., there is a good chance the bass will be in the upper part of the water column. If you get there and see nothing then I would start down. As the water warms up it really depends a lot on the oxygen quality. If the oxygen content is low in the heat of the summer, the fish will still be fairly shallow. I hope that makes sense.
Ok, so bass are social and like to hang out together, have you tried catching 1 of these bass while they're hanging out to see what happens to the rest of them? Maybe after 1 is caught they disperse? If you fish you've seen bass follow the one you've caught to the boat, do they all go back to where they were hanging out? I doubt it. Could be something to check out if you haven't. Would be interesting to see what they do.
That is a great question. When I’ve caught schooling bass, the bite will be good for several fish and then I need to switch to something slower. For example, I might start with a crankbait and then follow up with a Carolina rig. It would be amazing to get that on film. I will try to get that done sometime. Thank you!
Hey Mr Rogers I think I'm going to start calling you the bass professor. Steve you'll have to forgive me I'm not much of a comment person I just sit and listen but you are absolutely outstanding. After watching this particular video I'm subscribeing to your channel and I've watched your videos in the past. Great stuff professor Steve I'll definitely keep watching.
Thanks! I appreciate it. Speaking of Bass Professor, have you watched the old Doug Hannon videos? If you like this vid I think you will find those super interesting as well. Thank you for watching!
@@SteveRogersOutdoors I shore have Steve. Steve I'm almost 60 years old but just because I'm older that doesn't mean I know more. I have a lot of respect for you Steve unfortunately Steve I have never been able to afford a bass boat so in turn I'm not out on the water alot especially the past two years I have to take care of these medical issues I have. Steve I'm going to start a business on my computer so when I move to Texas I can get one.god bless you and your family your pal fisherman Mike from Missouri.
My bites in and around brush piles come when I pop the jig out of the brush I always assumed the bass are hanging around the brush waiting for something to come out of hiding they can eat
They definitely have a strong reaction to that jig popping free. And based on what I have witnessed, you are definitely correct that the panfish get much farther up in there and more vulnerable on the edge for sure.
I use a sub type of a drone. There is a photo of it in the thumbnail for this video. It is a lot of fun to use. Little scary though when it gets stuck on something.
@@SteveRogersOutdoors How far can you photograph bass from the drone? I was considering mounting a GoPro to my trolling motor but thought I would need to be within 4 feet or so to the fish.
@@FishDiver In the really clear water I am in most of the time, I can usually start to see them about 10 feet out, but within 4 feet is when it gets really crisp.
It's a FiFish V6. I have the 150ft cord but you can also buy a 300ft version. I figured I would never be brave enough to let it get that far away from me. There have been a few times where it gets stuck deep in some brush and that caused me enough of a panic attack. Lol
Hi, new subscriber here, and i was just wondering, do you think that the bass here in the Philippines have the same characteristics? They are only introduced and can be found in 2 bodies of water across the entire country. Great content by the way
That is a great question. My initial thought would be yes, but I can't answer that for certainty. Being that they were introduced to the waters there I would think so. Let me know if you ever find out from some local biologists if you happen to run across them. Thanks for watching!
@@SteveRogersOutdoors according to the internet , largemouth bass are introduced here in the 1901, my main concern would be the difference in the environment since we only have summer season and rainy season, we never get ice or snow.
@@marvieneilbortanog3573 I would think that would be similar to the environment a lot of the bass in the southern part of Flordia would have. I will try to do some more research on this one. It is a great question.
I have to differ fishing in MN. I kayak fish and I fish Trophy Bass in the middle of thick Pad fields on lakes. So, wide and so thick people laugh at me saying I won't catch fish and 10minutes later a large 7lb + busts out of the water taking a frog. I'll find Bass underneath shoreline brush. Big bass will ambush their prey from underneath which I use a lure they don't make anymore, because the company said that too many reported it didn't catch fish, and when they heard I caught tons of fish on it they couldn't believe it. So, if I lose those lures, i can't replace them since they don't make it no more. Some bass hang off big rock structure in deep water. Smaller bass, (Young) will be all over, but Trophy Bass will truly be in deep or shallow thick structures, because they love easy meals. Some of my top Bass in the 6-7lb range thick in the middle of Pad fields ranging from 2ft-10ft on a frog or Worm.
Minnesota has such awesome fishing. Just love it there. I’m heading there for two weeks in June and can’t wait. Thank you for watching. Definitely keep those lures! Good luck this year.
@@SteveRogersOutdoors Do you remember the flying lure? That was the lure I was referring to. Pretty funny. But, that lure would sink under those under brush where Bass would go during hot bright sunny days. I called the company, because I couldn't find any of these and they don't make them any more. So, I only have a few left, which I'm going to make molds and copy the hook. In normal weighted hooks they sink towards the angler or downward. They flying lure had this angle downward away from angler, sinking so it would sink into the inside of the gap where fish would be hiding. Too bad no one really knew how to use this lure to be more effective on the lake or river. The company discontinued due to bad reviews, but it was an awesome lure. Some big Bass in MN. Trophy you'll find deep in the pad fields close to shore. Pike and Muskie also. I've had people laugh at me, but made many a anglers mad :) I can't wait either. Winter has been too long.
That is a terrific question. I haven’t been able to capture any footage of their reaction to the ping. I know there are a lot of anglers that turn it off when fishing shallow. In this day and age with all the graphs on boats it would sure be interesting to investigate more.
Skipping it is a terrific way to get it in there. And I really believe that the skipping, or sliding across the water, makes that fleeing baitfish presentation and gets instinctual bites. I also love to parallel the edge of the brush and keep a lure in the target zone for a much longer period of time, if that makes sense.
@@robertmayberry5184 when that is the case, I do my best to find that first drop off from the shoreline and focus on it. I’ll use a bottom type lure to search around for any cover down there like a stick, pile of rocks or a weedline.
Not all Bass are roamers, some stay in one area, some only roam once in a while, some never stop. I watched a study that tagged hundreds of bass, all the same year, size...They all behaved like differently.
I guess I just don't think like a bass. I've been fishing for 50 years. All kinds of fish including largemouth. I just cannot consistently catch fish. Instead I get skunked more often than not.
