Jay Kumar

Clunn, KVD, Roland Do It: Do You?

Do you make ’em eat?

Saw an interesting post on the Strike King site the other day about a few things Kevin VanDam has learned from the pros. Kind of cool to read – funny to picture KVD sitting in the audience at a bass fishing seminar….

Anyhow, here’s what he said about what he learned from Rick Clunn:

From Rick Clunn, I learned how to thoroughly fish a spot and make bass bite. Clunn showed me that if you believed a bass was in a bush, on points or around some type of structure, then you should work that piece of structure from both the shallow side to the deep side of the structure into shallow water.

If you still didn’t get a bite, Clunn suggested that you change lures and continue to work that spot until you believed a bass wasn’t there or until you made the bass bite your lure.

…made the bass bite your lure.

That’s the truth, isn’t it. So many of the top pros do it. We all think they find fish no one else does, and to some extent that’s true (Clunn in particular). But as this year’s Classic showed so well, sometimes the top guys (KVD, Martens), just make them bite.

I’m reminded of an old story about Roland Martin, when he was guiding. He told a client that a bass was on a piece of structure and to cast at it. After a couple casts and then a couple more at Roland’s urging, the guy gave up.

Roland picked up a rod, and cast 30 times at that structure – and made that fish bite. (I believe the lure was a buzzbait.)

Have you done that? I have – sort of, but not really. Not all at once. Meaning I’ll hit a spot where I know there are fish, leave if they’re not biting, then come back to it later. Not the same thing as making those suckers bite when I’m there.

6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. JDM

    May 6, 2011 at 12:22 pm

    I’ve only done it with bedding fish, not fish I can’t see… guess KVD/Clunn/Martin have more Fish Faith!

  2. Jacob Robinson

    May 6, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    Ive done that on off-shore humps and stuff with deep divers. Never takes more than a few casts though.

  3. Chad Keogh

    May 6, 2011 at 7:35 pm

    I’ve never cast at one object 30+ times, but I have called my shots before when fishing such as hazard marker buoys, laydown trees, dock posts, etc.

  4. YankeeBasser

    May 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    I believe this speaks to the difference between a fish “feeding” and a fish “biting” As I understand it from articles that I have read, the pros and fisheries biologists say there is a difference between a fish eating/feeding and a fish biting. Fish feed ONLY when they are hungry, but they bite for a number of reasons including opportunity, anger/aggression and reaction. I believe that any strike that is the result of anger/aggression or reaction IS the result of the angler making the fish bite. Reaction strikes may be attributed to defence or opportunity, and usually happen on the initial cast, but it is still the result of the angler putting that bait in the fish’s face at that particular moment. Anger/aggression strikes on the other hand, may take many, many casts to get the fish to bite. They require two traits that separate knowledgeable successful anglers from the average/weekend angler; they are confidence and patience. The example you gave of Roland Martin and his client show this perfectly. I love it when I am out on the water (especially during a tournament) and see a guy ahead of me fire 4 or 5 casts at a piece of cover that I know holds fish and then move on without catching any. I go in right behind him and work that cover thoroughly, usually pulling more than 1 fish from it. It is even better if he is still in the area and sees me do it, especially if it is on the same kind of bait that he was using. This kind of confidence usually results from experience that comes from many hours on the water. You can watch thousands of DVDs and read all of the books, magazines and web articles you want, but nothing will teach you more than your own time and experiences on the water, IF you pay attention to as many details as possible. This is also something that all of the pros talk about. Keep a detailed fishing log and review it regularly, and try and learn something new every time you go out. That’s just my 2 cents worth anyway. P.S. Sorry for rambling 😀

    • admin (mostly Jay)

      May 10, 2011 at 2:24 pm

      Yep, the vast majority of the time us bassers are making fish bite, not making them eat….

  5. Alex Voog

    September 6, 2011 at 1:04 pm

    That many casts may actually ATTRACT bass to the spot when there was no fish to begin with. ie: splashing / activity.

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