Shelter is cover that provides inactive bass a safe place for resting, conserving energy, digesting and avoiding predators.
Why is Bass Use of Shelter Important?
It is important to understand bass use of shelter to:
Identify Spots: Making presentations to the spots where bass are resting and hiding where they may be enticed to bite called a reaction bite.
Use Repetition: Casting to the same spot several times irritates the bass into biting.
Understanding Bass Use of Shelter
Protection from Predators: Bass since they were fingerlings use cover as protection to hide from predators directly behind the object or use cover as camouflage. Some suggest thicker grass cover provides more camouflage.
Resting: Bass have states of inactiveness where they are motionless and hoover near or rest on the bottom or wedge/lean beside cover. It is sometimes referred to as “suspended animation” where the bass restores its body and regains energy. This is not considered sleeping as mammals sleep as they need to have a level of awareness to protect themselves from predators plus they do not have eyelids.
Energy Conservation: Bass will be located in areas with minimum changes of water temperature to help conserve energy.
Digesting: Some suggest that when bass are full they will become inactive while digesting.
Time of Day: Some suggest bass rest at night, depending on the moon phase, and actively or opportunistically feed during the day. This is partially due to the bass primary sense for eating being vision.
Current Breaks: Bass when resting will seek the best current breaks to minimize energy use.
Isolated Rock near Grass
Additional Considerations
Winter: When water temperature goes below 40 degrees bass spend much of their time in shelter with limited opportunistic feeding.
Rock: On a lot of lakes the grass is often dead and thus not providing the best cover.
