She was swimming slowly along the bank, about three feet deep. Through the clear water of Lake Wohlford, we could see she was big, maybe eight pounds. If we’d landed her then, in 1950, she’d have been a real trophy, as this was long before the California Fish and Game Department introduced the Florida subspecies there.

We cast crankbaits in her direction for several minutes, hoping she’d bite. (It was also well before the first plastic worms.) Our casting soon alarmed her, and she disappeared into the depths.

It would be many years before I took time to consider what I’d seen and could learn from this sighting. We thought her open-water appearance was an exception. Fishing magazines and scientific literature suggested that largemouths typically lurk in cover, ambushing prey and lures.

More than 45 years later, my home overlooks a community pond containing largemouth bass. Day after day, I watch as bass move through the shallows and patrol the shoreline in loosely organized schools of three to six fish. Pausing periodically, they turn to face and search cover edges and the nearby shore for prey.

Occasionally a bass holds for a minute or two under a floating log, in the shade of a vegetation clump, or in open water, but the most active fish typically cruise, searching cover rather than hiding in it. They do not seek shade or lie in ambush while hunting. Preyfish alert to their approach are ignored, but any unwary preyfish in range is attacked.

I’ve watched a small, active adult bass circle a log, turning toward it periodically, just as cruising bass turn toward cover. Once the small bass jumped over the log, apparently snatching a dragonfly that had landed on it. The fish disappeared briefly when four larger bass passed under the log without stopping, but soon returned to circle the log again.

Active bass, like the four noted above, tend to cruise the shoreline about three feet deep, deeper in clear water and shallower in stained water. From their pausing positions, they dart into water as shallow as four inches to take minnows or small sunfish. After an attack, a bass school usually moves farther along the shoreline.

I often glance at my Fish-En-Time watch to note the hour of solunar activity. I’ve seen moving bass at all hours of the 12-hour solunar cycle, but I more likely see active bass during the solunar major hour and near the minor hours. It’s hard to see bass at morning and evening twilight, but these low-light periods often reveal surface feeding activity as baitfish jump to escape. This feeding activity occurs whether or not a major or minor coincides.

I became a dedicated bass watcher while studying fish and fishery management at Southwest Texas State University. Almost every day, I’d sit on a high bank overlooking one of the many ponds at the Aquatic Science Facility. Sometimes no bass were visible, but if I studied the bottom and the vegetation through polarized glasses, I’d spot an inactive bass or two lying motionless in holes in the cover. Sometimes, as if on cue, several bass would rise out of hiding to be joined by others. These bass then cruised the shoreline or edges of vegetation in small loose schools, just like the bass in my backyard pond.

Some University ponds were clear and easily monitored, others murky. I couldn’t see movement or schooling in the stained water, but I did spot bass hovering a few inches under the surface within a foot of cover and facing it. When visibility was low, they apparently moved closer to cover to detect prey at the cover edges. Bass would appear out of the murk, hold for a minute or two, then disappear, only to reappear a few yards down the shoreline. I concluded that bass in murky water hunted much like those in clearer water, but were less likely to move in groups.

Cruising bass may be harder to see from a bass boat than from an overlooking shoreline. Yet I’ve often seen bass demonstrate patrolling behavior. Active bass may move in one direction for many yards, or back and forth, but they tend to move rather than lie in ambush. Every basser should be able to see this movement.

The idea that bass hunt from ambush inside cover has obscured the reality that most active, catchable bass are cruising along cover edges or moving under lines of cover in a series of starts and stops. Once this behavior is seen and understood, it’s possible to make better decisions on where to cast or how soon to return to a productive spot.

At the university, a round pond held catfish, carp, sunfish, and largemouths. I watched as students chummed bread on the water. Bass weren’t interested in the crumbs, but catfish and sunfish massed in the area. Bass previously nearly invisible in holes in the vegetation rose and circled the feeding fish. They ignored nearby sunfish that appeared wary and alert, but dashed up to 10 feet to take preyfish that became distracted by the bread and had focused too long on eating.

When I’ve tossed live minnows near moving bass, they’re usually taken immediately. But bass hidden in cover and apparently inactive usually ignore minnows tossed nearby. Yet a series of tossed minnows seems to arouse inactive bass.

After several minnows swim within easy striking range, bass seem to awaken and start feeding. This situation may be duplicated by repeatedly casting a lure near cover where an inactive fish is hiding. The appearance of many prey nearby give bass a cue to leave cover and hunt.

While scuba diving in Travis Reservoir, I watched the same predator-prey relationships I’ve seen from shore. Sunfish that can see bass (bass can see a prey’s eye) are ignored. But an injured preyfish or one turned so it might not see an approaching bass is considered vulnerable. Vulnerable prey within striking range are struck immediately by active fish. Vulnerable prey farther away likely are slowly stalked until they’re within range.

While diving, we saw totally inactive bass inside cover, apparently digesting food and totally ignoring nearby prey. Preyfish would hover within inches of these bass. Semi-active bass suspended near cover and drifting about attacked only nearby vulnerable prey, ignoring healthy sunfish holding about three feet away. But one eye of nearby prey always looked toward the bass.

Bass become active periodically. We’d see them yawn a few times and form small, loose schools. The schools then moved to patrol the edges of cover and the shoreline. Other divers report similar observations.

From shore or a boat, it may be hard to see inactive bass hiding inside cover, but diligent observers eventually see this behavior. Underwater observations merely confirm behavior any angler can detect if he takes the time.

Bass hunt actively, usually moving in small schools along the shoreline and edges of cover. They enter cover to rest, hide from larger predators, and digest food. Semi-active or neutral bass often suspend near cover, where they hunt opportunistically rather than actively. They sometimes strike nearby and vulnerable targets that are lulled into approaching too close or that get careless and look away too long. These behaviors may account for great catches made by carefully flipping or pitching lures into cover.

Active bass are more eager to bite and easier to tempt with lures, but they’re more wary and easily alarmed while exposed and moving. Casts to cover are effective primarily because active fish pause nearby to look for emerging, vulnerable, careless prey. Anglers who flip or pitch may believe they’re taking bass lurking in ambush. Field observations suggest, however, that often they’re taking bass cruising open areas near or under brush or vegetation, looking for prey.

These behaviors can be seen in practically any clear, shallow bass water. Preyfish try to avoid cruising bass and stay about three feet away from hovering bass. But they’ll approach inactive bass closer. Totally inactive bass, those sleeping and digesting prey, often are seen with prey within inches of their mouths.

Preyfish know when bass are feeding, and they try to avoid them. When a lure looks and moves like a healthy preyfish, it must be close to a bass to be considered a vulnerable target. Bass learn early in life that healthy, alert prey can successfully dodge them. Bass learn to conserve energy and await vulnerable targets. To consistently draw strikes, a lure must appear to be fleeing in panic, trapped against a solid background, injured, or distracted and unaware of the bass.

For too long, writers and biologists have emphasized the ambushing nature of bass. Take time to look and study for yourself. You’ll likely see what bass observers have seen. And you’ll likely reach similar conclusions.

* Ralph Manns, Austin, Texas, is a fishery scientist and angling authority who has contributed features and columns to In-Fisherman for almost two decades.