or otherwise utilize the same
resources) in the system
might want to be in one
place or eat the same thing.
If there’s not enough to go
around, either the number
of bass needs to decrease or
some bass need to change
their priorities.
This understanding of
scarcity sets up the second
economic concept to understand:
supply and demand.
The supply side is the list of
resources bass use (habitat,
forage, shallow cover, etc.),
and the bass are the demand
side because they all intrinsically
want to use the best and
most of the limited resources
available.
Competition on the Water
Supply and demand of
scarce resources intersect in
almost every on-the-water
situation an angler can
encounter. Take the best boat
dock on a lake, for example.
That dock might be the best
because it has the most shade
or deep-water access, or
because it’s chockful of
bluegills or crawfish. But will
those resources support five
bass? How about 20?
The bottom line is that as
good as the dock is, it can
only hold so many bass. The
benefits of being under that
dock will be reduced incrementally
by each subsequent
bass that decides to live
under it. So, at a certain
point, if another bass were to
join the party, the dock
might no longer be the best
one on the lake (from that
bass’ perspective). Maybe
that next bass decides to
hang out on a laydown
instead because, despite
having access to fewer
bluegills, less shade or the
like, it’s the only bass there
utilizing the laydown.
The above example deals
with habitat, but this supplydemand
battle also occurs
with forage abundance. This
is why, even on some of the
most dominant pattern
lakes, there will always be
bass doing something a little
different.
For this example, consider
the famed Tennessee River
lakes. Everyone knows that
once bass come off beds,
many will head out to the
ledges to chase after shad for
the summer. Well, every time
a major tournament heads to
one of those lakes, inevitably
someone finishes in the top
10 fishing the bank. Sure,
maybe the bulk of the bass
are offshore chasing shad,
but if you’re a bass and
decide to stay up shallow,
PHOTO BY SEAN OSTRUSZKA
you have the run of the place.
Finding these fish capitalizing
on a different supply of
forage can mean pay dirt for
a tournament angler.
Competition for Baits
On those Tennessee River
lakes, anglers fishing for
shad-chasing schools of bass
talk about a concept called
“firing up the school.”
Essentially, the bass don’t
feed all the time, but if you
can get one to go, it often sets
off a feeding frenzy that can
get you right in a hurry.
Although there’s no way
to scientifically test this,
competition theory suggests
that the behavior could be
an impact of competition.
Once one bass sees its neighbor
feed, it’s likely to think
there is food present and
become more likely to feed
when your crankbait or
swimbait comes by on the
next cast.
The concept of competition
is not at all straightforward,
but it plays a major
role in one of the most confounding
bass questions of
all time: Why are all the bass
in any given system not
doing the same thing at the
same time?
The answer is in part due
to competition.
ON-THE-WATER APPLICATION
Tournament anglers use this concept of competition all the time, possibly without even knowing it. How many
times have you seen an angler have a good finish on a body of water that person has never before visited? When
this happens, sometimes it’s not accomplished by using the predominant pattern the locals are all fishing. When
interviewed, the out-of-towner might say something like, “I like to fish X technique, so I went and found some fish
that I could catch doing that.”
Either knowingly or unknowingly, the angler likely uncovered a secondary or even tertiary pattern that was
overlooked by other anglers focusing on what was actually the predominant bass pattern. The “oddball” had the
secondary pattern to himself.
Take the 2015 FLW Cup, for example. Winner Brad Knight threw a drop-shot around wood up a creek in relatively
shallow water, forsaking the Ouachita summer standbys of brush piles, deep structure and topwater that drew
the focus of so many of the other competitors. The water temperatures on Ouachita that week were in the 90s, yet
Knight caught many of his bass in visible wood less than 8 feet deep. Why were those bass there? Likely because
the resources around the lake are scarce in mid-summer, and there was less competition for those scarce
resources around that shallow wood.
The next time you’re practicing for a tournament, if you’re struggling with the “normal” patterns and locations,
don’t be afraid to do some exploring. Competition theory suggests that there is likely another pattern or location out
there with which you can succeed.
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2020 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | FLWFISHING.COM 25