Date: Dec-04-2000

Name: Alton Jones B.A.S.S. Pro

About: Alton Jones is a Texas resident Professional with many top ten finishes and wins to his credits in many nationwide tournament circuits. With the support of The Lord, and his family, Alton continues to tear up the tournament trail.


ALTON JONES ON ANALYZING STRIKES The proverbial light bulb went off in Alton Jones’ head a few years ago when the veteran Texas pro finally answered a troublesome question for himself.

“ I started wondering something about bass when I was flipping a jig or some other sort of soft plastic,” the past B.A.S.S. winner said. “Let’s say there’s a stump over there and there’s a bass sitting at the base of it. And he’s been sitting there for who knows how long. Maybe he’s been there about an hour; maybe about three days.

“All of a sudden I pitch my jig over there and it sinks down, and he grabs it and quickly swims off with my jig. Where is he going with it? Does he have like a pile somewhere where he’s stashing his old spare jigs or what is it? Other times you pitch up by that same stump and the bass will grab it, and just sit there with it. I began to kind of ask myself about the difference between these bites and the different styles that the fish are using?

“It began to dawn on me that maybe that bass swam off with that jig because his buddy is down there trying to get it out of his mouth, and he was competing for it.”

A longtime guide on Richland-Chambers Reservoir, Jones set about testing his theory. He began to spend considerable time analyzing the strikes that he experienced.

“By analyzing the strike, that’s what really clued me into the fact that there may be more than one bass in a spot,” Jones explained. “If I bass hits my jig and immediately runs off, I take that as a sign that there are other bass around. When I’m flipping down the bank and that happens, I will always work the area over. I think whenever the bass swims off with your bait there’s almost always another fish there.

“It made me keenly aware of if I get a bite there, I dang sure better throw back into that spot again.”

By analyzing each strike, Jones has learned to pinpoint pieces of cover that are likely to be replenished with fish throughout the day.

“With that same scenario Ń a bass that quickly takes my bait away from a spot Ń I will throw back to the spot several times,” he said, “and if don’t get a strike, I will make a point to return to that spot later in the day. If it’s a good spot, other bass will move in later.

“Something else I’ve learned doing this is maybe I don’t catch one off the exact same piece of cover. But when I come back I might catch a fish off of the bush right next to it.

“Since I started analyzing my strikes, I’ve had literally hundreds of situations where I catch multiple fish off the same target. You will be amazed at how many times you can go back to the exact same piece of cover and get another bite or two.

By Tim Tucker