By Rob Newell of the FLW: Jacob Powroznik might very well have been the first to coin the term. It was the fall of 2006, and the Gillette/Duracell pro had just hauled in 15 pounds on the third day of the EverStart Series Northern Division tournament at Kerr Lake to finish seventh. When asked about his pattern, the Prince George, Va., pro told media that he had targeted “wolf packs.” The following year at an EverStart Series Northern Division event at Lake Gaston, Powroznik brought in another 15-pound bag of bass to the scales, finishing fifth. Again, he used the term “wolf pack” when he explained his pattern.
Fast forward to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Murray. Kevin Vida of Clare, Mich., took an early lead on the first day and described his 17-pound midsummer catch as “wolf-packers.” Vida eventually placed fifth.
Three years, three top 10s and three mentions of wolf packs, which essentially are pods of bass that hunt together. Yet it wasn’t until the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour event at Lake Ouachita that the term really stuck in the mainstream for good.
Not only did National Guard pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., win the event by targeting wolf packs, but so did pro David Dudley, who finished third, Ish Monroe, who placed fifth, and Powroznik, who wound up sixth.
Since the Ouachita event, “wolf pack” has become a popular term in the tournament-fishing lexicon. But what does it mean exactly? When do wolf packs form and why? And more importantly, what’s the best way for an angler to go about catching such fish?
Ehrler, Powroznik and Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., shared their thoughts with us. In addition, retired professional bass angler and former fisheries biologist Ken Cook of Meers, Okla., weighed in on wolf-pack bass behavior.
Defining wolf packs
All four experts agree that wolf-pack behavior in bass is nothing new. Furthermore, they agree that wolf packs are essentially schooling bass that, during certain times of year, roam in groups close to a bank where anglers can see them swimming.
“After catching both open-water schooling bass and wolf packs on Lake Murray, I believe they are one and the same,” Gagliardi says. “And I say that because the places I find the most wolf packs on the bank are always near some of the best open-water schooling places.”
Ehrler agrees, but adds that he believes they are open-water bass that are “straight roamers,” meaning they spend their entire lives wandering the lake in search of food.
The number of bass in a pack varies. What defines a wolf pack is not the size of the school, but what the fish are doing.
“If I troll into a pocket and see seven bass hanging out in a laydown, that’s not a wolf pack,” Gagliardi says. “But if I look over and see another group of seven bass swimming in one side and out the other, sort of stalking along the bank, to me that’s a wolf pack.”
Gagliardi believes stationary fish in the tree are resident bank bass, but the wolf pack in the same creek is composed of a completely different type of fish.
Not so fast, says Cook.
“I think it’s the action of the fish that defines wolf-packing,” Cook says. “If a group of bass hangs out in a submerged tree doing nothing, the bass are neutral or inactive. However, if that same group of fish heads to the bank and begins hunting for food together, then it becomes a wolf pack.”
Another defining element of wolf-pack bass is that they will typically all be of similar size.
This stems from a biological premise regarding schooling bass: Bass school together by age class, and therefore size.
“In most lakes, there are a lot more 12-inch bass than 4- to 5-pounders,” Cook says. “So when 12-inchers school, there are usually a whole bunch of them. But when 4- and 5-pounders school, there are only five, six, maybe seven bass to a school, and it looks more like a ‘pack.’ Again, both groups of fish are doing the same thing: hunting food.”
For the rest of this exciting article: http://www.flwoutdoors.com/fishing-articles/features/152862/wolf-pack-bass-the-advanced-course/
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