Smallmouths are a lot of things. They are curious creatures, willing at times to follow your lures right up to the boat. And they are social animals that live in groups, large and small. When all these factors coalesce, magic happens.

It’s common for 2 to 3, even 4 to 6 smallmouths, to follow a hooked fish to the boat. Maybe they’re simply curious, following their buddy during this unusual behavior? More likely, they’re waiting for the hooked, struggling bass to cough up a crayfish or minnow during the fight. When this happens, it’s like they shift into competition mode, with several fish dashing into the fray to try to grab the upchucked morsel. There’s no thinking or caution involved. It’s an immediate, instinctive feeding frenzy.

This can be a good thing—or a missed opportunity—depending on how you handle it. You only have seconds to react.

If you say to your partner, “Look. Look! See those bass behind the hooked fish?” Well, the clock is ticking, and nearly run out. Because if you do nothing else, once you lift the hooked fish into the boat, the others will slowly sink back into the depths, unlikely to return. You missed your chance at glory.

However, if you instead say to your partner, “Look! There are 2-3-4 bass following this one. Toss something in there and see if they’ll hit it while I keep this one pounding alongside the boat.” More than likely, the smallmouth train is pulling into the station.

Bang! Another bass hits the second lure, and is now hooked, struggling boatside. Others are swirling around, agitated and excited. At this point, it is safe for Angler #1 to lift his bass into the boat, unhook it, and release it, while Angler #2 keeps all the other bass interested and in a frenzy with the fish dancing on his line.

Once unhooked, Angler #1 immediately tosses his lure back into the roiling bass. Boom! Another one bites, surging up, down, to and fro. It’s now safe for Angler #2 to lift in his bass while Angler #1 keeps the rest busy.

And if there’s an Angler #3 in the boat, well, the pandemonium only gets crazier!

The moral is, if you keep them activated and excited, a group of smallies may hang around long enough for the team to put 10 or 12 fish in the boat before the rest figure out they’ve been hoodwinked and drift down out of sight. If this happens, immediately toss a totally different lure style or color out, and let it sink. You might trigger one or two more. But chances are, the fireworks are over. Elvis has left the building, and the train is pulling out of the station.

The moral also is, no matter what you are fishing with, keep another rod or two rigged up with some form of sinking lure—jig, worm, tube, grub, shad, rattlebait and such—and immediately leap into action before the fish know what hit them. If you work together to keep a hooked fish on at least one line at all times, you have a short window to go from zero to hero during a tough bite. It can propel tournament anglers to the top of the scoreboard in minutes if the fish are big. How’d you like to have 20 bass trying to jump in the boat, clear out of nowhere?

This is no joke; it’s for real. Be ready for when it happens, and make it count!

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