What do I do....

[Bassassinator]

hey guys most of y'all have viewed and replied to my thread on times for fishing and lures, and i appreciate all of you who welcomed me and tried to answer my questions. For this part, i am in need of help. I think i am casting the right way and i can cast a good length with my texas rigged Gary Yamamoto Softbaits, but now i need to know, cuz i don't think i quite get it yet, What do i do after the bait is in the water? I have a tendency to cast and reel it in at a medium speed with no bouncing of the rod, or pulling from side to side. I have an assortment of lures, no jigs, but i have a crankbait, a spinnerbait, a spinner lure, a Thunderbolt lure (from Acme), A Bleederbait spinnerbait, and Gary Yamamoto Softbaits. and i am clueless on what to do with them...i know that without the right action, my attempts at fishing are about as invalid as a bounced check. If anyone can give me some pointers to practice with that would be awesome....thanks again guys and happy trails.

[nofearengineer]

Try to remember that with artificials, you are usually trying to do one of two things:

1) Imitate a real food item for the bass. This is going to take some practice...more with some lures, less with others. Ask yourself what the lure looks like when it's in the water. Try various speeds, from fast to super, duper slow deadsticking it on the bottom. Can you make it appear to be a wounded prey animal? Predators like bass instinctively home in on wounded or dying fish.

2) Trigger an aggression strike. Get the lure right in the bass's face to make him instinctively strike it, even if he isn't hungry. This is often how people target bedding fish in the Spring. Another similar approach is to rip a bait super fast past a bass, giving him no time to decide whether he wants to eat it or not. Rather than lose a possible meal, he'll often strike it, the same way as if you take a ball and throw it right by someone's head, they will often reach out and catch it without thinking about it.

I hope this gives you some ideas. You will develop your "instincts" over time, and you'll be able to fish just about any lure effectively. (or so I hear )

[Bassassinator]

ok, so i need to drop my lures in the shore and watch what sort of actions my rod twitching, comibned with reeling causes my lures/baits reactions? that sounds easy. another question, i have heard the term "trolling" but i don't understand the meaning of this word. could you define for me what people mean by this? I am sorry if I am coming off as a total noob at fishing, but this is really the first time in my life I actually have had an active interest in it and wanted to be a better bass fisher.

[nofearengineer]

Trolling is when you cast your line behind a boat, and instead of retrieving it, you just pull the baits through the water with the boat. It's not a very common way of fishing for Largemouth Bass, but very common for other types of fish like Walleye, Striped Bass, Salmon, etc. that generally live deeper than most lures will go for a cast-and-retrieve fisherman.

[Bassassinator]

awesome ok now i know that trolling doesn't apply to me then lol i has no boat. i surfcast all the time, but i am constantly snagging lilypads, and other aquatic plants...i have tried to rig my worms texas style, but i can't seem to get the softbaits straight...outside of softbait worms and grubs, is there a way to weed proof my other lures, i don't think there is but it's always good to ask so I know for sure.

[Bassassinator]

also, I have heard the terms "Flip", "Float" when it comes to using lures what are these terms referring to?

[MississippiBoy]

Kevin has a great short video on how to Texas rig a worm. He shows you how to do it so the worm stays straight and weedless.
http://www.bassfishin.com/video-tips/texas-rig/

As for making other lures weedless, there's not much you can do. A crankbait is anything BUT weedless...it seems like they grab every weed, lily pad, and piece of moss that comes within 3 feet of it. However, you can throw it into wood cover, like stumps and laydowns, and not get hung as much as you think as long as you keep it moving. The hooks get pushed back against the body of the lure as you pull it through the water, so you might be surprised by how well they'll get through limbs and stumps.
Spinnerbaits are fairly weedless (they might be "weed-resistant"), since the arm comes up on a vertical in line with the hook. But that's a big hook, and it will get caught sometimes.
"Flipping" is when you let out some line, say 8-10 ft past the end of the rod, and engage your reel. Hold the rod tip up with one hand, and with the other grab the line between the reel and the first line guide. Pull the lure up by the line with that hand, and with an underhand motion, gently toss the lure to a specific piece of cover, letting go of the line as your lure travels. It's a very short range tactic, since you're only using the 8-10 ft of line you have out. This technique is often used to pick apart very dense cover in stained/muddy water. You can drop your lure right by each limb of a bush, to entice those really finicky fish that won't move much to chase anything.
I'm not sure what's meant by "float," though. The only thing I can think of is with live bait like worms or crickets when fishing for panfish or catfish.

Back to your original post on this thread...with a Senko, it's often the most effective when fished very slowly. Cast it out and let it sink to the bottom, then slowly retrieve it with little pops and twitches of your rod tip. Only use the reel to gather in the slack, you usually won't actually move the Senko with the reel. I prefer my Senkos Texas rigged, but they're also effective wacky rigged. That's basically taking a fairly small hook and running it straight through the Senko in the middle. That really lets the ends shimmer as it falls, and gives some great action as you twitch and pop it back to the boat.

[Bassassinator]

awesome Thanks mississippiboy. i will try to practice some flippne techniques with the spot i go to, there are areas that are pretty dense with grass, lilypads, logs and moss, so i will pick a spot and try to release to the target.

[toppwatr]

the absolute best thing to do with your senkos is to simply texas or wacky rig them and cast them out into the water and then do nothing at all but watch your line as it sinks because this is when they will grab it most of the time- on the fall. when you see your line move irregularly set the hook. or if you pick up your rod tip and feel something defferent, anything t all set the hook hard again. then when you find that nothing has happened to your bait crank it in and throw it out again. simple as that.

[Patrick Krueger, Jr.]

Man, I know I'm not the only one wishing they could go fishing with you for a couple hours. It would be much easier to show you in person than trying to explain.

Flipping and pitching are excellent techniques, but it's not easy to do from shore due to the length of your rod. Typically done from a boat, you'd want to be on a dock or up high enough from the water to effectively use these techniques. Here's Tim Horton's instruction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBT0eZZi5k0

You said you had Yamamoto softbaits, we're assuming Senkos. If that's the case, MississippiBoy and toppwtr have explained how to use them and they're absolutely great fish-catchers. There are a lot of great lures that I swear by that some members here never caught a fish on. I don't think anyone on here has ever said they didn't have success with a Senko or a knock-off. Here's the action you want when wacky-rigged: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuy_V7rOCpc

[Bassassinator]

hey that's a rig setup i haven't tried yet! i will give the wacky rig a shot then let you know how it goes. I think i should look into purchasing a different spinning reel, for my combo uglystick, i'd like to try a different line, but the reel says to line it with Cajun line....i have only had experience with this line and want to give another brand, maybe a higher test, a shot in the water.

[fishen green]

to get hung up in the weeds it to fish it dose get tiering but when you get bit its all worth it

[fishin spro]

Originally Posted by Bassassinator

i'd like to try a different line, but the reel says to line it with Cajun line....i have only had experience with this line and want to give another brand, maybe a higher test, a shot in the water.

it says that because the same company that makes the rod and reel, also makes the cajun red line. they are trying to sell there stuff. give P Line a shot. i like to fish senkos on 10lb p line. if you fish really clear water, it wouldnt hurt to drop down to 8 lb. if you fish mostly muddy water like me then 10 or 12lb will be fine.

[Mac2]

This is a page of information a fishing buddy and my wife helped me to develop over the years. We’ve caught a lot of bass using the following techniques and presentations.


We fish with spinning outfits, usually 6 pound test mono.

I buy a pack of zoom speedworms in watermelon/red and clip off the tails at the narrow spot just in front of the flapper tail. This makes approximately a 4 inch lure that works exceptionally well. Not having internal salt, it sinks more slowly. This is key when you have submerged weeds, giving the bait much more exposure to the bass on the slow fall.

I rig the lure texposed on a 2/0 offset shank worm hook, weightless most often and often use a sidearm skipping cast.

This lure doesn't cost as much as a Senko, yet holds up under use much better. When one end wears out, I rig it in the other end....when that end goes, I save it for wacky rigging. I call the speedworm body in watermelon/red a zoomie, for brevity.

It casts like a bullet, and skips well under log, rock and dock.
I fish it most often in the following manner.....cast to likely cover/structure. Sometimes the fish prefer a "Here I am" skipping cast, at other times a quieter entry seems to work better.

I let it fall with bail open, to the bottom, watching line at all times. I wait, initially, for 30 seconds, just letting it remain on bottom. After 30 seconds, gently take out the slack and lift it slowly off bottom about two feet to feel for fish....if nothing on, I tremor the bait by suddenly grabbing the rod handle harder, but trying not to move the rod tip.....this gives the lure a sudden little twitch at the top of the raise and will sometimes elicit a strike, if nothing hits, I let it re-fall and rest again for 20 seconds. Lifting slowly a second time...and pausing at the top of the raise, if nothing takes it this time, I reel in at a moderate pace and cast to another likely spot.

If done properly, this presentation will take one full minute per cast.

An alternate presentation.....developed and perfected by my wife. Using either a regular or skipping cast....she lets the zoomie fall to bottom and lets rest for 15 seconds, then takes one s l o w crank on the reel and lets rest again, with the line draped over her index finger for feel, and watching the line carefully.....after 15 seconds, another s l o w turning of the reel handle and another 15 second pause. She does this until the lure has travelled 8 to 10 feet across bottom, then reels in at a moderate to slow pace, and casts to another likely spot. It should be noted she uses a Zebco 33 reel ( just her personal preference ) so that when reeling s l o w l y, the lure doesn't go far with one revolution of the reel handle, so should you use a higher gear ratio, and want the same results you'll have to maybe take a half or quarter turn.

If weight is needed, I clip pieces of small finishing nails into 3/8 inch lengths and use one inserted in the skin of the lure about even with the hookpoint, but on the side of the lure to maintain a good horazontal fall.....the closer to the hookpoint, the tighter the wobble, the farther out to the side of the worm, the wider the wiggle on the fall. This is a side to side movement, kind of a rocking back and forth. Discovered totally by accident, but beneficial in that the glitter inside the worm body rocking side to side creates a lot of extra flash. Most often, we don't weight, but once in awhile the wind drifts the boat along and the touch of weight added gets the lure down deeper.

Fishing weeds.....bump and fall, bump and fall. I cast to the edge or inside pocket, letting the lure fall until it lodges in a weed. I lift slowly until I feel it bump another weed, then let fall again. I pause 10 seconds each time I lift to let the lure fall farther down in the weeds. Caught some really nice bass doing this along weedbed edges and pockets...... You may be surprised how thick the weeds can get and you can still work it down deep.

In lily pads and reeds, I use a 5 inch zoom lizard in watermelon/red exposed weightless. With the rod tip up, especially in pads it will crawl up on the pads and over the tops. When it comes to an open pocket, I let it sit on the edge of a pad with just the head showing and after 20 seconds or so, I tremor it twice with a little pause between before moving on.

[Bassassinator]

ok so I have the Kinami Watermelon green speckled worms, and I can catch on them, not 100% of the time, actually it's more like 10%, but I still shjould save the ones that come back for wacky rigs....When, exactly do i use a wacky rig? what conditions call for it?

[gonefishin3]

wacky depends really can use it anywhere i fish ledges mostly with it and i use a jig head for wacky its a good technique btw yes you can hop it but for beginers i recomind slowly ! slowly draging it across the bottem feel everything with your pointer finger!!! imagine the bottem.