What Is "fishing Slow"

[Preytorien]

In regards to late fall or winter fishing, I read a lot about having to slow down. I guess I only assumed I knew what it mean, but now that I've incorporated my version of "slowing down" I still haven't gotten anywhere with it.

 

I guess I need a quick tutorial on the finer points of what it actually means to slow down and the specifics regarding the actual mechanics you use to slow down.

 

Does that mean reeling in slower?

 

Does it mean longer pauses between any twitches/jerks I may incorporate?

 

What else am I missing?

 

Another interesting but somewhat ambiguous question is that maybe I'm still not slow enough, how long should it take for me to reel in say a jig 70 feet out if I'm properly fishing slow. Takes me about a minute as it is now.

 

[rippin-lips]

You have it down it seems but you just haven't slowed down enought yet. I mean it's painful how slow you have to go sometimes. Reeling slower for certain baits. I was using a 1.5 square bill today and it took about 4-5 seconds to make 1 handle turn. Only way I could get bit.

In cold water a 30 second pause after twitch on a jerkbait isn't un common. 1 minute on the jig is a little fast. I don't know what your water temps are but here in Western Md they're about 45. Sometimes it takes me 5 minutes to reel it in.

[AK-Jax86]

Yea just slowing down your retrieve

 

I have trouble doing that I am VERY VERY impatient but sometimes you have to adapt in order to catch the BIGGENS

[Sam]

It means driving yourself crazy, especially if you like to fish fast with moving baits.

 

Yes...let the bait sit there for 120 seconds.

Yes...twitch the bait just a little and let it sit another 120 seconds.

Yes...do this all the way back to the bank or boat.

Yes...leave slack in the line and keep finger on line at all times.

Yes...this is the only time when you are allowed to listen to your music using ear phones when bass fishing.

 

Good cold water presentation.

[WRB]

Slowing down is slower than you normally fish.

How much time you spend in one area is another definition of slowing down.

Retrieve speeds are relative to the lure you are fishing, the slowest being dead sticked or stopped for awhile.

Casting and retrieving a jig along the bottom, you only need to be concerned with the depth the bass are actively feeding. Your sonar unit is a valuable tool to determine what depth the bass are at. No reason to waste a lot of time working a jig inch by inch in unproductive water; the bass are at 20' and you are inching it along in 10'.....waste of productive fishing time.

When or how do you know when to slow down...trail and error. The right pace is when you get strikes.

Tom

[bigbill]

I make the baits slow enough to look like an easy meal to the bass. I move inline spinners just fast enough to see the blade spin. With cranks its just fast enough so it has the full wobble only slower. I don't have success fishing anything fast. The slower the speed the better.

But I do make sure I crank the reel in a perfect circle. If our hand turns with our wrist in an egg shape movement, meaning it's not a perfect round circle our lure goes fast and slow on every turn of the crank. We need that perfect circle turning of the crank. The fish look for flaws in our presentation. Having a constant lure speed on the whole cast is one of them.

[Paul Roberts]

It refers to horizontal motion as winter fish tend to be unwilling or unable to expend the energy. There are exceptions of course, but this is a general "rule".

 

This does not mean that aggressive retrieves are to be avoided, and can actually be necessary. It's just that horizontal speed should be controlled. Lures that excel in cold water such as bladebaits and lipless are used this way.

 

Here's an idea of how slow slow can mean though:

 

Every spring good numbers of bass would pile into a certain bend in a creek channel and I could catch them at a satisfactory rate with a grub or jigworm (in this case with a straight swimming retrieve). Once I figured this out I started arriving earlier and earlier in the season hoping to start the catching. But the catching didn't get good until the water warmed. I eventually found that the fish were there but that I needed to slow down my retrieve -switching to a bucktail or dense marabou jig with a pork strip. Encouraged, I started experimenting and ended up being able to catch the very earliest arrivals consistently with still the slowest lure I've ever used. It consisted of a 1/16pz Brewer Slider head, a good skirt of bucktail, a pork or plastic trailer, and a clip-on overhead spinner blade (Colorado). That thing sunk very slowly and was retrieved at a virtual stand-still. And my catch rate went through the roof again. I was pretty pleased with that rig.

[Catt]

It also means not being so fast in switching locations.

[Todd2]

I drag a jig slow..very slow. Pause for 5-10 secs, drag again. Cold bass are usually just pressure bites, like snagging a towel on the bottom. I've caught them in 38 degree water doing this. It's slow fishing, but you usually have the lake to yourself for the most part.

[Grizzn N Bassin]

In the summer I normally try to get to my spots fast to start fishing.. and I always fish fast.. in the colder months I take it slow down to my spots jusy sets the tempo for me haha

[zewski]

To me it is more like Fish small, smaller lures, smaller weights, less vibrations. This is target the unactive, often bigger fish.

Big Big fish didnt get thsi big for nothing they are smarter, they won't bite on spinnerbaits and crankbaits unless you are really getting a reaction strike because you surprised them and you really passed into their strike zone. Those big fish are looking for an easy meal, something they won't have to chase around.

 

Lets put it this way. Some people might not like it but all humans, we all like easy meals, most of us don't like cooking for one hours to eat for 10 minutes, Drive-thru is an easy meal lets go to Mc Donalds's insteadé That exactly what fish do, they save energy by taking easy meals, and they get fat, just like us! lol

[J Francho]

It could mean several things - most have been mentioned here - depending on the context.  You can fish slow with fast baits, like plying the same spot from several angles with a crank, or it could mean dead sticking a soft plastic.  It could also just mean taking your time with a jig, hitting every single dock post or weed pocket. 

[KyakR]

Finesse fishing shines here! There's a reason ice fishing "works" ( though not as well for bass as pike)......it forces a slow presentation with smaller lures or live bait....finesse. One key for me is remembering that as the water gets really cold and the first ice forms (up here anyhow) the fish take up positions deep on drop-offs and will have a tendency to move vertically to feed (less energy expenditure). Getting a bait to fall slowly down a steep, deep drop-off has often worked for me in the past. Like Tom says, it's important to know where they are. Dead sticking like J Franco X2