Slowing Down

[papajoe222]

I've been finding it difficult to switch to slower or smaller presentations when the big, fast moving ones aren't producing. At the end of an outing I look down at my rods and in my bucket of baits that I'd cut off during the course of the day and small, or slower moving baits are noticeably absent. Granted, the few bites I've been getting are bigger fish, my numbers are down and I know the reasons.

What, if anything do you do to get the blinders off when you're locked into the 'cover as much water as possible in the short time you have' state of mind? Short of leaving some gear absent when heading out, or having half the rods on deck rigged with the slower,smaller stuff, I'm clueless (don't tell the Mrs. I said that)

[A-Jay]

Unless you're fishing a brand new lake - Try This ~

 

It's all about confidence not "searching".  Go to spots that you feel the day, situation,& conditions say you should get bit and fish them with the baits and techniques that you Believe will give you the best chance to meet your expectations (whether that's numbers, size or both).

 Some days fast moving horizontal presentations will be the deal. Other days more of a vertical technique could be what they seem to want.

 

 My records show that at for me, there is No bait or technique that always works.  So, I'm willing to adapt to the day.

Some times that does mean running & gunning all over the place.  But more times than not, sneaking a jig & the trailer of your choice through an area before you beat the water to a froth with a spinnerbait, will get you the bites your looking for.

 

Good Luck

 

A-Jay

[Sam]

Pitch and flip fast down the bank or in deeper water.

Senkos can be used as a search bait, too, as can small jigs.

In Virginia we fish tidal rivers and we have to slow down during slack tide. So when moving baits stop producing you have to go to slow finesse fishing when the tide goes slack.

[Catch and Grease]

If you don't enjoy fishing slow then don't do it, Then use the excuse "I'm a power fishermen" haha

[Catt]

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got!

Do ya wanna fish or do ya wanna catch

[WIGuide]

If it's a lake you fish a lot and know there's a decent population of fish, go ahead and power fish. If it's not working, visit an area where you know there are fish and pick up a slow moving bait. Convince yourself that you ARE going to catch them that way and work the area thoroughly. If you still don't have success go visit another area you have confidence in and again do the same thing. You'll end up finding them somewhere that way. 

[BiteFiend]

I absolutely hate fishing small, slow moving baits. It's so boring for me it's almost mind numbing. My nemesis is the dropshot and shaky head. But they catch fish. In fact, I don't think I have ever been skunked when I am willing to throw a DS. I have a ton of confidence in it, just despise it.

To get myself out of the "cover as much water as possible in the short amount of time I have" line of thought, I first accept the fact that what I have been doing hasn't been working. If I am on my home lake I will always start my stupid DS on this one pile of rip rap at the bottom of a drop off in 10 FOW. That small area seems to hold at least 2 fish year round, every single time I fish it. Once I catch a few there and I get my confidence up a little bit, I will take that DS to other areas where I think there "should" be fish. Based on conditions and time of the year of course (obviously if I am not on my home lake this is where I start). Since time is short, I won't go fishing any "new" water; especially with a slow DS. I start in the area that I had the most confidence in that didn't produce with power techniques. If what I think are bass are showing up on my graph there, I'll throw that stupid DS and to my dismay I usually catch them. As you can tell it's a love-hate relationship I have with the DS.

[aavery2]

I tend to go to an area that I know holds fish consistently.  I will try covering that area quickly and if I fail to catch fish, my first thought is generally that the fish have moved.  But, I have proven myself wrong on many occasion when I pull out the spinning reel and throw something smaller and work it much slower.   I can't tell you the number of fish I have caught when a typical 3/8oz jig and trailer would not produce, but throw a Ned rig on a 1/8oz mushroom head and catch fish consistently. 

 

On tough days I remind myself to do three things, go to a place I know consistently holds fish, eliminate unproductive water by knowing where the thermocline is, slow down, slow down, and then slow down some more.

[fishballer06]

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting to get different results. 

[Raul]

Why do you have to cover the most wáter in the least ammount of time ?

 

You spend your time searching instead of spending your time fishing

 

I don´t "search" I go out and fish specific locations and that is specially true when you fish on a regular basis a lake, you have 50% probabilities the fish sill be in pretty much the same locations 50% of the time. Unless certain conditions change dramatically ( like wáter levels ) you can fish the fish holding locations time and time again. Even in new places, when there are similarities in environments you can be certain with a high degree of possibilities that you´ll find fish in similar locations.

 

For example, where I live dams are commonly covered with rock boulders that go from the size of a football all the way up to compact car size, you have a steep slope ( 30 ° + of inclination ) and "rip rap"/ ledge. In the lakes around my home more than 50% of the time you will find fish on gravitating the boulder cover dam throughout the day.

 

So, you don´t have to cover as much water as you can cuz half of the time a good part of your catch will be found in a specific location, now it´s a matter of finding what and how produces best.

[Felix77]

That is generally a tough thing to do and it certainly depends on your situations ... here is my 2 cents.

 

If I am fishing someplace where I am familiar with the waters I tend to power my way through somehow to get some type of a reaction strike.  My favorite lure right now is a chatterbait.  If I can get a bump or bite on that I then know the area is good for picking through for more fish.  At that point it is a little easier to slow down because there is a degree of confidence that there are fish there to be caught.

 

Now if I am in unfamiliar waters OR fishing fast and not producing at all I tend to start by downsizing my presentation BUT still try to cover water.  For me the finesse swimbait, finesse carolina rig over good looking "stuff" (weeds, rock, timber etc.) gets the nod.  If I get  a bite then, again, it's easier to slow down to a senko or something else because you have the confidence there are fish to be caught in that general area.

 

If that STILL doesn't produce then it's true finesse time and my go-to for that is the mojo rig, drop shot and wacky senko.  This is where I tend to slow myself down quite considerably ... What I do might sound cheesy but it works ....

 

If I feel like I am not fishing slow enough then I begin using a counting method to make sure I slow myself and the lure down.  I will use my mojo rig over weeds for an example.

 

I will cast it out, let it sink and take out the slack and make sure your rod tip is at the 2 or 3 o'clock position.  Count to 5 (or 10 for real slow).  Raise the tip up to 12.  Reel in the slack and repeat the counting.  If you do this right one cast can last up to a minute or so each.  I find concentrating on the process helps me forget how d**n slow I am fishing.

 

This technique has surprised me more than once so I believe in it.  Good luck.

[TeamBassin]

I base it all on conditions if its blue bird sky's normally the fish are going to be hard to catch and your normally going to have to slow down and fish. I personally would throw a 10 inch worm on points and drag Carolina rigs on them. It's just a matter of figuring out where the fish are positioned on the point which can be very tricky and time consuming but pays off when you get that one key bite. Now if it's overcast with a storm front coming then i normally cover as much water with search baits like a buzzbait, squarebill, or even a spinnerbait and just bang the banks all day.