Finesse Fishing Fans

[hoosierbass07]

Are any of you devotees to finesse fishing for bass?  It seems every year I go thru the same process - in winter I buy power lures planning on catching those big bass.  Spring and summer arrives and I end up resorting to the same Texas rig soft plastics/split shot worms/stick baits/lizards to catch 99.99% of the bass.  I buy baitcasting rods to cast heavy lures but I end up resorting to the same medium spinning rods with the soft plastics to catch those bass or get bites.  

 The more I fish (from my kayak and bank fishing) the more I respect Ned Kehde and his Midwest finesse style of fishing.  It seems my style of fishing is more like the Midwest finesse people than the style shown on the TV fishing shows that feature top water frogs, crankbaits galore, and big jig and jerkbaits.  

[d-camarena]

Same here, i have heavy tackle but usually always end up catching most my fish and a medium or light spinning rod

[Outdoor Zack]

1 hour ago, hoosierbass07 said:

Are any of you devotees to finesse fishing for bass?  It seems every year I go thru the same process - in winter I buy power lures planning on catching those big bass.  Spring and summer arrives and I end up resorting to the same Texas rig soft plastics/split shot worms/stick baits/lizards to catch 99.99% of the bass.  I buy baitcasting rods to cast heavy lures but I end up resorting to the same medium spinning rods with the soft plastics to catch those bass or get bites.  

 The more I fish (from my kayak and bank fishing) the more I respect Ned Kehde and his Midwest finesse style of fishing.  It seems my style of fishing is more like the Midwest finesse people than the style shown on the TV fishing shows that feature top water frogs, crankbaits galore, and big jig and jerkbaits.  

I've found that there is a time and place for just about everything.  That said, my "confidence rig" is a 4" or 5" worm and 1/8 oz. bullet sinker on light spinning gear.

[IndianaFinesse]

I use the Ned rig 95% of the time.  I used to use lots of t-rigged plastics, but once I found the Ned rig I never used a t-rig again.  Especially since we live in indiana where the fishing is terrible, finesse fishing is in my mind the best way to catch bass of all sizes here.  And we are not the only ones that mostly finesse fish, nearly every indiana fisherman on here has finesse fishing as there go to technique.  Try the Ned rig out if you're interested in catching dozens of bass from little dinks up to my biggest at 8.2 pounds.  And check out the un-oficial Hoosiers thread, there is a constant stream of useful local fishing reports coming in and we could always use another poster in there.

[Raul]

Finesse is not about size but about speed and thoroughness. What you are talking about is light/ul fishing.

[loudcherokee]

Finesse is the only thing I've been able to catch em on so far this year, until today. I finally caught my first jig fish this season. Before that it's been wacky rigged senkos or nose hooked shad soft plastics. I did catch one today on a stand up jig head with a reins shaker.

LC

 

[I.rar]

I love light tackle and fish it all year. I'm  not fishing slop or anything crazy so it works and it's fun.

I had a dink fest yesterday with a few in the 1.5lb range all on 4" roboworm alive shads t-rigged with 1/8oz. I usually go 1/16 but the wind gusts were in the 20's and I needed the extra weight. 

[0119]

5 hours ago, I.rar said:

the wind gusts were in the 20's and I needed the extra weight. 

It has been crazy windy down here! 

I love finesse fishing, the ned rig, I even use it in ultra clear salt water.  Charlie Brewer's Slider too.

[blckshirt98]

I buy tons of hardbaits after watching the pros but when I get out to my local places if I don't get any strikes after about 15-20 minutes of trying for a reaction bite I'll revert back to my trusty dropshot.  I always end up fishing a dropshot most of the time.

[Cgolf]

I probably fish sliders and small plastics and jigs and small plastics most of the time when I river fish, and I used to do the same on the lake until I discovered swim jigs last year. Even when I fish cranks I fish bandits and the relatively new SK shallow square bill that is pretty subtle and fish crush it on the pause. 

I end up finesse fishing a lot because that is what the fish dictate, it is pretty rare that I hit anything but the kitchen sink bite. 

[Darren.]

On 4/18/2016 at 3:41 PM, hoosierbass07 said:

Are any of you devotees to finesse fishing for bass?  It seems every year I go thru the same process - in winter I buy power lures planning on catching those big bass.  Spring and summer arrives and I end up resorting to the same Texas rig soft plastics/split shot worms/stick baits/lizards to catch 99.99% of the bass.  I buy baitcasting rods to cast heavy lures but I end up resorting to the same medium spinning rods with the soft plastics to catch those bass or get bites.  

 The more I fish (from my kayak and bank fishing) the more I respect Ned Kehde and his Midwest finesse style of fishing.  It seems my style of fishing is more like the Midwest finesse people than the style shown on the TV fishing shows that feature top water frogs, crankbaits galore, and big jig and jerkbaits.  

For me, I tend to stick with "finesse" gear these days.
I used to buy "power" baits but always caught the most
on "finesse", so I stick with what works. I want to catch,
not fish a tourney, etc., just enjoy the sport, so what works
best is what I tend to use.

Wacky continues to be my number one method, followed 
by (this year), drop shot. Now I wacky with up to a 15# 
leader, but mostly 6 or 8#. Today was a day of regret for me
as I neglected to reset my drag on my Stradic after changing
my leader to 6# from 15#. The lovely bass I had snapped my
leader midway on a turbo surge after she saw me. Would have
been my biggest this year, I believe.

[Senko lover]

I started out fishing with finesse baits. Mostly just weightless senkos and 4 inch finesse worms.  These became my confidence baits that I would resort to in almost every situation. I found that, although I would try other techniques, they would quickly get replaced by my trusty finesse rigs. I caught a lot of fish. Although I did catch some larger fish (most notably a 5 pounder on the ned rig), the majority of the my trips were full of numbers and small fish. 

This mentality was enjoyed for a while, but soon replaced by a hunger to catch big fish and probably a desire to catch fish on the methods that my heroes the pros did. 

I started fishing jigs, crank baits, spinnerbaits, chatter baits, top waters, etc  with far more regularity than previously. Instead of giving up when I wasn't catching anything, I grit my teeth and kept trying.

Although I often fish finesse baits, the majority of my fishing is now done with larger baits and stouter tackle  

While I don't discourage you from fishing finesse baits, I would encourage you not to give up on the others. Doing so has made me a much better and more versatile fisherman, and gotten me a lot of bigger fish  

 

 

[Airman4754]

I used to think spinning rods were for rookies. Now I think I have six dedicated spinning rods for finesse fishing. I grew up a power fisherman and if the conditions call for it I'll still chuck and wind all day. I do enjoy finesse fishing a lot though. 

The one technique I just can't get into is the Ned rig. I catch fish like crazy on a drop shot, shaky head, split shot, and neko but I just don't catch much with the Ned.

[greentrout]

 

 

[Fishin Ethan]

Finesse Fishing is the only thing I was taught and it won't change. Finesse fishing outfishes hard baits in terms of numbers. In some ways I rarely buy hard baits just because I'd rather finesse fish. I often have friends that throw big baits and get skuned everytime while I end up with way more. Finesse fishing works year round and I'm so obseesed with finesse fishing that in the last year aside from MTB I have only bought finesse gear.

 

[0119]

11 hours ago, Mosster47 said:

I just don't catch much with the Ned.

You don't necessarily have to work it like the finesser's do for it to work.  I use it for landlocked snook in ultra clear water.  They get fixated on a small almost clear minnow called a glass minnow. The terd jig head and a cut off white back/clear belly tiki stick was the closest I could get to the bait they were targeting.  It allowed me to use a little heavier tackle that I needed to get them in.

[Gundog]

Finesse rigs now a days have to be part of your bass fishing knowledge. Lakes are getting more crowded, fish are more pressured, and lets face it, we can't always pick the days we get to go fishing so you have to be able to finesse fish in bad situations if you want to have good days in fishing.

[Fishin' Fool]

21 hours ago, Mosster47 said:

I used to think spinning rods were for rookies. Now I think I have six dedicated spinning rods for finesse fishing. I grew up a power fisherman and if the conditions call for it I'll still chuck and wind all day. I do enjoy finesse fishing a lot though. 

The one technique I just can't get into is the Ned rig. I catch fish like crazy on a drop shot, shaky head, split shot, and neko but I just don't catch much with the Ned.

I'd urge you to stick with it as this was the first fish I caught on a Ned rig last Friday and I have no clue what I'm doing. Big fish of the day it went 4-9.

[scaleface]

Its the opposite for me . I accumulate the tiny stuff and it gets little playing time . The 3 inch Sassy Shad on a 1/8 jig head is my go to little lure ..

 

I am going to Cabelas today and try to get the correct components for the Ned rig  .I have been told that using half a Senko on a jig head in not a ned rig . Need to get some DOA short shank jig heads for those three inch shad lures too .

[avidone1]

On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 7:01 AM, 0119 said:

It has been crazy windy down here! 

I love finesse fishing, the ned rig, I even use it in ultra clear salt water.  Charlie Brewer's Slider too.

Glad you posted this.  I was thinking of using neds rig on the big three inshore species.  Glad to know it's a tried and true method. 

Any tips ?

[0119]

2 hours ago, avidone1 said:

Glad you posted this.  I was thinking of using neds rig on the big three inshore species.  Glad to know it's a tried and true method. 

Any tips ?

I simply hop it off hard bottom like I would a Lil John or Dart on a jighead. Its nice to be able to customize my length and color to match the match. Way more colors available in freshwater stuff than manufacturers use for inshore.