Ever fish a spybait the "wrong" way?

[Preytorien]

I've lately noticed I've been having more luck fishing a spybait the "wrong" way, as directed by various instructional videos. 

 

I run them a bit quicker than usual, just subsurface, at a steady pace, and popping them now and then. 

 

....and of course I'm using braid.

 

Anyone else have luck fishing them wrong? 

[dsqui]

I personally have found a wrong way to fish them just wrong times.  

[jr231]

I'm in this same boat when it comes to chatterbaits. 

[Bluebasser86]

I haven't found a "right" way to fish them yet. I can catch a few on them, but they've never been real productive for me. Possible that it's due to the fact our water is generally pretty dirty. 

[Raul]

Please describe the "right" way.

[roadwarrior]

49 minutes ago, Raul said:

Please describe the "right" way.

 

http://spybaiting.com/

[smalljaw67]

I've played with them when they were getting popular and I see why there is a special way to fish them. I think you are having luck because you're on active fish, in clear water when the fish are suspended you'd probably starve fishing them on braid in shallow water. I hate fluorocarbon but with a spybait it is the only option to keep the bait at depth and it has to be light and to me it is more of a niche bait because you are using it for fish that wouldn't normally hit other baits. I've tried it on mono in 4lb and when the bait was rising is when I knew I had to go with fluorocarbon and that did work but if you use 8lb fluorocarbon you can really notice the difference in action, with 6lb line the bait has a shimmy on the fall and a slight roll on the retrieve but with 8lb that subtle action is gone almost completely. I tried to make them work for me by adapting my line choice area I use them in and I wasn't having much luck, in fact I didn't get a single bite, so we decided to try them on a lake when the water was clear and we found fish just off the bottom in 17' of water and we ended up catching a good bag. The thing that really turns me off to them though is the how specific you have to be in order for that bait to work in those conditions, as I said, we tried it for about a month and we messed with lines, and rods and we fished in stained water, dirty water and clear water and the only way we had success was with 6lb fluorocarbon on a 7' medium power spinning rod in clear water but it was from late June to the beginning of August and there was only 3 bodies of water that we used it in but we dedicated full outings to learning this and it just wasn't for me, my fishing partner has done better using them in spring and fall but again, I'm fishing side by side with him and I'm catching more fish on other baits during the same time period and that is why I said you probably found active fish or those keying on minnow forage for that bait to work like that but I bet another presentation would have produced better results. That is a finesse presentation meant for pressured or inactive fish in clear water that wouldn't normally bite other presentations.

[Deleted account]

spy baits are stupid. That having been said, I fish all sorts of baits "wrong" at times.

[RichF]

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

 

http://spybaiting.com/

 

Waaaayyy too many made up names for the bait's movements.  No reason a technique needs to be this complicated.  

the guy in the video did a good job though.  He was very well spoken. 

[J Francho]

20 minutes ago, RichF said:

Waaaayyy too many made up names for the bait's movements.  No reason a technique needs to be this complicated.

 

I didn't make it past strobing.  Strobing is a made up word.  Reminds of how the Ned rig is over explained.

[Preytorien]

34 minutes ago, RichF said:

 

Waaaayyy too many made up names for the bait's movements.  No reason a technique needs to be this complicated.  

the guy in the video did a good job though.  He was very well spoken. 

 

That's about half the reason I ended up using it "wrong" - I got so tired of trying to make sure I was using the right gear, line, retrieve, depth, etc. that I just said screw it and threw it out and started doing various little things until something worked. 

 

And like someone mentioned above, my bass right now seem to be keying in on minnows since we're just before spawn here, so it seems to be pretty effective.....for now

[Raul]

27 minutes ago, Preytorien said:

 

 started doing various little things until something worked. 

 

 

 

Doing various little things until something works is the "right" way, isn't it ? .......Not exactly what others say is the "right" way.