Techniques to try

[biggiesmalls]

Hello everyone, 

 

After years of fishing pretty much every kind of lure out there, I got into shark fishing - and to pay for it all, pretty much got rid of all my bass stuff last fall. Now I'm buying all new everything (except for a few old faithfuls), and need to decide on what techniques I like to throw. This is where it gets sketchy - I don't actually know much of what I like to throw. I know frogs and snakes, because of the awesome blow-ups, and because I'm in the south and there's a lot of them. And then I know wacky rigs, because it's simple, allows me to fight bass on lighter tackle, and flat out catches fish. Aside from those techniques, I just kinda fished everything else at random. 

 

So I guess what I am looking for, is a technique that you could suggest that I may actually like getting into fishing. I don't want to carry one of every bait around for when I might need it, I want to focus on however many tactics and get really good at them and actually enjoy them. Please let me know what you think

 

Tight lines

-Drew

Oh, and a few other details that may be important:

1. I will (hopefully) only be fishing two setups - a 7'3" medium heavy or heavy rod paired with a 7:1 reel and 50 pound braid (focusing on frogs over 1/4 ounce and topwater snakes), and a 6'10"-7' medium light or medium spinning rod paired with a 2500 reel and 20 pound braid, with a spare spool of 8 pound copolymer (focusing on wacky-rigged stickbaits and frogs 1/4 ounce and under)
2. The main three ponds that I fish are under 2 acres in size, with a max depth of under 10 feet - one of them has clear water and little to no structure, while the other two have stained water, and lots of plant growth, and one of them has some decent wood/rock structure in it
3. I plan on fishing at least 4-5 other ponds this year, which pretty much all are in the 3-5 acre range with small amounts of structure and lots of plants

[Outdoor Zack]

Try keeping  a spinnerbait setup handy too. 

 

I would say you could start with a 7' MH-F with a fast reel (casting setup).  Use this to cover water quickly or slow roll when they're not hitting top water  

[Angry John]

That spinning setup is screaming for some drop shot and split shot action.  They both use the same baits so its a two for one minus hooks.

I am learning a fluke this year and a superfluke on a 5/0 ewg hook is a cheap way to add another technique to a mhf setup.  I would run a leader of 15lb line but that should not be a huge deal.  You could use those same hooks for pitching some plastics behind a 3/8ths oz weight.  I would recommend two colors and two baits black blue and green pumpkin.  One beaver and the second rage craw.  Thats only four packs of baits and hooks that you already have from the flukes.  

[biggiesmalls]

Great suggestions so far. Another technique I have been slowly leaning closer and closer towards is buzzbaits. I think they would be alright on the 7'3". 

 

I actually have not been that much of a spinnerbait fan - and I don't think they'd do too well fished with 50# braid on that longer rod with a high-speed reel. My older setup that I used was a 7' medium heavy rod with a moderate action, paired up with a 6.4:1 reel and 17-pound fluorocarbon. I also used this for swim jigs and chatterbaits, and I found that it worked pretty well. 

 

I have never actually tried split shot fishing - it might be something interesting. I fish from shore (at least now I do), and have never been successful with fishing a drop shot from shore. My understanding is that it is meant to be dropped and worked, rather than casted and retrieved. I'm thinking a fluke in a lighter color would slay bass in my clear pond. 

[NHBull]

If I was going to use 2 set-up, 1 would have to be a spinning set-up which could handle 1/3 of the  techniques available.  The other would be the MH baitcaster.  This might leave you light on the heavy tech, but you can't have it all with 2 combinations. ........truth be told, I have friend that frog without using broomsticks

[Fishin' Fool]

11 hours ago, Angry John said:

That spinning setup is screaming for some drop shot and split shot action.  They both use the same baits so its a two for one minus hooks.

I am learning a fluke this year and a superfluke on a 5/0 ewg hook is a cheap way to add another technique to a mhf setup.  I would run a leader of 15lb line but that should not be a huge deal.  You could use those same hooks for pitching some plastics behind a 3/8ths oz weight.  I would recommend two colors and two baits black blue and green pumpkin.  One beaver and the second rage craw.  Thats only four packs of baits and hooks that you already have from the flukes.  

 

Flukes and senkos are the same rod for me.  Learn to fish the fluke it's a great technique.  I caught 3 out of my 5 fish in my tournament last Saturday on flukes.

[Angry John]

I tried to fish a super fluke on my medium that I use for worms it just did not have the power I wanted to drive home that  5/0 hook.  I plan to try the super fluke Jr and that may be better on a rod with less gusto.  The super fluke already catches smaller fish so going larger to the magnum might be a better plan.

[biggiesmalls]

6 hours ago, NHBull said:

If I was going to use 2 set-up, 1 would have to be a spinning set-up which could handle 1/3 of the  techniques available.  The other would be the MH baitcaster.  This might leave you light on the heavy tech, but you can't have it all with 2 combinations. ........truth be told, I have friend that frog without using broomsticks

While I am trying to thin-out the amount of setups I have, I am also trying to thin out the number of techniques I fish with, to just a few or so that I really can enjoy and get as close to mastering as possible. I'm not really trying to get it all done with two setups, more of try to see what I can get done with these two setups, that I might enjoy. Right now, it's heavier frogs, buzzbaits, and snakes on the 7'3" and then weightless wacky rigs, "froglets", and probably flukes on the spinning setup.

 

4 hours ago, Fishin' Fool said:

 

Flukes and senkos are the same rod for me.  Learn to fish the fluke it's a great technique.  I caught 3 out of my 5 fish in my tournament last Saturday on flukes.

Good to hear, I'd love to get a really good technique with a fluke. How'd your tournament go?

 

3 hours ago, Angry John said:

I tried to fish a super fluke on my medium that I use for worms it just did not have the power I wanted to drive home that  5/0 hook.  I plan to try the super fluke Jr and that may be better on a rod with less gusto.  The super fluke already catches smaller fish so going larger to the magnum might be a better plan.

I think I will try some super fluke juniors, the baitfish I am imitating are mostly bluegill that are 4" and under. With that in mind, the super fluke junior is about the perfect size. Interesting to hear about the other sizes though. 

 

 

So in the end, I think I will be fishing a wide range of frogs, some buzzbaits, topwater snakes, wacky-rigged stickbaits, flukes, and maybe trick worms. Getting six topics down to a tee should keep me plenty entertained/busy.

I will likely go with a MH rod instead of a heavy, in order to fish buzzbaits and frogs on the same rod. I don't have a lot of super heavy slop, so I think a MH will work. 

[Fishin' Fool]

34 minutes ago, biggiesmalls said:

While I am trying to thin-out the amount of setups I have, I am also trying to thin out the number of techniques I fish with, to just a few or so that I really can enjoy and get as close to mastering as possible. I'm not really trying to get it all done with two setups, more of try to see what I can get done with these two setups, that I might enjoy. Right now, it's heavier frogs, buzzbaits, and snakes on the 7'3" and then weightless wacky rigs, "froglets", and probably flukes on the spinning setup.

 

Good to hear, I'd love to get a really good technique with a fluke. How'd your tournament go?

 

I think I will try some super fluke juniors, the baitfish I am imitating are mostly bluegill that are 4" and under. With that in mind, the super fluke junior is about the perfect size. Interesting to hear about the other sizes though. 

 

 

So in the end, I think I will be fishing a wide range of frogs, some buzzbaits, topwater snakes, wacky-rigged stickbaits, flukes, and maybe trick worms. Getting six topics down to a tee should keep me plenty entertained/busy.

I will likely go with a MH rod instead of a heavy, in order to fish buzzbaits and frogs on the same rod. I don't have a lot of super heavy slop, so I think a MH will work. 

 

I usually just go twitch, twitch, pause with my fluke but you can adopt any cadence you like.  I did okay in my event I had 5 for 10 1/4 pounds.