What's your style?

[Catt]

56 minutes ago, ww2farmer said:

Same here.

 

I prefer to catch them shallow, and on a jig or frog. But they don't always prefer to bite that way.

 

I have won tournaments in the dirt with anchor rope line tied to pool ques, and I have won them off shore with a spinning rod

 

My personal preference is the dog days of summer, deep offshore structure, at night!

 

I caught my personal best throwing a Rat-L-Trap on a cold rainy February morning.

I won back to back tournaments slow rolling  spinnerbaits against Lonnie Stanley

I beat Larry Nixon & Tommy Martin throwing a Kill'r B in standing timber.

Lost by 7 ozs throwing a Pop-R to Zell Rowland (still got that lure)

 

If ya think I can only fish t-rigs & jigs, you'll only under estimate me once!

[MichaelCopeland]

13 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

My personal preference is the dog days of summer, deep offshore structure, at night!

 

I caught my personal best throwing a Rat-L-Trap on a cold rainy February morning.

I won back to back tournaments slow rolling  spinnerbaits against Lonnie Stanley

I beat Larry Nixon & Tommy Martin throwing a Kill'r B in standing timber.

Lost by 7 ozs throwing a Pop-R to Zell Rowland (still got that lure)

 

If ya think I can only fish t-rigs & jigs, you'll only under estimate me once!

@Catt I think it's cool you caught your PB on a Rat-L-Trap, I work there. I've yet to catch anything on one except for moss or getting snagged and losing it. I'm just a beginner though. I wanna figure all my lures out. Heck some of them I don't even remember the brand it is. 

[ClackerBuzz]

Like A-Jay my style has evolved over the years.  

First I was a chuck and wind guy.

Then I was a slow and low marinade guy.

Now I'm a high percentage area only guy.  The smartest thing I ever did was put the rods down, stop fishing, and use the egg between my ears.  I paddle/troll forward 100 yards to pick the best 3 spots to fish.  You don't need to cast every inch of water in the lake...only the high percentage spots.   And you don't need to catch every bass in the lake...only the biggest girls.

[scaleface]

Its hard to run and gun in a 14 foot jon boat powered by electric  motor only . On my bigger boat theres a lot more options . Every day is different . I might jump from point to point but generally will fish them well first .

[WIGuide]

The key is being able to do both and KNOWING when it's right to do so. Personally, picking a fishy area apart is more my style, but there are times it's right to run and gun. Having a good pattern, or lots of local knowledge will allow you to do so. For example in my tournament this past weekend, we figured out there were better fish in little patches of coontail in about 5-7' of water. Since the whole shoreline from the bank out to about 12' is all just solid grass we bounced around from patch to patch of the good stuff. Most of these patches were only 2-3 times the size of the boat so we'd stop and fish them for about 10-15 minutes picking just that little section apart and then we were gone. I'm sure there were some fish in the surrounding grass, but there's no reason to spend 3 hours combing water that "might" hold fish if there's water that you know that IS holding fish. 

[Bassun]

11 hours ago, MichaelCopeland said:

@Catt I think it's cool you caught your PB on a Rat-L-Trap, I work there. I've yet to catch anything on one except for moss or getting snagged and losing it. I'm just a beginner though. I wanna figure all my lures out. Heck some of them I don't even remember the brand it is. 

Me and Rat-L-Traps have a love hate relationship.  I almost made my partner jump out of the boat during a night tournament fishing a trap.  It was about 2am or so, dead quiet.  I was paralleling a shore with this big ugly striped trap (used to be a White Bleeding Shad before the paint and stuff flaked / beat / rubbed off.  horrible paint but it worked!), basically chucking it as far as I could and retrieving it just fast enough to keep it off the bottom.  Bump something, skip a crank or two then pick up the speed a tad.  Caught a few bass and a couple hybrids doing that...

Anyway, I rare back to rip another cast and something went wrong.  I don't remember what I hit during the cast, but it sounded like gun going off!  It scared the devil out of me, but really scared my partner lol.  A few seconds later you could hear all the BB's hitting the water.  I swear that thing cursed me... 6 more hours and not even a bite.  Since then, I have never caught another bass on a Rat-L-Trap...  

[Hez]

1 hour ago, WIGuide said:

The key is being able to do both and KNOWING when it's right to do so. Personally, picking a fishy area apart is more my style, but there are times it's right to run and gun. Having a good pattern, or lots of local knowledge will allow you to do so. For example in my tournament this past weekend, we figured out there were better fish in little patches of coontail in about 5-7' of water. Since the whole shoreline from the bank out to about 12' is all just solid grass we bounced around from patch to patch of the good stuff. Most of these patches were only 2-3 times the size of the boat so we'd stop and fish them for about 10-15 minutes picking just that little section apart and then we were gone. I'm sure there were some fish in the surrounding grass, but there's no reason to spend 3 hours combing water that "might" hold fish if there's water that you know that IS holding fish. 

 

 

This is a good post.  

 

You're right....it's all about figuring out the details and identifying a  productive pattern that enables someone to "run 'n gun" and be successful at it.

 

I've found it's easy to "run n' gun" and not be successful, lol 

[CybrSlydr]

As a shore pounder, I tend to saturate the area with casts, hoping that at least one will strike paydirt.  

 

If there is a lot of shore access and not many other people around, I will move around a bit and spend less time at each location.  If there aren't many available shore spots, then I'll be spending a lot of time throwing different lures in the same spots hoping something hits.

[Catt]

1 hour ago, WIGuide said:

The key is being able to do both and KNOWING when it's right to do so. Personally, picking a fishy area apart is more my style, but there are times it's right to run and gun. Having a good pattern, or lots of local knowledge will allow you to do so. 

 

Even when fishing offshore structure I may have to hit several while other times it's just one & sometimes I abandon the deep for shallow.

[MichaelCopeland]

9 hours ago, Bassun said:

Me and Rat-L-Traps have a love hate relationship.  I almost made my partner jump out of the boat during a night tournament fishing a trap.  It was about 2am or so, dead quiet.  I was paralleling a shore with this big ugly striped trap (used to be a White Bleeding Shad before the paint and stuff flaked / beat / rubbed off.  horrible paint but it worked!), basically chucking it as far as I could and retrieving it just fast enough to keep it off the bottom.  Bump something, skip a crank or two then pick up the speed a tad.  Caught a few bass and a couple hybrids doing that...

Anyway, I rare back to rip another cast and something went wrong.  I don't remember what I hit during the cast, but it sounded like gun going off!  It scared the devil out of me, but really scared my partner lol.  A few seconds later you could hear all the BB's hitting the water.  I swear that thing cursed me... 6 more hours and not even a bite.  Since then, I have never caught another bass on a Rat-L-Trap...  

Wow that's kinda strange. Don't know why it woulda done like that. I've only worked there for a couple years now and I just mainly paint and eye them. Sorry you're not having any more luck with them. Hopefully you'll start catching on them again. 

[papajoe222]

I'm a little of both if I think about it. I always start out in search of active fish and that means covering a lot of shallower water with faster presentations. Once I find them I'll work the area with both reaction and finesse presentations until I feel the fish have moved, or 'turned off.'

 

If imy search is futile, I switch gears and target structure with good potential to hold fish. That's when I slow down and work an area. I may return to my beginning strategy during the course of the day 

[XpressJeff]

I am terrible.

 

Just can't slow down!

[WRB]

I learned a long time ago there is lots of ways to catch bass and active feeding bass are a lot easier to catch then inactive bass. My goal is to catch big bass first so those are the bass to find early, you can't catch big bass running and gunning very often. Catching big bass takes planning, knowing where they are located, what depth they are actively using, what direction they want the lure moving and what prey source the big girls are looking for. 

I may fish 5 or 6 spots or 20 spots during the day, sometimes saturating an area if bait is present and bass are in the area. Sometimes it's difficult to establish what is going on and trying several areas with lots of different presentations to eliminate what isn't working and figuring out what is working.

I may run but rarely gun!

Tom

 

[IndianaFinesse]

On 7/10/2017 at 10:05 PM, scaleface said:

I dont consider covering water run and gun . Ive covered most of the shoreline of a 200 acre lake in 1 day a couple of times . To me run and gun is pulling up to a spot ,toss a lure a few times , start  the big motor and moving on . 

Hehe, I do a lot of that.  I figure if they're there, I'm going to either catch them quick or not at all.  If I'm not catching fish, I don't give a spot more than 20 minutes or less.

[Bluebasser86]

I'm a junk fisherman. I usually launch the boat, put the trolling motor down, fish what's in front of me. Not so much on bigger lakes, but smaller lakes it's not unusual for me to never start the big motor until I'm loading the boat back up. 

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

What @Bluebasser86 said! I fish small lakes/ponds so as soon as I launch, I put the paddle down ... again and again and again. Weeds are thick everywhere so I fish slowly, casting weedless stuff into openings in the slop. After a couple of years, I'm starting to learn what areas (usually determined by depth, time of day, and weather conditions) where bass seem to hang out.  Then I paddle (Run-and-Gun-Lite) to the next likely area. (Hey, it's a kayak!)  For me, even the smallest points are productive early in the day and deeper mats are better during midday. I have to admit I never pass a patch of lily pads, but I believe that, in general, ya have to move until you become familiar with the body of water in which you are fishing. In any case, I do tend to pick apart each area before moving. As I become more familiar with the lake I've noticed my fishing has become more productive and working what's in front of you seems to be the only way to figure out the water, at least initially!

[Catt]

@GrumpyOlPhartte very well worded

 

What you do is not run-n-gun, it simply moving locations.

 

During the 70s when tournament fishing took hold of this sport & I'm not talking just Pro Tournaments but local Amateur Tournaments the argument started over which "technique" is most productive.

"Run--n-Gun" vs "Stay-n-Play" 

 

The Run--n-Gun angler selected a shoreline put his trolling motor on medium to high and away he went. This is the timeframe when we experienced an explosion of handmade/hand painted crankbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbait, & topwaters. The thought was cover as much water as possible thereby putting your lure in front higher percentage of active bass. 

 

The Stay-n-Play crowd believed in selecting 4-5 major fish holding structures and dividing his time between each. Now we experienced refinements in electronics, plastics, line, & rods.

 

The answer in my estimation is the angler who is versatile enough to combine both and experienced enough to know which to select when.

[Deleted account]

On 7/10/2017 at 5:49 PM, Catt said:

My style is to catch bass by whatever means necessary

 

That's how I do it. My wife writes "Don't fish stubborn" on my left forearm with a sharpie, when we go out for $.

[WCWV]

I spent way to much time in one spot, but I'm in no rush, I don't fish tournaments, I just like trying new things to see what I can get bit on.

If everything points to there being a fish there, and I'm convinced that there is, it's hard for me to leave.

Most of the time I'll catch one, but sometimes I give up and move on.

[Bankbeater]

It depends on if I know the water I am fishing or not.  If I know the lake I move quite a bit until I find them.  If I don't know the lake I take it slower.

[MBB Nate]

Shallow, slow and methodical bottom baits.

 

When it comes to open water or deep water I wouldn't even know where to begin.

[crypt]

all depends on conditions and where I'm at. some lakes run till I find em. others just plug away with whatever needs to to catch em.......................I'm all over the map with this one.............

[ArkansasBassin]

It depends, I like to run over a spot and if i see some good structure or graph some fish I will try and use a bait like a jig to slowly fish it. However if i am fishing a large area i know little of I'll start with a fast moving bait and slow down if I'm not getting bites, and then move somewhat quickly. But that's just what I do.