Your coolest new technique this year?

[thinkingredneck]

As the year is closing, what was the coolest new lure or technique you used this year?  By new, I mean new to you.  For me it was a jig.  Old technique, but new to me.  

[thebillsman]

Last year, it was sub-1/4oz jigs. I forced myself to slow down and improve on finesse presentations and I've come to really like it. This year was topwater. I had a lot of fun with my Stutterstep 4.0 3D, Siglett's and frogs. 

 

I always find myself going back to squarebills and jerkbaits. No matter the conditions or time of year I always find confidence in those two.

[Ben Miller]

Alabama rig!  Thing is awesome!  Snapped a rod throwing it, lost a few rigs, but this year it's on!  All new heavier gear a bunch of rigs and different baits!  Just swimbaits 2nd.

 

Been a worm thrower and top water most of my life

[burrows]

I never really threw a fluke around much till this year, I really fell in love with fluke fishing.

[IndianaOutdoors]

New to me this year was drop shot, baitcasters, whopper plopper, deep cranking, side Imaging, and wading for smallmouth.  That being said my big thing this year was the zoom fat Albert grub in green pumpkin.  I had used grubs in the past but never considered them to be a productive bait.  I'm not sure what exactly started it but I've had a grub tied on most of the year and used it in many applications with success.  

Edit:. Also new this year was the Ned rig.  I almost forgot it bc it was better at catching crappie than bass for me.  While it may be considered a numbers bait for bass, I consider it a slab bait for crappie.  Pulled out several 10-12in crappie in a lake where the norm is 5-8in.

[IndianaFinesse]

For me it was really a big year for expanding my fishing-both in techniques and styles.  Got much better at fishing fast and run and gun style of fishing, plus I'm starting to developed more confidence in fishing offshore.  Really spent a lot of time with and got fairly good at shallow cranks, buzzbaits, and shaky heads this year.  I had used them in the past of course, but they really weren't my confidence techniques, and now they are a few of my favorite and best techniques.  It helps that I can spend 240+ days on the water, gives me that much more time to learn than some guys.

[Junger]

This is my first year back to fishing from a long long, 25 year hiatus. I got some chatterbaits, which looked intimidating when I first got them, but now I love them. But I've gotten snagged on submerged branches/stumps on an open hook style chatterbait.  I bought some of the Z-man free swinging chatterbaits and want to give those a try.

[Dorado]

The Zoom Weightless Texas-rigged Trick Worm (Candy Bug) incorporates a new technique for me this year and it’s been a game changer. 2017 marked the year where I dedicated myself to fishing soft plastics almost exclusively. (Notice I said almost- need my lipless crank, swim jig, or chatterbait fix ever so often) 

 

Had no clue it was going to be responsible for my top night producer as well. Previously, had  misconceptions that it wasn’t loud enough or distributive in the dark to get any love. 

 

 Positioning myself 10-15 yards from the target on foot, I like landing the worm on the bank’s edge first, then creep it quietly with the rod tip into the water at night. When you hear or see the water swelling, get ready to draw! Experimented with various hooks too and narrowed it down to a 3/0 Gamma G-Lock which is my new favorite hook. Wide enough gap, sharp sticky hook points, and the unique angle in the offset z-shaped position keeps the plastics flushed straight even when pulled thru weeds. And that’s typically when I also get the most aggressive strikes. 

 

Judging by my last fishing experience  experimenting with a Rage Tail Menance in Black with Blue Flake, this will be the Robin sidekick to the Batman duel. Just add a 1/4 oz tungsten weight and will use the same exact hook to swipe it out. 

 

Since my headlamp is ALWAYS off when I’m casting at night, it’s impossible to line watch. But at night, the bite is usually more  aggressive in the shallower waters because the bass are there for one of two things: pin the schools of Shad against the artificial metro pond walls or stalk the bluegillls near the weed’s edge. Jigs are next year’s endeavor. 

[Bluebasser86]

I had a lot of fun with the micro bass jigs I started making this year.

Then I picked up a few sweet swimbaits late this year that I'm really looking forward to fishing next year. WSB Rat with a 175 Slide Swimmer for scale.

Custom painted black crappie Phoney Frog shad

A wild colored DRT Joker (bottom isn't mine)

and a Legrady Lures Donut Shad

[IgotWood]

I spent some time this spring/summer with the good old texas rig. The heavy hitter for me was a pegged 1/2-3/4oz with a Power Team Lures Conviction Craw. I did well pitching it in openings in weed beds, and along timber. Certainly not a new technique, but new to me!

[scaleface]

New to me this year was the Berkely Dredger .  I caught fish on all five sizes and the deepest was at 22 foot. Thats  the deepest  a lipped crankbait has caught bass for me . Previously my record was about 17 foot . 

 

[Hez]

Coolest?  

 

How about most fun?  

 

I have 2 techniques tied for 1st place if that's the case. 

 

1. Heavy punching and flipping - The close combat stuff is really fun!!! Gets your adrenaline really going!

 

2. Chasing schooling fish - just did this for the first time last weekend - spent the day on the trolling motor, watching for bass to start busting on the water - and me and my son would throw some paddle tail swimbaits into the mix and BOOM!!!  It was a blast!  Busy fishing all day...constant.  It was so much fun.  Nothing over 2 lbs...but fun.  

 

[burrows]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I had a lot of fun with the micro bass jigs I started making this year.

Then I picked up a few sweet swimbaits late this year that I'm really looking forward to fishing next year. WSB Rat with a 175 Slide Swimmer for scale.

Custom painted black crappie Phoney Frog shad

A wild colored DRT Joker (bottom isn't mine)

and a Legrady Lures Donut Shad

That little jig looks cool.

[A-Jay]

The SK Rage Bug on the Freedom Head was a solid performer for me on smallies.

Early season shallow, mid season deeper and especially this fall, when this bait was all I fished for almost a month !

A-Jay

 

[Darren.]

Der Ned'enmeister! Money rig for me this year!

[IndianaFinesse]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I had a lot of fun with the micro bass jigs I started making this year.

Then I picked up a few sweet swimbaits late this year that I'm really looking forward to fishing next year. WSB Rat with a 175 Slide Swimmer for scale.

Custom painted black crappie Phoney Frog shad

A wild colored DRT Joker (bottom isn't mine)

and a Legrady Lures Donut Shad

Do you sell those jigs?

[Montanaro]

Soft jerkbaits on heavy gear in heavy vegetation

[fishwizzard]

The drop shot was the best "discovery" I made this year.  Before I had always written it off as a deep water vertical presentation, but a six-inch purple Roboworm dragged around the shallows was my number one producer this fall.

 

 

[fishballer06]

The Neko rig. It made my summer fishing much more successful this year. 

[Steveo-1969]

New bait/technique/presentation for me this year was the good old spinnerbait. I'd never caught a fish on one before, so I bought a couple this spring and caught half a dozen or so river smallies on them this summer/fall. It's not going to replace my small paddletail swimbait anytime soon but it was fun to catch them on something new!

[NYWayfarer]

 

 

1 hour ago, fishballer06 said:

The Neko rig. It made my summer fishing much more successful this year. 

Ditto.

 

I found the most success with it when I used a Yum Swim'n Dinger. 

[J Francho]

About the only truly different thing I had a lot of success with were the Savage Gear goby tubes.  Otherwise, just newer versions of the same things.  I threw a whopper plopper, too.  Just so I could say I did.

[Choporoz]

Nothing new, really.  But I successfully dedicated time, effort and experience to a couple old 'techniques':

-Getting the kayak into very shallow flats and thick lily pad fields where boats couldn't go.  I had great success on a number of outings in places that I would not have spent as much time or effort in past years, getting to and working.  Sometimes, it's almost more like hunting....working the yak in...being still...watching pads for even the slightest movement, dropping a lure in, and slamming the hook home on a fish that I didn't see, but knew exactly where she was.

-Worked thick wood with much more thorough attention to detail and meticulousness than I'd ever done in the past.  I think that spending more time fishing from a kayak than a boat was partly the cause.  Unlike fishing from a boat, I don't/can't fish while moving up and down the shoreline, except as the current and wind allow.  So, I find myself spending more time dissecting a spot than I generally do from a boat.  By taking my time to really pick apart laydowns and brush piles, I caught fish that I'd have missed in previous years.  Pulling four and five good bass off a single laydown is particularly rewarding. 

[38 Super Fan]

I caught a decent number on squarebills this year. Not exactly new to me, but I never had too much luck with them before.

[JustJames]

This year is my second years for serious bass fishing so everything is new and cool to me.

Last year I fish mainly on dropshot and Senko. This year I planed on moving bait which I think I success enough on Fluke, Jerkbait and Chatterbait.

Next year will be lipless,  spinnerbait, swimbait and jigs.