Post your best fishing tip

[thinkingredneck]

A friend developed retina issues and became legally blind.  Said he became a better worm fisherman because all he could do was focus on feel.  I Think about that a lot.

[A-Jay]

34 minutes ago, thinkingredneck said:

A friend developed retina issues and became legally blind.  Said he became a better worm fisherman because all he could do was focus on feel.  I Think about that a lot.

Sorry to hear about your friend's vision loss.

Fishing at night can offer many bass fishing benefits.

 A really good one is if one does it enough, at some point, one develops a heightened sense of what one's bait is doing at any given moment throughout an entire cast.  

Usually translates to better strike detection any time of day.

A-Jay

 

[heavyduty]

On ‎4‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 10:50 PM, Munkin said:

Match the hatch: This has always worked for me and I know people will disagree but if bass are eating say shad the shad do not change color when the water is murky because of rain.

Excellent point!!!

 

As said many times already, slow down. Moving your rod tip only a few inches moves your bait much further. If slack or slow current, feel what your bait is doing on the bottom. If something feels different, set the hook, hook sets are free!

 

Location- saying I've heard and found to be true, 95% of the fish are in 5% of the water. Know what your target species generally does in high/low water, stained/clear water, seasonally.

 

When you catch a fish, take note of what happened. Fast/slow retrieve, deep/shallow, fast/slow water, near bank or out in the water how many feet, near wood, sunny/cloudy, depth. 

 

I fish rivers 99% of the time. Learn to read the water. Don't just beat the bank to death. Look for things that can impact current and hide bait. Could be rocks or grass beds out in the middle of the river, islands, ledges, etc. Sometimes the fish are at the head of an eddie pool, sometimes at the tail out. Fish an area thoroughly before moving on. If you catch one fish, chances are there are more there. If you miss one, throw back or throw a different bait.

 

Don't throw your bait in the center of your spot. Throw beyond or upstream and let your bait enter the target area naturally. Learn to let your bait enter the water with minimal disturbance or you might as well be throwing rocks

[KayakFish107]

I’m pretty new to bass fishing and there’s a few things that I have learned that have definitely helped me:

 

1. Slow down, relax, it’s okay if you don’t hammer em every time out! Fishing is a learning experience, and put that knowledge to use!

2. Sometimes being happy with catching numbers is better than just one big fish, but to each their own!

3. Take advice, ask for help

4. Try new things! You never know if you’ll find a technique that works well

 

And very possibly the most important:

5. Be responsible, respectful, and courteous to everyone and everything on, in, and around our waterways. Lead a good example and others may very well follow suit. Pick up trash and keep the waterways in good shape so everyone can enjoy them!

[thinkingredneck]

Don't use a stringer to keep fish around Alligators.  I had a nice stringer of blue gill and almost got my yak flipped by a very large one.  Thank goodness it was a cord stringer and not a metal one.  God protects fools and little children. (Sometimes.)  I knew better than to use a stringer around gators or sharks but was lazy or arrogant and was stupid. That is why I have an Alligator for my image.  It made a strong impression.  We humans aren't used to being prey.

 

Also, young Alligators will hit a topwater.  Especially a Jitterbug.

[scaleface]

9 hours ago, thinkingredneck said:

A friend developed retina issues and became legally blind.

If all of a sudden  there is  sudden influx of floaters or  sparks of light in peripheral  vision or both , get to the eye Dr   now .I had torn retinas in both eyes , six months apart , two  years ago . Had surgery on the spot and am lucky I didnt have total detachment . 

[snake95]

This is for anglers that have never fished soft plastics, or don't have anyone to instruct them on using them.  My tip is: learn to fish a basic worm using a Texposed hook and/or wacky rig.

 

(I know, sounds like it would be a very small minority, but I was in that minority and this site changed my world by teaching me where to start, about 3 years ago).  Here's what I'd say to anglers getting started with soft plastics:

 

- They say confidence is key.  Start with confidence, because the tons of plastics lining the shelves are there because they catch bass.

 

- There are countless configurations of soft plastics, and countless ways to rig them; basic baits to start with are:

 

1. Zoom trick worms, roboworms, or any number of common straight worms
2. Ribbontail worms
3. Stick baits (aka "senkos")

 

- Learn to T-rig and texpose these from Glenn's videos.  Fish them weightless or with a small bullet sinker.  You can also fish wacky rigs, but the good ol' basic T-rig is great for beginners IMHO because it's nearly snag proof.

 

- How do you give them action?  Well, the short answer is let the plastic do the work.  It will wiggle and move enough when pulled or twitched (let the rod do the work, not the reel), when fluttering down on the fall, and often when just sitting there.  It does not take a ton of movement to get bit.  Use the reel mainly to gather slack.

 

- Cast to targets: brushpiles, small points in the bank, schooling baitfish, pods of spawning bluegills (yes there are bass among them, just waiting), etc. etc.

 

- Let the bait flutter down, and then use any retrieve you want: hop, drag, swim with short twitches, swim on surface, particularly if the weather is warm, periodically, do nothing and "deadstick" it.  When guys say these baits get hit "on the fall" they mean it, it's that simple.

 

- Put in time on the water, keep it simple, don't stress about colors.  No lure, and no color is magic.  Don't listen to folks who say "they are biting on this color and this bait only" - just go fishing with the tried and true lures and pick some basic colors like white, black, green pumpkin.  If you want to go wild and fish a pink trick worm or blue/black swirl YUM Dinger - go for it!

 

Thanks to the guys on this site who built my confidence in soft plastics and taught me what to do.

 

Yes, you can do countless other rigs and fish countless other plastics, and you should, but no better place to start than with the basics. 

 

I saw with my own eyes the sophisticated gear Gerald Swindle, two time AOY winner had rigged up on deck as he came in on day 3 of the Classic: a medium spinning combo with a wacky-rigged green stickbait.

 

 

 

 

[Brad in Texas]

If you are throwing a presentation where it ends up on bottom, let's say a T-Rigged worm, a wacky-rigged worm, a drop shot rig, and if you catch your first fish immediately either in the process of it dropping through the water column (before it even hits bottom) or within seconds after it hits bottom, then fish fast, reel it in and cast/pitch or flip to different places to increase the number of presentations the way they like it that day at that time. If the fish are not biting it on the fall or immediately on touch-down, then slow way down, wiggle it, move it back slowly, really soak your bait. 

 

It is usually one or the other: you either want your presentation to "drop" really often and repeatedly . . . or soak really long.

 

Brad

[Mike L]

Always be ready to Improvise, Overcome and Adapt 

 

 

 

Mike