What technique are you best at?

[FCPhil]

What technique are you best with and what tips can you give for fishing it?

 

I am by no means an expert but by far my favorite and most successful technique is a topwater walker. I used to mostly fish the Ima Skimmer but now I only fish my own versions I made in my garage. Usually when I see people fish walkers they fish them with a fast, steady, smooth retrieve where the lure is constantly zigzagging across the surface. I fish it that way sometimes, but I have had far more success with a slow cadence and sharp, abrupt jerks of the line so there is a brief pause in between. Also, quick sets of 2-3 jerks followed by a pause have produced well. Fishing straight braid makes these abrupt sharp “walks” easier to do. 

 

I have the best success with it fishing shallow in the post spawn when bass are feeding on spawning bluegills. If you have trouble with bass shaking free on larger walking baits, try Decoy X-s21 hooks. They keep the fish pinned better than normal trebles but require a firm hookset. 

[Heartland]

Post a pic or two of the baits you are making in your garage, would love to see what you are doing.   One top water tip is to leave a lot more slack in your line when working the bait then you would think, if the line is too tight to the bait it tends to kill a lot of the action.

[Crestliner2008]

"Best" is a relative term depending on the conditions you are dealing with. I fish mainly for smallmouth and I'd guess, from those who know me, that the drop shot would be my no. 1 presentation. And, as of late, nose hooking a tube has been a fine producer!

[CroakHunter]

My favorite and #1 producer would be pitching either a jig or a texas rig. The biggest take away or tip that I have is to be efficient. Hit your high percentage areas with the best casting angle and boat position you can. 

[long island basser]

14 minutes ago, CroakHunter said:

My favorite and #1 producer would be pitching either a jig or a texas rig. The biggest take away or tip that I have is to be efficient. Hit your high percentage areas with the best casting angle and boat position you can. 

Ditto 

[Catt]

What technique are you best at?

 

Fishing structure ?

[Mobasser]

1 technique I'm best at? Plastic worm fishing. That's it

[flatcreek]

Soft plastics on jigs,t- rigged or c- rigged

[Hawkeye21]

Power fishing.  I like to cover a lot of water throwing chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and crankbaits.

[Jig Man]

Chunk and wind but I really like vertical fishing.

[Deleted account]

7 hours ago, FCPhil said:

What technique are you best with and what tips can you give for fishing it?

The "technique" of fishing.

Tip: fish more.

[scaleface]

I'm best at fishing bottom bouncing lures . Soft plastics , metal lures , lipless crankbaits ... 

[the reel ess]

Topwaters are my best and favorite technique because I love (live) to see the blowup. The frog is in this group, but a different kind of fishing.

 

I'm trying to make the jig my best technique because I catch bigger bass with it.

 

[scaleface]

 Bouncing lures off the bottom is my strongest area but not my favorite way to fish . I absolutely love throwing buzzbaits .

[BoatSquirrel]

7 hours ago, Heartland said:

Post a pic or two of the baits you are making in your garage, would love to see what you are doing.

 

8 hours ago, FCPhil said:

I used to mostly fish the Ima Skimmer but now I only fish my own versions I made in my garage.

The Skimmer has been a very good bait for me also.  I would also like to see your handmade topwaters please.  

[Log Catcher]

I used to think I was best with crankbaits. After the way my luck went last year I'm not sure I'm very good with any of them.

[FishTank]

Texas Rigged soft plastic.  

[Bankbeater]

Probably fishing with jigs. 

[A-Jay]

10 hours ago, FCPhil said:

What technique are you best with and what tips can you give for fishing it?  

While it may not be 'my best' technique, it's the one that has truly helped put the bigger fish in the net for me.

 

It is "Learning" while on the water - From the good, The Bad & even the Ugly Days.  

 

Being able to "add it' to what I "know" as well as 'apply it' in a useful manner further on down the road,

has been invaluable.

 

And as for a tip: Get out on the water, keep fishing and look to learn.  

 

A-Jay

 

 

[jimmyjoe]

   In still waters, it's the spinnerbait. The only "tip" I can give is pulse it. But in the rivers, I'm a spoon fanatic. From 1/4 oz up to 1 oz, they all produce. But you have to know the action, the speed of retrieve and the depth. Go to a school swimming pool in the off-hours and check what the lure is really doing. You'd be surprised what you need to do to make a spoon dance. And that "dance" - the erratic baitfish action - is what pulls'em in.  Failure to know what the lure is doing and how to make it do what you want is the main reason fishermen don't really like spoons.

   Of course, I'm up north. No weeds in my rivers.    jj

[deadadrift89]

Texas Rig - Always change profiles if one isn't working and don't fish it all day if your not catching anything, try something else totally different 

[JustJames]

Technique for me is Junk Fishing.

tip for you is to plan ahead and know what you are doing, becuz I don’t know.

[WRB]

My favorite lure is a casting jig and spend more time fishing jigs and soft plastic worms then anything other type of lures. I like to use everything from top water walking lures, poppers, wake baits, frogs, weedless spoons, buzz baits you name it shallow running lures like rats are a lot fun to fish.

I also like to fish big swimbaits, deep, medium, shallow diving crank baits, jerk baits, structure spoons, under and tail spins, I like everything.

Casting jigs is my specialty and caught a lot of big bass doing it. The key to success casting and retreiving a jig along the bottom structure is staying focused, knowing where and when to fish them and not missing strikes.

Tom

[snake95]

Buzzbaits and toads.

 

Doesn't take a lot of skill to be honest, but by a wide margin my top producers of good quality pond bass are all buzzed on surface.

[FCPhil]

36 minutes ago, snake95 said:

Buzzbaits and toads.

 

Doesn't take a lot of skill to be honest, but by a wide margin my top producers of good quality pond bass are all buzzed on surface.

I too have noticed a trend of bigger bass on buzzing baits. The Whopper Plopper is what I have seen it the most with but buzzing toads and other buzzing styles lures as well.