How long will you let a bait sit?

[keagbassr]

About as long as it takes to turn the handle and engage the reel.?

[scaleface]

I never let it set  for more than a few seconds . Sometimes , if I'm over a limb , I'll lift it and jiggle it  then let it settle back down . I might do that for a minute .

[The Maestro]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Depends a lot on the bait. Usually it's not very long, but I'll fish a bait very slowly. I probably let topwaters sit the longest before moving them and have had untold numbers of fish hit them the instant they moved. My largest swimbait fish to date was on a Slammer that sat for well over a minute and she crushed it the instant I twitched it. 

This makes sense. Something about the bait (profile, color etc..) has the fish convinced enough that it MIGHT be alive/food that they'll watch it closely and then that first little bit of movement seals the deal.

[BassThumb]

Maybe 15 seconds at a time, and that's with topwater only.

 

With jigs, I regularly do 5 second pauses, but that's about it. Sometimes a cast lasts 3-4 minutes if I'm fishing cold water or bombing heavy football jigs over large areas as a search lure.

 

If I'm going to fish that slow, I need to be really sure there's fish in that area. It's always a constant mental battle to decide whether to focus on covering water targeting semi-active or active bass vs. slowing down to possibly entice inactive fish to bite. More often than not, I tend to do better moving quickly. I'm not a deadstick kind of guy.