Finesse Observation

[Rhardy]

I fish a small river close to the house on occasion. The river receives a lot of pressure from fishing, has campsites right on the water, and also has a tubing outfitter. The nice thing is I can be there within 15 minutes from the house. The fish in this section of water are bombarded constantly. What I have noticed is I seem to do better fishing if I downsize my equipment. Case in point, this morning I was using my light spinning set up with 4 pound test, a 1/32 jig head with a white curly tail. Within an hour I had caught a couple of smallmouth and one sunfish. The first smallmouth was the largest I have caught there and was at the take out spot for the folks tubing. Of course I was fishing before they started floating the river. It seems like when I use my normal smallmouth set up I catch less fish. My guess is that these fish see so much pressure that they are reluctant to take the larger lures.

Has anyone else experienced the same? I may just stick with light spinning gear routinely at this place. Any suggestions for other good smaller lures? Thanks.

[Guitarfish]

Yes, that is a dead on assessment.  Since I only use 6lb mono on all my reels I stick to small suspending Rapala's, Torpedo's on top, small spinner baits, small jigs up to an 1/8th, etc.  But go with your gut, It will tell you what's up.

[Steveo-1969]

Downsizing your presentation has been a technique to catch pressured fish for a long time.

[Rhardy]

1 hour ago, Guitarfish said:

Yes, that is a dead on assessment.  Since I only use 6lb mono on all my reels I stick to small suspending Rapala's, Torpedo's on top, small spinner baits, small jigs up to an 1/8th, etc.  But go with your gut, It will tell you what's up.

I will check out the Rapala’s and Torpedo’s, I have the others. Thanks. 

1 hour ago, Steveo-1969 said:

Downsizing your presentation has been a technique to catch pressured fish for a long time.

Think I will stick with it a while and see how it goes. Took me long enough to try it, wish I had earlier. 

[Talio]

Man, once you get into 4lbs and 1/32oz you're really talking about ultralight at that point. But I find the same thing quite a bit. I use 2x fluoroflex tippet with 10lbs powerpro as backing on my spinning reels cause you get 12lbs break strength on 6lbs test diameter.  It seems to make a difference on some presentations.

 

I also really like hair jigs this time of year in current because you're gonna gets lots of nymphs, hellgramites and leeches that the fish like to ambush in the faster moving water.  I'll actually fish this on a fly rod often, Euronymph style.  2x flouroflex leader to 10' of 3x Rio bicolor indicator material to my Cortland competition line that doesn't even really come off the reel much on a 9' 5wt.  The fight can get a little interesting on that light weight rod since it's my trout rod, but I'm not buying a new rod for something I do maybe 3% of the time.  When I do this, I prefer PJ Finesse jigs in black.

[MGF]

My home river gets an unbelievable amount of tubing and a fair amount of fishing pressure. I still catch some pretty decent size bass so I don't go too light on the tackle.

 

Finesse? sometimes. The two presentations I've used the most this year since summer hit and the wter level dropped is a 1/20 oz ned rig and a Zoom finesse worm on a split shot rig. Oh, a small tube works pretty well too.

 

Just Wednesday evening my wife and I waded a short section and probably caught around 20 bass...nothing real big.

 

My largest so far this year is 21 1/2". I got a bunch of 19, 18 and 17 with the 15 and under fish being too numerous to count. Throw in the occasional pike and it's too much for an UL and real light line.

 

For the "finesse stuff I use a medium weight spinning spooled with 10# braid and a 10# or 12# flouro leader. Many years ago I started fishing this river with UL tackle and I just lost too many good fish.

 

At times I use a lot of jerk baits, square bills, larger skirted jigs, bladed jigs etc and I throw all that on a medium BC.

 

The lower and clearer the water, the smaller and quieter the presentation.

[Tatsu Dave]

I use medium action rods with small spinning reels spooled with 8-10# clear fluro. Heres my idea since stickbaits with their darting movement on twitches and tail wiggling slow drop are so deadly on bass, try the 4" senkos and tie direct to line. 2/0-3/0 swimbait hooks with owner screw-loc's work really well,available already rigged or buy the hooks and locs and put em' together.

[Jig Man]

A couple of things you might consider;  Ned rig with Zman TRDs and fluorocarbon line.  That combination sure has been good for me the last several years.

[Rhardy]

Appreciate the insight and suggestions. Going to hit some of my local shops and see what I can find for a few more baits. Most of the pickings are low around here so may have to order online. 

[Brian Martalus]

Well, today I got one of my biggest Smallies of the season on an Ultra Light rod, 4 pound test, and 1/16 oz chartreuse grub jig in a small creek about 20 feet wide. It’s not at all pressured area, but air and water temps dropped quickly from yesterday to today and the fish were not chasing anything I was throwing. I changer to small jig and got a small 8 inch fish. Next cast, I thought I was snagged after I cast the jig up stream of a deep pool behind a boulder and slowly let it sink and float down stream letting it bounce along the bottom. Next thing I know a big smallie rockets out of the water like they do. I handed the rod to my four year old who was with me, but she was unable to subdue it, so I brought it in after some blazing runs. Most fish I catch in this stream are thin stream fish, but this one turned  out to be pushing 18 inches and three pounds. I think the sudden cooler water and high pressure required the smaller finesse presentation.

[roadwarrior]

[John Diamond]

I've been using black 8 lb braid this year, after losing a 3-4 lb fish on 4lb mono last year because of the stretchiness and not getting a good hook set and being able to keep him from throwing the lure on one of it's many jumps.  I don't use a leader, and I use a size 0 snap swivel(because I frequently change lures, and I really don't think the fish care, heck they like shiny spinners, right?).  I was pretty close to switching to 6lb mono until this weekend due to the slow season, but after crushing it all morning yesterday, I'm kind of torn.  

 

Last year fishing for largemouth with Senkos I was told by a pro guide that I was fishing with to ditch the braid and swivel (but then I proceeded to out fish him that day).  On one hand I love the tightness of the braid, and the feel, but the fouling and knots are absolutely the worst when they happen(usually on a missed strike).  I'm probably still going to switch back to mono, but I just wonder if the fish actually care?  My experience is that bass will pretty much eat most anything that hits the water does the line's visibility really matter that much?

[MGF]

The reason I use a flouro leader on my river spinning tackle is to get away from the buoyancy of braid or mono. It's not because of visibility. It's so I get the action I'm after out of the lure. With some baits I fish straight braid or mono.

 

The same is true for the snap swivel. The primary concern is the action of the bait.

 

I usually fish with several rods so that takes care of most of my lure changing but I can tie knots pretty fast and easy too. I do sometimes use a snap when using a crank bait.

 

A wise man once said "What works, works."