How to cover water but with finesse?

[Luke Barnes]

I'm about over trying to power fish in these pressured public ponds. The fish see it all and I'm tired of getting skunked. I know downsizing and finesse is a good way to coax pressured bass into biting and I have a few dedicated spinning combos for finesse. My question though is unless I have a hard target like a lay down or weeds, how do I cover alot of water to find the fish but using finesse techniques? Wacky, Ned, drop shot all are slow and methodical and would take me an entire day to cover a whole pond going slow. I want to be able to find them, then throw the slow stuff to get more bites. Any advice?

[roadwarrior]

Rage Tail Menace

[ATA]

3" swimbait to find them would be good.

[TnRiver46]

If you are covering water, like casting and reeling, to me that’s not finesse fishing. Oh yes I’m well aware they sell things called finesse swimbaits and finesse spinnerbaits, but that’s just so people will purchase them. Covering water and finesse fishing are opposites in my book 

 

the only way I can think of to cover water with finesse is drag a small worm over every inch of the bottom, which will take a while. But I’ve got time......

[ATA]

Thats a good point

[garroyo130]

23 minutes ago, Luke Barnes said:

I want to be able to find them, then throw the slow stuff to get more bites. Any advice?

 

Don't look for fish, look for structure and cover. Then fish that using every lure in the tacklebox. 

 

Best way to do this IMO is dragging a heavy carolina rig to find hard bottom and other types of cover/structure. 

[Munkin]

Mojo rig or shakey head should work. 

 

Allen 

[galyonj]

5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

If you are covering water, like casting and reeling, to me that’s not finesse fishing.

 

Cosigning this with the caveat that, to me, it seems like one could ask 100 anglers to define "finesse fishing," and run the risk of getting 100 different answers.

 

Do you have any kind of log showing when and where you caught what at that pond?

[OkobojiEagle]

1 hour ago, galyonj said:

Cosigning this with the caveat that, to me, it seems like one could ask 100 anglers to define "finesse fishing," and run the risk of getting 100 different answers.

... and all of those not agreeing with my definition would be wrong

 

oe

[fishwizzard]

The original Midwest Finesse "Ned rig" is as fast as any cast-n-crank presentation and was literally designed to cover a lot of water quickly.  

[jimmyjoe]

2 hours ago, garroyo130 said:

Don't look for fish, look for structure and cover. Then fish that using every lure in the tacklebox. 

 

   Bingo!                jj

[clc48301]

Swim jig

[JustJames]

Most you mentioned can fish faster and as effective, Ned rig just simply slow steady retrieve with a few drop to hit bottom works really well. Wacky rig once hit bottom you can start popping short and more frequently. Another and my current favorite is 1/16oz Roboworm Neko rig. Also can fish fast and slow, I got plenty of strike when moving fast but steady and not over power. It more like reactions strike with hit and run.

These methods work well for me but those fish trend to be in small to medium up to 2lb.

[BigAngus752]

4 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

how do I cover alot of water to find the fish but using finesse techniques?

 

It makes sense, yet it hurts my brain.  

 

[Team9nine]

4 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

My question though is unless I have a hard target like a lay down or weeds, how do I cover alot of water to find the fish but using finesse techniques? Wacky, Ned, drop shot all are slow and methodical and would take me an entire day to cover a whole pond going slow. I want to be able to find them, then throw the slow stuff to get more bites. Any advice?

 

It’s a pond - you’ve already found them ? 

 

The life of most bass in a pond centers around the shoreline, or the shoreline flat out to where it drops. Focus on that area with somewhat faster finesse tactics like Ned rig just to see where you get the most bites. 

 

Also, pay a lot of attention to where you see the most bass, especially in spring or in clear water, or where you see someone else catch a fish. Certain areas will be more productive than others overall, but most areas will hold a few.

 

Beyond that, play the weather and water conditions to your favor, focusing on things like windy side, incoming or outgoing drains after rains, less pressured areas, or just times when conditions are bad and most guys stay home.

[JustJames]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

the only way I can think of to cover water with finesse is drag a small worm over every inch of the bottom, which will take a while. But I’ve got time......

I would like to agree but there is more method which to me still consider finesse faster than drag every inch or bottom but not too fast. One that come into mind is weightless rage menace, Zoom baby brush hog etc. I like this when fishing shallow up to 8 Fow. The longest I have to wait is when lure fall down to bottom which 50%  chance you got hit while it drop. After that I just lift the rod (from 3:00-1:00) and let it drop on its own, no other action needed. This way it is faster and not over power fishing at all. 
This technique really require line watching, every sudden move on the line it is a bite.

[Luke Barnes]

I'll add more to my original post here. I'm terrible at line watching and feeling those tiny little sips of the lure into the fish's mouth. Probably why I am not that good of a finesse angler in all honesty. I'm decent at detecting the bite on a drop shot but that's about it. 

 

The pond i was at yesterday I couldn't see any visible cover or structure. It was super windy and murky water. Less than 1 ft visibility. Its a fairly large pond so would take quite a while to cover every inch and I dont have that kind of time. 

 

The Neko sounds like the quickest way to cover ground while still being somewhat finesse I guess. Ive only thrown it once so i really don't know. I always have a ned tied on but usually fish it slow. I guess I could speed it up. I'm just having a really tough year. Last year was so much better for me by this time. 

[Mobasser]

Charlie Brewers Slider fishing. Even though this is a slow method, the steady reeling will cover water well. Use a thinner 4" plastic worm, rigged weedless on a Spider Slider head. " Polish The Rocks".

[NHBull]

Bubba Shot 

[Michigander]

When the fish are pressured but I have to cover water, I turn to tiny jigs. Working cover or swimming them along.

 

[Bass Rutten]

1 minute ago, NHBull said:

Bubba Shot 

Bubba shot uses stout gear and heavier line which is hardly finesse, perhaps you meant powershotting which is drop shotting modified by using a heavier weight but the same gear and line as usual which should meet the op’s criteria.

[CrankFate]

Whenever I hear pressured public pond, I have to say I see it differently. In the pressured public ponds I know of, I don’t think pressure is the problem. I think it’s that they only have a couple of things to eat and there’s tons of it around. These fish are never hungry and don’t have to compete for food. Plus, they’ve never seen 99% of what everyone is throwing alive in the wild. If they only see bluegills and crawfish, in only one type of terrain, they don’t even know what anything else is.

[Luke Barnes]

30 minutes ago, Bassjam2000 said:

Bubba shot uses stout gear and heavier line which is hardly finesse, perhaps you meant powershotting which is drop shotting modified by using a heavier weight but the same gear and line as usual which should meet the op’s criteria.

I thought about powershotting. I just literally 5 minutes ago read the term Bubba Shot on my google news feed. Guess what I look up on google much haha. 

 

Ive thought about small finesse jigs. Seemed to me about the same pace as a ned.

[RDB]

I might as well be the oddball and say that I don’t think that finesse fishing is just about dragging and not reeling.  While I will agree that when most people finesse fish, they are using things like drop shots, etc., I think most would agree that a spy bait is a finesse technique or a small hair jig is a finesse technique and those are moving applications.  To me, finesse fishing is about the presentation.  Downsized tackle, downsized lure, trying to present the bait as natural and non threatening as possible.  Iaconelli says that you can finesse fish a large crankbait but I haven’t quite figured that one out.

[JustJames]

2 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

The Neko sounds like the quickest way to cover ground while still being somewhat finesse I guess. Ive only thrown it once so i really don't know.

Neko rig is a very fun way to fish. It is very versatile technique, can fish fast or slow, can use any type worm or even creature like brush hog, can fish effectively in deep or shallow water. It is open hook technique so can use lighter line, yet less snag than any technique required weight. The most of all, the bites are so varies and very challenging to detect the bite. As long as you keep tension on the line you would know it is a bite but to hook and land them is another thing. The way you keep moving/shaking the lure make you feel more active than said dead sticking or dragging, but you would get tired fast so comfortable and light setup is a must.

If I want to fish slow or dead sticking, I will use Zman either ZinkerZ or Finessez, shallow to medium I use 6” Roboworm, for deeper I go with Senko. I pretty much use one weight about 3/32oz (2.5 grams). Most of the fish I caught from spinning setup last year come from Neko Rig (close to 100 fish).

This one caught two days ago.

 

This is my rig.