Has anyone gone to finesse or multi-species fishing and had good results?

[bulldog1935]

We have a standing new moon winter trip to dock fish the nite-lights in Arroyo Colorado barge canal in the Texas tropics.  

XUL tackle and change-up pays off big - we're stocking up on spotted seatrout for fish tacos, but the bycatch includes snook, redfish, ladyfish, mangrove snapper and the occasional desirable flounder.  

  

Lures are 2" swim shad, small twichbaits, UL spoons and plugs, and live shrimp on weightless cigar-cork rig.  Also fly rod with size 6 whistlers.  

The bait are balls of tiny glass minnows, and earlier in the fall, can fish larger lures (3" swim shad) for finger mullet.  

Rods are long Japanese rockfish rods, to reach the fish sign at the edge of the lights.  

We spend a lot of time sitting on the dock talking and smoking cigars, waiting on fish sign to stand, cast, and hook up. 

Stealth is also important, because the schooling gamefish have several miles of dock lights to choose between.  

Tandem rigs will get you quite a few doubles, multi-species doubles.  Need a big long-reach net to lift your catch at the dock.  

btw, these are all male schoolies 17-22" that travel 25 mi/day to find enough food, and serious sport on UL.  The larger females stake out a breeding turf in Laguna Madre.  

 

 

[the reel ess]

13 hours ago, HaydenS said:

A Zman ned rig will catch just about anything.  The biggest crappie I ever caught was on one!

Throw this and you'll get some of everything, including those bass!

I got one of my biggest crappie as a bycatch, fishing for bass with a CC Super Spot.

[cdlittle]

I literally just finished building a rod for this specific purpose. It has enough backbone to handle smaller bass, but light enough to make panfish super enjoyable. 

 

5lb braid to 4lb mono, throwing baits that are 1/8 oz or less. First outing was mighty successful!

 

http://imgur.com/a/UUATOXH

[bulldog1935]

I'll add some detail about the rods and lures.  

Bought my first XUL and UL rockfish rods a dozen years ago.  

Here's the XUL, 7'6", very soft short solid tip, long fast mid, and butt section reinforced with a graphite weave layer. It's rated 0.3 to 5 g, 2-4-lb test

The UL tubular-tip rod is 7'9", 0.6 to 6 g, 2.5-6-lb test.  

I landed one slot (25") snook on this combo w/ 4-lb test, several under 20", and of course broke off a couple of bigger bruiser snook on both rods below.  

 

Been fishing those 12 years, and have since added these two longer spinning rods, this inexpensive, but very good 8' Korean Dark Horse UL Rockfish, that I'm brave enough to take out on the kayak to do glass minnows in winter tide pases - note it will fish 10-lb braid.  

And this spendy Yamaga Blanks flagship model, 8'3", that out-casts everything by 20-30%, and definitely won't take out on the kayak.  I match these rods with Shimano C1000 to C2000 for inshore.  

Because of the heavier butt section, as these progressive-taper rods get longer, the max lure weight rating goes way up.  

Waiting on Fed-Ex to deliver my first bait version, the newer mid-range Yamaga Blanks Blue Current III 82/B, 8'2", I'm aiming for 2 g on the low end with a raced out Daiwa SV.  

 

Here are some of the lures.  

2" swim shad +a titanium-wire stinger-hook variant - if you tie this pair as a tandem, have to put the stinger in back

38- to 50-mm sinking plugs and a glow spoon - a 75-mm 3/16-oz sinking Pins minnow on the bottom for size.  

[ArthurLK11]

I've always felt this way. I enjoy fishing smaller lures on lighter gear for two reasons. 1. It lets me catch more fish. 2. The fight is much more enjoyable. I believe that the whole "big lures=big fish" saying is only half true. All big lures do is limit the number of small fish you'll catch, they don't actually incense the number of big fish you'll catch. Small lures keep the number of big fish you'll catch the same, but they increase the number of smaller fish you'll catch. Also, my PB largemouth which was around 6-8 pounds was caught on a 2 inch curly tail grub that was intended for a yellow perch. 

[Biglittle8]

I use finesse tackle a lot for Bass, it seems to work well almost anytime. My favorite rig as of late has been the wacky rig, it seems bass of all sizes are interested in a meal that they don't have to expend much energy to get.  I like to use it where the current (caused mostly by wind in most waters I fish) and slower water meet like at the intersections of points and flats, casting into the wind and letting the bait drift until it settles, but I never let the bait sit long. (Also, great when casting to shallow banks) I have caught Pickerel on a wacky rig. I have two finesse set ups, an All-Star 6ft with a Lew's reel and my newest a Dobyns 7ft with a Shimano.

[Black Hawk Basser]

Absolutely.  If I want to catch a little bit of everything, I throw small jerks like a #6 X-Rap, or a 2.5" paddle tail plastic on a light jig.  Some days you'll get walleye, bass and crappie all on the same bait, if you size it properly.

[Bankbeater]

I carry a 7'0" ml spinning rod with 6 lb line and a 1/16 spinnerbait tied on.  Last year I tried a 6'0" ul with 4 lb line, but that was too light.  I had multiple break offs in the vegetation.

[bulldog1935]

@Bankbeater

The difference you found is all about rod taper.  The traditional spinning rod back to Shakespeare and Harnell is para taper.  The 6' UL is going to fit the mold.  The entire rod length flexes to load for casting, but that gives the rod a skinny butt section, narrow lure weight range, and no help on big fish.  

 

The longer Japanese tradition XUL rods are based on progressive taper - actual fly rod tapers.  With increasing weight, a band in the rod progressively loads down the rod length, until you get to a stout butt section that doesn't load.  This gives you a wider range in lure weights, from nothing to 1/4 oz and more, and a stout, fish-turning rod butt.  

[NYWayfarer]

The unofficial Largemouth Bass record in NY state was caught on an ultra light action rod and a Ozark Trail crankbait this month. Estimated to be 12.5 pounds. Catch and release only as the season hasn’t started yet. Guy didn’t have a certified scale.

 

I always have a finesse setup with me. You can catch anything with smaller bait and lighter line. Big baits and heavy gear will limit what you can catch. 
 

I fish for anything that bites and on slow days I take what the water will give me.

[livemusic]

1 hour ago, NYWayfarer said:

The unofficial Largemouth Bass record in NY state was caught on an ultra light action rod and a Ozark Trail crankbait this month. Estimated to be 12.5 pounds. Catch and release only as the season hasn’t started yet. Guy didn’t have a certified scale.

 

I always have a finesse setup with me. You can catch anything with smaller bait and lighter line. Big baits and heavy gear will limit what you can catch. 
 

I fish for anything that bites and on slow days I take what the water will give me.

 

Wow, LM bass grow that large up there? Did they stock Florida strain?

[NYWayfarer]

1 minute ago, livemusic said:

 

Wow, LM bass grow that large up there? Did they stock Florida strain?

The current record is 11 pounds. Bass that size up here are as rare as Sasquatch sitings.

[cdlittle]

13 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

@Bankbeater

The difference you found is all about rod taper.  The traditional spinning rod back to Shakespeare and Harnell is para taper.  The 6' UL is going to fit the mold.  The entire rod length flexes to load for casting, but that gives the rod a skinny butt section, narrow lure weight range, and no help on big fish.  

 

The longer Japanese tradition XUL rods are based on progressive taper - actual fly rod tapers.  With increasing weight, a band in the rod progressively loads down the rod length, until you get to a stout butt section that doesn't load.  This gives you a wider range in lure weights, from nothing to 1/4 oz and more, and a stout, fish-turning rod butt.  

 

This! I built my wife and I matching XXUL spinning rods from 6' 2wt fly blanks. They will cast 1/64 jigs with <2" plastics a respectable distance but have the backbone to turn a medium size bass fairly easily.

 

http://imgur.com/a/f9ZPSls