Your Best Producing Retrieve

[Catt]

10 hours ago, Capriceragtop said:

Ya know, I've been wondering this: how can you tell when you've got a strike on the drop? While reeling, it's easy, as you can feel the resistance and jerks, but if you're letting the line unspool on the fall, how do you feel the bite?

 

Observation 

Pay close attention to the depth you're fishing, any sudden change in the amount of line you're using could mean you've been bit. For instance, if you're fishing 6 feet of water and the lure suddenly stops at the 3 depth, it's possible a bass has taken the bait. If you're fishing 3 feet of water and 6 feet of line sinks, chances are good a bass is traveling with the bait. This is extremely true on the initial drop and no line movement maybe noticed.

 

[J Francho]

19 hours ago, Catt said:

Texas Rigs & Jig-n-Craws I start out with "short strokes", kinda like hopping but more aggressive.

Whenever I stroke a jig like this, I get that Clarence Carter song in my head. 

[Mike L]

31 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Whenever I stroke a jig like this, I get that Clarence Carter song in my head. 

Now you did it!!

?

 

 

 

Mike

[LrgmouthShad]

39 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Whenever I stroke a jig like this, I get that Clarence Carter song in my head. 

I have to admit that I had to look to make sure the song I was thinking of was Clarence Carter, but I know the song. Lol!

 

always kind of a weird song to me

[T-Billy]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

Whenever I stroke a jig like this, I get that Clarence Carter song in my head. 

You dirty dog. You KNOW we're all gonna be walking around with that stuck in our heads all morning!!! ?

 

Edit to add: I'm guilty of the same offense. I once posted a link to the video in a thread. I was kind of afraid I'd get a whammy for it. LOL.

[J Francho]

20 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Edit to add: I'm guilty of the same offense. I once posted a link to the video in a thread. I was kind of afraid I'd get a whammy for it. LOL.

It's an iffy one - kind of PG-13 if you ask me, lol.

[T-Billy]

39 minutes ago, J Francho said:

It's an iffy one - kind of PG-13 if you ask me, lol.

10-4. Of course that was before Glenn gave @TnRiver46 a ban hammer. I wouldn't dream of posting it nowadays. ?

[MN Fisher]

Just now, T-Billy said:

10-4. Of course that was before Glenn gave @TnRiver46 a ban hammer. I wouldn't dream of posting it nowadays. ?

Ah...just give Russ something for his trailer and he turns into a puddy-tat.

[T-Billy]

I guess since I helped derail Mo's thread I should contribute something useful. 

 

In cold water, say less than 50 degrees I usually start with a drag and subtle shakes. Once it's above 50 I kind of default to hopping and shaking it with my rod tip high in cover. In open water fishing structure, I do the same thing to start, but sweep my rod tip parallel to the surface instead of tip up. I'll change it up depending how the fish are reacting. Always gotta keep an open mind.

[Mobasser]

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

I guess since I helped derail Mo's thread I should contribute something useful. 

 

In cold water, say less than 50 degrees I usually start with a drag and subtle shakes. Once it's above 50 I kind of default to hopping and shaking it with my rod tip high in cover. In open water fishing structure, I do the same thing to start, but sweep my rod tip parallel to the surface instead of tip up. I'll change it up depending how the fish are reacting. Always gotta keep an open mind.

All good T Billy. And, I always thought that old Clarence Carter song was a dumb song. I never cared for it too much.

[Mr. Aquarium]

I like either the jiggle drag or jiggle lift pause

[scaleface]

I  rarely jiggle . Its just a straight lift and drop .

[Capriceragtop]

5 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Observation 

Pay close attention to the depth you're fishing, any sudden change in the amount of line you're using could mean you've been bit. For instance, if you're fishing 6 feet of water and the lure suddenly stops at the 3 depth, it's possible a bass has taken the bait. If you're fishing 3 feet of water and 6 feet of line sinks, chances are good a bass is traveling with the bait. This is extremely true on the initial drop and no line movement maybe noticed.

 

Ah, therein lies the rub: I'm shorebound, so I don't know the depths I'm fishing. I've thought about getting a Deeper, but those suckers are pricey, and I'd be bummed if it came off during a cast.

[Catt]

57 minutes ago, Capriceragtop said:

Ah, therein lies the rub: I'm shorebound, so I don't know the depths I'm fishing.

 

One or two cast you can tell the depth fairly close. There's other signs as well.

[Mobasser]

1 hour ago, Capriceragtop said:

Ah, therein lies the rub: I'm shorebound, so I don't know the depths I'm fishing. I've thought about getting a Deeper, but those suckers are pricey, and I'd be bummed if it came off during a cast.

You could try the countdown method and get a good idea. When your bait hits the surface, try counting down at one ft per second. This can give you an idea of how deep your fishing.

[Team9nine]

On 1/9/2022 at 6:49 PM, Mobasser said:

Your Best Producing Retrieve

 

If I tell you, I'll have to kill ya'  

[TriStateBassin106]

On 1/10/2022 at 7:27 PM, Capriceragtop said:

 but if you're letting the line unspool on the fall, how do you feel the bite?

For me Line starts moving or you feel a heavy load immediately after you close the spool. Those bites are peak "on the fall".

[Bankc]

Lift and drop.  I won't say that it's always the best retrieve on any given day, but over the course of a year, it's the one that produces best.  

 

Though typically, if I'm going to do something like swim it or drag it, I'll usually switch over to something else, rather than a Texas rig.  

[N Florida Mike]

I would say 80% dead sticking.

Of the 20 % thats left most of  the bites are either on a steady retrieve or  when it hits the water and I spin the handle to create a short swim for the bait. I mainly only do that with flukes though.

I also catch some pulling it up and over weeds, and letting it fall. 

Strangely, you would think stopping and starting the bait, hopping it, or twitching it ( esp flukes) would produce a lot. But it doesn’t for me.

Once and awhile, swimming a worm across the surface, letting it sink, and repeating it, will get me bit. But this is mostly at night…

[ironbjorn]

I have very seldomly fished a body of water where dragging is possible. The bait will be gunked up instantly. Lift and drop all the way.

[Bankbeater]

99% of the time it's lift and drop.

[papajoe222]

I forgot to mention another retrieve that has produced, although far from my favorite;

The backlash pick-out retrieve.  Many an outing has started out with this loosing, but sometimes productive method. I didn't mention it earlier as I don't recommend its intentional use.

[lunkerboss923]

I try many retrieves until I find out what works. My experience has been slow in the winter and fast in the summer. 

[CrashVector]

I typically do a series of fast hops, sorta like how you work a shaky head.

 

Most of my big fish are caught on the initial fall or the first hop.