How do you slow down?

[blongfishing]

What do you do to MAKE yourself slow down? I’m having a hard time slowing down as the water temp cools down. I know, it probably sounds dumb but I just find myself going way too fast with my bait. I have had no problem in years past. I think this is in part to the way I fish all summer. Running and gunning (hitting 20+ spots a day, making 5 casts with a topwater, and then moving to the next one and repeat) on blueback herring lakes is how I fish all summer. Is there a way y’all slow down? Counting down? What is it? Maybe I’m just overthinking and over complicating things.

[Mobasser]

I had this same problem many years ago. I trained myself to slow down by fishing a plastic worm. The slower I could move it, the better my catch rate.                           My older brother put a piece of masking tape on my rod when I was about 13. He wrote, " SD"on the tape, which was a reminder to slow down. He was always telling me," if you want to learn to catch bass, you've got to slow down". 

[A-Jay]

Trade that trolling motor in for an anchor and anchor line.  At some point, you'll slow down.

Also, fish light jigs.

Maintaining bottom contact with a 3/16 oz hair jig is a whole different deal.

Slow is The Only way to get bites.

A-Jay

[Spankey]

I’m one who throws a lot of crankbaits. But I have a love for soft plastics also. What I have to do sometimes is after I’m making that switch from hard to soft baits is cast my grub or tube and physically set my rod down for a short time. Not that long but long enough to get myself in a slow retrieval mode. 

[Jar11591]

Mindfulness. For me it has to be a conscious effort. I have to think about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. After a little while I’ll get into a slow rhythm where I don’t have to think about it as much but it’s definitely a “zone” I have to get into by being mindful. 

[papajoe222]

On my first boat, I had two plastic labels on the screen of my Humminbird 60 flasher, so that every time I looked down at it I was reminded to SLOW DOWN and BUMP IT. Those little reminders helped me become a better angler.

[WRB]

Instead of picking up your top water rod turn on your sonar unit and survey the marina where you launched. 

Determine at what depth the life zone is before tacking a rod out of the locker!

Running and gunning is a habit supported by warm water period success that fades and turns off as the water cools.

Ask your self if you want to catch bass or practice casting?

If you determine the bait is at 15’ select a lure that works at that depth to start with where you located bait and bass.

Tom

[GreenPig]

Just fish. You'll adjust or start catching them again in Spring.

[Bankbeater]

I usually cast out just far enough where I can still see the bait.  I start bringing the bait back in and watching how fast it is moving.  I slow the retrieve as needed for the desired action.  When I get the retrieve down then I start fishing.

[Susky River Rat]

I’ll pet my dog. Look around maybe wait to the chorus of the song that’s playing to move my jig. It’s painful. Slow is extremely hard for me as well. Even when I crank bait slow I try to just move my reel Handle just fast enough to keep the bait moving.

[Woody B]

I can use bottom contact lure correctly but I have a hard time slowing down moving baits.   Occasionally I change to a lower speed reel.   

[Catt]

Movement without movement ?

 

I want to impart action (movement) to my lure without actually moving it forward. 

[TnRiver46]

I have a hard time speeding up. I almost always drag my lures slowly on the bottom 

[Rockytop]

I enjoy fishing slow. Not only fishing my bait slow but if I think a place is good enough to fish I'm going to take my time and pick it apart, whether it's a brush pile, stump field, a hump, a point, or any thing else I take my time. I don't fish tournaments or have that hurry up mindset, when I'm fishing I'm there to enjoy it.

[Troy85]

My brain has a default retrieve speed for bottom baits and moving baits.  If I'm not actively paying attention to it, after a few minutes I just go into default mode and will start casting and reeling at a steady pace or just steadily bumping my bait along the bottom at a constant speed.  Its something I've been trying to improve for quite some time now. I have gotten a lot better about it, but I'm still working on improving.  I catch more fish when not in default mode, so it makes a huge difference obviously.  

 

As far as trolling speed, it used to be if I wasn't catching fish my go to would be to crank up the TM and just cover water.  While that worked occasionally, I have found the past year or two that actually slowing down on the TM has been more effective than speeding up and trying to cover more water.  While this isn't always the case, I'd say it is more often than not.

 

In short, I have to make a very conscious effort to slow down.

[TnRiver46]

Oh yes I forgot to mention I don’t currently have a trolling motor, that helps hahaha 

[OkobojiEagle]

If you're asking about slowing down your bait retrieve speed... I sing.  Quietly to myself I sing a song which has a tempo that sets my retrieve speed at where I want it.

 

A side benefit of this practice is the significant distance other anglers keep from me while I'm serenading myself...

 

oe

[DitchPanda]

I'm fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you look at it in that my home body of water is tough. It has forced me to slow down, really pay attention and maximize bites. 

1 minute ago, OkobojiEagle said:

If you're asking about slowing down your bait retrieve speed... I sing.  Quietly to myself I sing a song which has a tempo that sets my retrieve speed at where I want it.

 

A side benefit of this practice is the significant distance other anglers keep from me while I'm serenading myself...

 

oe

Oh your that guy?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

20 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Oh yes I forgot to mention I don’t currently have a trolling motor, that helps hahaha 

waiting for this to be marked as the solution ?

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

waiting for this to be marked as the solution ?

It also saves a lot of time pondering which one to get, spot lock, active target etc. Oh yeah and saves $3k…..

[ScottW]

The older bass usually surface and yell at me to stop ripping their dentures out. ? Seriously though, I like chatter baits and learned to retrieve them just slow enough that they begin to vibrate and then duplicate that with other lures. Paying for new bass dentures can get expensive. ?

[Catt]

The key is to know when to slow down & when to speed up. 

 

It's like Rate Of Fall, sometimes they want it slow & sometimes they want it fast. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

I usually fish slow and slower. I don’t like fishing fast.

[Fishing_Rod]

Seasons Greetings All,

My principal goal as a recreational angler is to enjoy catch fish. Through the many decades of angling and taunting fish I've learned fish tend to strike frequently if you present an easy opportunity for them. Much like taunting pets with a toy if you move it too fast the interest is simply not there.

 

Also learned through experience that the larger fish that I have been successful with have been on very slow moving soft plastic baits. Again learned from observing older pets they don't want too much of an effort involved. So presenting an easy target is also easy on the angler.

 

Taking it easy on the water also means keeping the angling experience simple. I make sure the bait is in the water more time than not in the water. This applies when I'm shore fishing or using the kayak. I do what I can to spend more time with the bait in the water rather than moving about. Since I am the trolling motor, I subscribe to that conservation of energy theme and only engage that effort as needed.

 

Based on the keep it simple theme, it applies for tackle too. Typically three rigs at the ready to address different regions of the water column, top, middle, and bottom. That way there is always a bait in the water unless I'm taking a break for lunch.

 

I've just found I catch more fish working the baits slower, pretty much feeling for everything that is going on at the other end of the line. This has worked for the various fish species here in SE AZ (bass, bluegills, crappie, catfish, and trout.)

 

So depending on your personal goals you can tailor your fishing style as you like. I happen to figure out I catch more fish by taking it a bit easier through four decades of learning and experimenting. I hope this helps. Wishing everyone well for the Holidays. Cheers!

[Jonas Staggs]

Give yourself a time limit in between rod twitches or what not, and then countdown in between them. 30 sec, 60 sec, etc.

 

Or distraction, pull out your phone, shoot a text. I'm not advocating smoking, but I do and have a smoke while the bait sits.

 

Something I have been considering doing to help myself slow down as well was setting up a little timer on my phone to go off every 2 to 3 minutes and I can't move it till that alarm goes ding