The Trigger

[Mobasser]

Since I joined BR, I've seen mention of things that trigger strikes. It seems like most folks have made this work when the fishing is slow.             Some examples :                   1. Ripping a lipless bait through weeds.                           2. Banging a spinnerbait or hard bait into stumps or other wood cover.                      3. Dead sticking a plastic bait, then twitching in place.     4. Reeling a spinnerbait or soft plastic bait until it hits cover, then killing the the retrieve, letting the bait" die" on the fall.( I know from experience this one works).           I've had some success with these triggers, but I've also wasted time getting hung up, or ruining a good cast. Have you had much success doing this?                        Also forgot to mention, a stop/ start with spinnerbaits or lipless baits can sometimes draw a good hit.         What methods have you used to trigger strikes when the fishing is slow?                          

[T-Billy]

Speed and/or direction changes, something all your examples have in common. 

[A-Jay]

Jerkbaits Baby ~ 

Sometimes that Twitch, Twitch, . . . . . . . . Pause

is like magic.

A-Jay

 

[heavyduty]

Slow down. Let the ripples dissipate before moving my soft plastic. 

[Darth-Baiter]

I had a bass crush a glide bait when it pulled a u-turn and headed back towards the following fish.  

[gim]

I’ve had decent success lately running a spinner bait or chatter bait into a dock post or close to it.

 

In July and August, I had to get a plastic under the dock in the shade to get a bite. Now they want speed next to it.

[greentrout]

Drag a plastic worm T-rigged, for me Trick Worm, s-l-o-w-l-y on the bottom with the rod. Used it since I was a little boy.  

[Catt]

ROF ?

[WVU-SCPA]

Had a little different technique help win a tournament about a month ago.

 

Was at least the 4th boat to hit spot that day.   Large boulder about 10' fow with the top being in about 2' fow.  Pulled 11lbs with 3 fish by slowly dragging up the face and letting a t-rig tumble back down before cresting the top.  All 3 fish bit after at least the 3rd tumble down the face of the rock.  All bites(several fish that didn't help the cause) were on the tumble back down.

 

Those fish are likely conditioned to a bait falling past them, then being ripped up and over the rock. The yo yo method gave multiple looks to trigger a strike and a different ROF as a tumble vs a drop in.

 

That same rock has a good history with the "getting stuck and your line starts swimming away as you are attempting to free it bite".  Something different that triggers the strike.  

[scaleface]

21 hours ago, Mobasser said:

What methods have you used to trigger strikes when the fishing is slow?                          

Sometimes instead of a lift drop retrieve with Texas rigs, swimbaits , neds... I'll lift the bait then hold the rod high and allow the lure to pendulum back on a tight line. This is a retrieve I found a few years back and its what the fish prefer at times. 

[Catt]

Movement without Movement ?

[Skunkmaster-k]

4 hours ago, Catt said:

ROF ?

I’ve tried for 5 minutes to figure out what ROF stands for. 

[scaleface]

3 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

I’ve tried for 5 minutes to figure out what ROF stands for. 

Either rolling on  floor or rate of fall. Its hard to tell with Catt.

[WRB]

Putting your lure of choice in front of active bass usually triggers a strike. Finding active bass is called fishing.

Tom

[Bankbeater]

Dead sticking a bait on the bottom, or just letting the wind push a topwater bait around on the surface. 

[papajoe222]

When the bite is tough, for me, there are two options; Slow way down, or speed up. I have a dislike for anything slow, and don't get me started on dead sticking. Not that I don't do either, I'd just prefer to go the opposite direction and speed up.  It's more fun and there is no question in my mind when a fish bites.  My favorite presentation combines both slow and fast.  It's stroking a heavy jig with an action trailer.  There is something about a craw imitator rocketing off the bottom and then back down that bass can't seem to ignore. Another good one is burning a silent crank into or past some form of cover. The last one I try before giving into the dark side, is burning a single willow blade spinnerbait  repeatedly over a spot I believe a fish is parked on. When these presentations work, it's almost as much fun as topwater.

[Columbia Craw]

Drag it! Tubes, hula grubs, wobble heads, neds, Tokyo rigs all get dragged.