Bobber Moping / Strolling / Damiki Rig?

[Koz]

We’ve seen how FFS has impacted pro bass fishing with many elite pros moping / strolling with a suspended minnow.

 

Do you think any of the pros will try a plastic minnow hanging under a bobber?

 

Before answering, think about it for a minute. Let’s say it’s a cold water event or a hot summer event and there are a lot of bass suspended at 12 feet but when the angler gets close the bass are spooked by the FFS ping.

 

So the next time the pro stops outside of spook range, sets the minnow at 11 feet under the bobber, and makes a long cast to the suspended bass.

 

As bass get more sensitive to the constant ping of FFS, I think this is a real possibility.

[VolFan]

Is this just float n fly with a different lure? Why not just use a senko?

[Koz]

7 minutes ago, VolFan said:

Is this just float n fly with a different lure? Why not just use a senko?

The Damiki Rig is a technique that uses a specialized jig head and a plastic minnow. The line tie is on top of the jig head instead of at the nose so when it's lowered in the water the minnow sits level. It's used in conjunction with forward facing sonar as it works best when you suspend the bait about a foot on top of the bass.

 

This technique dominated the first 2 or 3 Bassmaster events this season.

[Pat Brown]

They should probably just allow live bait and dynamite and sharing information if they're gonna encourage people to spotlight a bass during tournaments where an anglers skill and knowledge are being tested for cash prizes.  But what do I know?  😉😉😉

[VolFan]

I needed the coffee to kick in… I’m confusing Sabiki rig and Damiki rig…

 
But still - Fishing one of these horizontally oriented soft plastics under a tactical flotation device sounds very similar to the float-n-fly rig used for smallmouth in places like Dale Hollow. Without the TFD, it’s also very similar to strolling for crappie and how I catch white perch for bait. I’m legitimately glad that I’m getting better options for baits and jig heads that I can target spotted bass with better.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

7 hours ago, VolFan said:

I needed the coffee to kick in… I’m confusing Sabiki rig and Damiki rig…

 
But still - Fishing one of these horizontally oriented soft plastics under a tactical flotation device sounds very similar to the float-n-fly rig used for smallmouth in places like Dale Hollow. Without the TFD, it’s also very similar to strolling for crappie and how I catch white perch for bait. I’m legitimately glad that I’m getting better options for baits and jig heads that I can target spotted bass with better.

That's true, been tightlining for everything for a long time because its unbeatable in terms of numbers and covering water.  The jig head options before the ned became popular was limited, now there tons of options but the $ is crazy due to popularity.

[casts_by_fly]

On 5/4/2024 at 11:06 PM, Koz said:

We’ve seen how FFS has impacted pro bass fishing with many elite pros moping / strolling with a suspended minnow.

 

Do you think any of the pros will try a plastic minnow hanging under a bobber?

 

Before answering, think about it for a minute. Let’s say it’s a cold water event or a hot summer event and there are a lot of bass suspended at 12 feet but when the angler gets close the bass are spooked by the FFS ping.

 

So the next time the pro stops outside of spook range, sets the minnow at 11 feet under the bobber, and makes a long cast to the suspended bass.

 

As bass get more sensitive to the constant ping of FFS, I think this is a real possibility.

 

I see where you going with it and I think it some specific circumstances it would work.  However, for the most part no.  The thing with chasing fish on FFS is that they are moving and changing depth also.  You'd need to use a slip bobber setup with a movable stopper.  But then you'd be adjusting the stopper every third cast.  Too much fiddling around to deal with in a tournament unless you have a school of fish that isn't moving around and it locked into a depth.  Even then, a regular jighead minnow rig can be bumped along at a given depth pretty slowly if you're going with a lighter jig head.  If you're fishing a heavier jighead, its probably because its deeper in which case you're able to get up closer on the fish in the first place.

[casts_by_fly]

This would be a specific scenario that it could work.  These are crappie and if I were going to go target them I would use a slip bobber and jig.  I found a dozen schools like this while crossing the lake.  All about a foot or two off the bottom.  If you had a school of bass like this that wasn't moving then it could work.  A couple years ago Jacob Wheeler set a record for a MLF tournament with a similar looking school of bass that I'm sure this would have worked on.  Then again, he was cranking them so if you can crank them, why would you even mess with a finicky slip bobber rig.

 

 

[WRB]

Using a clear casting bubble with a bobber stop set at the desired depth has been very effective rig for big trout for a long time. Fill the clear bubble with enough water to add weight and you make a long cast without a long leader.

1/8 oz dart head works good, enough weight to sink the soft plastic to the set depth.

I am sure the FSS guys have figured this out!

Tom

PS, sent from Seward AK