The All 'Finesse' outing- what are you rigging

[casts_by_fly]

Hi all,

 

Every year I like to pick a trip and do something that I don't normally do so that I expand my horizons.  It was the 'all plastics' outing the past two years.  Prior to that first trip, I didn't really fish plastics.  Sure I'd have jig trailers and other things, but I mean just a good old texas rig or similar.  Another trip was (inadvertently) a 'use what you've got lying around' trip where I only had what was tied on my 5 rods from home plus a small handful of things in the bottom of the boat (I forgot my tackle bag).

 

This year, I'm picking an 'all finesse' theme.  Now this might not be new to some of you, but it's not what I do.  I'm a bait casting power fisherman at heart.  If it doesn't weigh at least 3/8 of an ounce (even better for a half) I'm unlikely to tie it on.  I didn't carry a spinning rod in the boat for the past 3 years unless the crappie were spawning and I wanted to bring a couple home.  This past winter I added a nice spinning setup and have used it a bunch this year.  However, finesse techniques, light rods, and small lures are not my wheelhouse.  So that's what I'm doing, maybe on my next trip out if this wind will ever settle down.

 

I have a plan of what I'm going to fish.  I'm only bringing the bare minimum gear in the boat (gotta be able to throw it on a ML or lighter so we're looking at 1/4 and under really).  My goal is a half dozen keeper sized bass in an evening session.  Rods will range from light to medium powered spinning rods (I'll have 4) and one ML BFS like casting rod.  For the most part, all will be braid to leader.  

 

If you were going to do such an outing, what are you rigging?  What's your approach for the day?  Not limited to just tiny soft plastics either.  Like I said, I'm a power fisherman at heart, so there's going to be some cast and crank lures involved for sure.

 

thanks,

rick

 

 

[gim]

Finesse fishing with plastics isn't my preferred way to fish either, but I do it because its effective when bass won't strike a faster moving lure.

 

A wacky or neko stickbait (depending on how deep you want it presented), a tube, and a ned rig would be my three preferred plastic presentations.

 

Drop shot never makes the cut for me anymore lol

[MN Fisher]

If I was gonna do an all-finesse outing....here's the rigs and baits I'd initially set up. First four rigs are from my bass arsenal, and I'd add the other two from my panfish arsenal

 

1: Miravel 2500 on Mojo 7'1" M/F - 14# Spro 8x to 10# InvizX - 1/4oz Shakey Head, Zoom Trick Worm

2: Miravel 2500 on Reflexions A 7'0" ML/MF - 14# Spro 8x to 8# InvizX - 1/8oz Free Rig, Zoom Baby Brush Hog

3: Miravel 2500 on Mojo 6'10" ML/XF - 10# 832 to 6# InvizX - 1/8oz Ned-Head, Mr Twister Ned Ringer

4: Miravel 1000 on St Croix Panfish 7'3" ML/XF - 8# 832 to 6# InvizX - 1/16 oz Ned-Head, Z-Man Micro Goat

5: President XT-30 on Celilo 7'0" L/F - 15# Smackdown to 6# Siege - 1/16oz Wacky Jig, Yum Dinger

6: Nasci 1000 on Procyon 7'0" L/F - 10# YZ Super to 6# InvizX - 1/8oz Shakey Head, Zoom Finesse Worm

[casts_by_fly]

thanks guys, lots of hits on my prepped list.

 

I should add, it doesn't have to be finesse plastics only.  I've got more than just plastics rigged and ready to go.

 

I'd also note that I'm fishing for largemouth.  The lake I'll be on is weedy, but not horrible right now (they sprayed a couple weeks ago).  I'll be fishing down to 20', but mostly in the 1-10' realm.  It's also my usual so I'm not taking any electronics with me so no FFS jighead minnow happening.

[TnRiver46]

Sounds like my every trip. Spinning combo, 6 lb line, jighead worm, jighead minnow, and black marabou crappie jig 

 

that’s the majority of my fishing 

 

i only power fish when I don’t want to be interrupted by bites and catching fish 

[gim]

8 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Spinning combo, 6 lb line, jighead worm, jighead minnow, and black marabou crappie jig 

 

You know, I thought about you and your purple plastic worms when this thread started.

 

"Any color will work, as long as its purple."

[TnRiver46]

And if that rule doesn’t work try a green one 😂 

[casts_by_fly]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

And if that rule doesn’t work try a green one 😂 

funny enough, on one rod right now is a smoke/purple ika and ready in backup is a pbnj Ned worm. 

[Reel]

1- Weedless Ned rig or Tiny Child rig

2-Waky or Neko

3-Spy Bait

4-Small Scat ( 2 1/2 inch)

5- Shakey head

6- Free Rig ( Small craw)

[Functional]

Actually did just this for a quick 2 hour trip this weekend. Visiting my parents and had an opportunity everyone was going to be out doing something so I borrowed a 6'5 MF spinning rod and my father only has soft plastics. My father really only fishes soft plastics so I took 3 types and picked up my BILs kayak. 

 

Missile baits D-bomb (green pumpkin) - big profile on a 1/4 belly weighted hook. 

 

Lake Fork Worm (purple) - smaller profile but with the "ribs" would give off more water movement if it was stained water (ended up very stained and this was my best producer). 3/16 weighted hook

 

8" purple worm with ribbon tail - smaller profile but slim if water clarity was decent. 3/16 weighted hook

 

Just because its light and slim doesnt mean it needs to be fished slow. It can be fished both ways. 

[TnRiver46]

15 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

funny enough, on one rod right now is a smoke/purple ika and ready in backup is a pbnj Ned worm. 

That dog’ll hunt 

[Mobasser]

Sounds like the way I have to fish in my lake, which is deep and gin clear. Here's my rig: 1.Zoom finesse worm - t rig with straight shank 2/0 hook. 2.  Brewers Spider Slider Pro head 1/8 oz with Brewers Slider worm. 3. Kalins 4' grub, rigged on Owner 1/8 oz head. 4. 31/2 tube. BPS tube head inserted.        My best worm colors are purples, black and blue shades.                          Most all fished on 6lb co poly line. I'll move up to 8lb line later in the summer when weeds thicken up. All the tubes, grubs, etc can work. But the small finesse worm is the killer bait for me. 

[casts_by_fly]

30 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

That dog’ll hunt 

 

That was my thought also.  I saw them over the winter and thought they would be a good option to slide through grass.  We also get a ton of filamentous algae that mucks everything up so it should come through that pretty clean on that hook. I can throw it on a lighter baitcaster too if I want.

[Catt]

Y'all's definition of finesse & mine are different.

 

I throw Zoom's finesse worm or Ultravibe Speed Craw on a baitcaster with 15# mono & a 1/64 oz weight. I do very with a Bettle Spin 1/8-1/4 oz. Heddon Zara Puppy or Tiny Torpedo. Couple small Rapala's.

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Y'all's definition of finesse & mine are different.

 

I throw Zoom's finesse worm or Ultravibe Speed Craw on a baitcaster with 15# mono & a 1/64 oz weight. I do very with a Bettle Spin 1/8-1/4 oz. Heddon Zara Puppy or Tiny Torpedo. Couple small Rapala's.

 

I'm looking at 1/4 oz, maybe 5/16 as the upper end of total bait weight here.  'Downsized' would be a good descriptor.  'Finesse techniques' fit.  If its too heavy to fish well on a ML spinning rod its too big for this outing.

 

Then again, I fish for fun and rules don't have to be absolutely hard.  I've got some 5" senkos in the box that will be in the boat and while that's easily fished on a MH baitcaster, unweighted and wacky I'd still call it a finesse technique.  I've also got some 3 1/2" long walking spoons that are around 1/4-3/8 oz that will get fished if I think the fish are on top.

 

also since you mentioned them (except it’s the teeny torpedo and the pooch)

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

If its too heavy to fish well on a ML spinning rod its too big for this outing.

Depends on the rod specs

My Mojo Bass MLs top out at 1/2oz

My Reflexions ML tops out at 5/8oz

My Celilo Light also tops out at 5/8oz

 

[LrgmouthShad]

Shaky head and neko rig is it for me regarding “real” finesse. I’ll fish these on 8lb line, small hooks, and spinning tackle. Using anything below 8lb test sounds horrifying and stupefies me.

[softwateronly]

4 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

Hi all,

 

Every year I like to pick a trip and do something that I don't normally do so that I expand my horizons.  It was the 'all plastics' outing the past two years.  Prior to that first trip, I didn't really fish plastics.  Sure I'd have jig trailers and other things, but I mean just a good old texas rig or similar.  Another trip was (inadvertently) a 'use what you've got lying around' trip where I only had what was tied on my 5 rods from home plus a small handful of things in the bottom of the boat (I forgot my tackle bag).

 

This year, I'm picking an 'all finesse' theme.  Now this might not be new to some of you, but it's not what I do.  I'm a bait casting power fisherman at heart.  If it doesn't weigh at least 3/8 of an ounce (even better for a half) I'm unlikely to tie it on.  I didn't carry a spinning rod in the boat for the past 3 years unless the crappie were spawning and I wanted to bring a couple home.  This past winter I added a nice spinning setup and have used it a bunch this year.  However, finesse techniques, light rods, and small lures are not my wheelhouse.  So that's what I'm doing, maybe on my next trip out if this wind will ever settle down.

 

I have a plan of what I'm going to fish.  I'm only bringing the bare minimum gear in the boat (gotta be able to throw it on a ML or lighter so we're looking at 1/4 and under really).  My goal is a half dozen keeper sized bass in an evening session.  Rods will range from light to medium powered spinning rods (I'll have 4) and one ML BFS like casting rod.  For the most part, all will be braid to leader.  

 

If you were going to do such an outing, what are you rigging?  What's your approach for the day?  Not limited to just tiny soft plastics either.  Like I said, I'm a power fisherman at heart, so there's going to be some cast and crank lures involved for sure.

 

thanks,

rick

 

 

 

I've spent most of the last 2 week playing jighead minnow games.  It's been a blast, 3"- 7" straight tail "worms" and I'm catching in open water, mid column through the weed tops, and even dragging/shaking uphill through the slop.  I can't believe these #1-1/0 open hooks can get through most everything clean.  It's been all ML-MH casting gear, but spinning would be easier for some of it.  Owner range roller and gammy horizon LG heads and lots of experimentation with straight tails.  Spunk shad, jerky j's, raid rollers, and deathadders were the main ones.

 

I've hooked and landed; LM, SM, northern, crappie, walleyes, and shell crackers.

 

scott

 

 

 

[Bass Rutten]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Y'all's definition of finesse & mine are different.

Haha that was my first thought too, a few are really pushing the boundaries of finesse here. There are very few hardbaits I'd consider finesse; small poppers/walkers, maybe a spybait.

 

Ned rig, flickshake/wacky, dropshot, mojo rig, swimbait would be my choices for all finesse. In the waters I fish the first few hours of daylight seem to be the best chance at putting numbers and/or big fish in the boat, my approach would be to start the day off covering water looking for fish that are chasing using a 2.8-3.8 boot-tail swimbait, but the mojo rig covers water well too. Once the morning bite tapers off I target cover like weedlines, isolated weed clumps, mat/pad edges, docks, etc with the finesse worms.

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, Bass Rutten said:

There are very few hardbaits I'd consider finesse;

Even if small and light - like a #0 or #1 Mepps, Creme Tiny Lipless (1/10oz, 1.5") or a Rapala UL Shad (1/8oz 1/5")... they're all moving baits. Finesse to me is something that sits still or slowly crawls the bottom....not 'speeds' through various levels of the water column.

[Pat Brown]

All finesse outting?

 

7/16 oz Siebert Sniper full skirt finesse jig in Pats Gizzard with a goby spunk shad 3.5"

 

Zoom trick worm (any color as long as it's watermelon red dipped in chartreuse) with a unpegged 3/8 oz tungsten sinker.

 

Strike King Popping Pipsqueak/Scum Frog Launch XS in a shad color.

 

1/8 oz boogerman buzzbait black with a blue jewel cut down Rage Menace grub and a trailer hook and trimmed down skirt.

 

3/8 oz compact Siebert cosmic spinnerbait with a single Colorado gold in shad color

 

Weightless Senko or Caffeine Shad jr. or Fluke jr on 3/0 owner offset worm hook.

 

1/0 Owner flashy swimmer with a tiny rage Swimmer trailer in shad color.

 

 

[Catt]

Finesse: refinement of workmanship; skillful handling of a situation: adroit maneuvering

 

Adroit: having or showing skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness in handling situations.

 

I learned years ago, throw whatever it takes to get bit.

[TnRiver46]

33 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

All finesse outting?

 

7/16 oz Siebert Sniper full skirt finesse jig in Pats Gizzard with a goby spunk shad 3.5"

 

Zoom trick worm (any color as long as it's watermelon red dipped in chartreuse) with a unpegged 3/8 oz tungsten sinker.

 

Strike King Popping Pipsqueak/Scum Frog Launch XS in a shad color.

 

1/8 oz boogerman buzzbait black with a blue jewel cut down Rage Menace grub and a trailer hook and trimmed down skirt.

 

3/8 oz compact Siebert cosmic spinnerbait with a single Colorado gold in shad color

 

Weightless Senko or Caffeine Shad jr. or Fluke jr on 3/0 owner offset worm hook.

 

1/0 Owner flashy swimmer with a tiny rage Swimmer trailer in shad color.

 

 

7/16? Disqualified 😂 

 

that’s a sounder to drop straight down and see how deep it is 

[Tennessee Boy]

20 minutes ago, Catt said:

I learned years ago, throw whatever it takes to get bit.

Throw whatever it takes in whatever way it takes to get bit.  
 

When you’re done,  go online and argue about what to call the technique.😉

[Bankbeater]

Bottom baits:

Weightless 4" Yum Dinger.

Weightless 5-3/8" BPS Stik-o.

6" Creme Scoundrel rigged weightless, on a dropshot, or on a split shot rig.

Zoom Finesse Worm rigged weightless, on a dropshot, or on a split shot rig.

3" BPS Stik-o on a split shot rig or on a drop shot.

1/8 oz jig with a 2-1/2" or 3" trailer.  Trying for a presentation that has a small profile, and is somewhat shorter in length.

Zoom UV Speedcraw on either a 1/16 or 1/8 oz. Texas rig.

 

Moving baits:

SK KVD 1.0 crankbait

Cordell 1/3 oz. Big-O

Zara Puppy

Pop-R