How are you a weirdo?

[Swamp Girl]

Tackle-wise, how are different than other anglers and why?

 

My most obvious way is that I fish power baits with spinning gear. Why? I can cast farther and I catch some of my best bass at the ends of my longest casts.

 

I also use older reels than most of you, as some of my reels are more than 40 years old. Why? They work fine.

 

I use a big net with a long handle. Why? I like to be able to reach bass I can't even see to net them and to net wallowing bass a few feet from my canoe.

 

Lastly, I don't fish water with ramps. Why? I like to fish without engine noise, wakes, and chatter. 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

I like to use tackle that I trust & have confidence in. I also like to try new stuff but stick with manufactures that have earned my trust. I love fishing jerk baits & top waters with my right arm so I enjoy jerks on spinning tackle & even bought a left hand reel to use on my casting rod for jerks just so I can work them with my right arm. I like to experiment with different baits to see what works best. And I only like to fish waters that produce quality fish. I'm past fishing for dinks & numbers of small fish. I will only resort to finesse fishing when all else fails. Just the way I'm wired. 

[king fisher]

When I am not catching bass, I keep throwing the same lure, when I am catching bass I am constantly changing lures.  It is a good thing I don't invest in the stock market, I would buy high and sell low.

[GReb]

I pitch squarebills around lay downs like a jig and catch fish doing it. I don’t see many others doing it but I can get further back into pockets by pitching. 

[Catt]

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

 

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

 

Finesse fishing doesn't necessarily mean small or slow, it's about picking an area apart.

I finesse fish power baits!

[Bass Rutten]

I enjoy fishing rigs that others seem to avoid except as a last resort, and even despise. I fish finesse all day every day. Dropshot? Yes! Ned rig? Yes! Carolina/ mojo rig? Yes. I must be weird.

[A-Jay]

I not a weirdo.

But the rest of you crazy bassheads,

well that's story for another day.

#denial

🤪

A-Jay 

[gim]

I am done fishing with a drop shot, forever.  Maybe its just being stubborn, but I hate it.  To the point where I'm relegated to never doing it again.  If that's how the bite is going, I'll go another day.

 

I've also moved further away from using live bait than I used to.  Live bait is expensive, its tough to keep alive, and its a one time use.  Its more of a pain in the rear for me than the reward.  Plus there aren't any live bait shops near me anymore either.  The only 2 closed last year.

 

Live bait is extremely popular around here, primarily for walleye and panfish.  Nearly everyone is using it in the winter during ice fishing season.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

54 minutes ago, king fisher said:

When I am not catching bass, I keep throwing the same lure, when I am catching bass I am constantly changing lures.  It is a good thing I don't invest in the stock market, I would buy high and sell low.

There's something very real about this.    I think it has both positives and negatives.

 

One of the best things we as anglers can do is establish confidence in other baits, and the very best time to that is when the fish are biting.    On the other hand you end up leaving a lot of meat of the bone when you do that in the middle of a hot bite.  

 

Drives me crazy that I do it.    I find a great bait and for seemingly no reason at all I'm using something else before I even consciously know it.   Very weird thing that I'm sure has some psychological reason.  

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I find a great bait and for seemingly no reason at all I'm using something else before I even consciously know it. 

 

I do it too, Alex. We're like the Juliette Binoche character in the movie, Chocolat: We're restless. The wind shifts and we're using a new lure, regardless of how good the bite is right now. 

 

[Mobasser]

I've thought maybe I'm a weirdo, because I love fishing so much, and, I'm happy being out there catching any bass. Small ones included.

[DaubsNU1]

Have to admit @Swamp Girl, I saw this thread and thought, "man, I'm going to be typing for a long, long time..." Then realized you are only asking about fishing | tackle-wise. Whew!

 

I like fishing power baits with spinning gear -- throw cranks because I can get more casting distance, t-rigged plastics as well.

 

Most of my rods are Cabela's branded purchased in the 1990's. They work, and I love them. All of my casting reels are old school Shimano Curado and Citca's, again from the 1990's. I'm so obsessed with them, when it is time to get a new casting reel...I'm all over eBay looking for this!

 

 

I love Berkley power worms and will rarely throw anything else. Blue fleck is my color of choice...but I have recently ventured forth in to a few other colors.

 

@gimruis, the debate is still out for me on drop-shots. The very first time I threw a drop shot...BAM, 3.5 lb bass(!). I still throw it here and there. Same with live-bait. Two lakes near me prohibit live-bait, but other lakes allow, and have good population of pan-fish and walleye...and live-bait is fun and easy for my 83 year old Dad. He cannot cast, but can vertical jig.

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

I'm happy being out there catching any bass. Small ones included.

 

Well then, I'm a weirdo in this same way.

 

@DaubsNU1: Hey, we share weirdness in a couple ways! Old reels and spinning gear. Cool.

[gim]

1 minute ago, DaubsNU1 said:

All of my casting reels are old school Shimano Curado and Citca's, again from the 1990's.

 

I've got 3 of those reels still too.  And I still use them.

[lettuceBEEcereal]

I have around 30 casting combos from UL-H, 0 spinning anything. I can only carry 8 rods on my kayak.

[Team9nine]

I troll - when necessary - about 100 of the bass I’ve caught in the past 4 trips have come trolling. There are just some situations where either covering water with a bait always working in position, or presenting baits at speeds you can’t generate on a traditional cast-retrieve, is the best possible presentation for the day - and I carry the right tackle/gear in the boat to be able to do it effectively.

[Swamp Girl]

6 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

I troll - when necessary - about 100 of the bass I’ve caught in the past 4 trips have come trolling. There are just some situations where either covering water with a bait always working in position, or presenting baits at speeds you can’t generate on a traditional cast-retrieve, is the best possible presentation for the day - and I carry the right tackle/gear in the boat to be able to do it effectively.

 

Me too! I troll a LOT because whenever I'm traveling to my next fishing spot, I want a lure in the water. I've caught a lot big bass trolling. I once caught a four-pounder and a three-pounder trolling at the same time trolling a Whopper Plopper. I love the sound of a big bass eating a trolled surface lure behind my canoe in the blackness and my rod snaps back. However, I troll subsurface more than surface lures.

 

6 minutes ago, lettuceBEEcereal said:

I have around 30 casting combos from UL-H, 0 spinning anything. I can only carry 8 rods on my kayak.

 

I think ^this^ makes you utterly normal.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I like the taste of Gulp minnows. 

[Rockhopper]

I have hundreds of lures and only consistently use the same 3 or 4 

[MAN]

I don't use the latest and greatest. I use what I like, what I know works for me and what I enjoy using.  And being in the fishing industry that is considered by some to be near borderline psychotic to not be throwing exactly what Van Dam or Wheeler was throwing last week. 

[DaubsNU1]

14 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

I've got 3 of those reels still too.  And I still use them.

 

Ashamed to say I paid $150 for a Curado via eBay...it's in mint condition...however, my best find was a swap-meet Citca for $40. Local guy went through it, cleaned up, installed new bearings...that reel is SMOOTH! Casts like a dream. Wow.

 

I have four Citca's and four Curado's....I know, weird(!)

 

[Rockhopper]

4 minutes ago, DaubsNU1 said:

I have four Citca's and four Curado's....I know, weird(!)

I love my Citica's.

[Swamp Girl]

23 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

I like the taste of Gulp minnows. 

 

I like my soft plastics with salt and anise. Tasty!

 

@DaubsNU1: I have a couple Curados too.

[J._Bricker]

Weird? I mean it’s not like I cast right hand and reel with my left. It just seems correct and completely normal. And I definitely throw a dropshot on baitcasting gear with braid where one might also pitch a jig. I believe the bait just sits in the fish’s strike zone and may get a few more bites depending on the time of year. I just can’t get myself to call it “bubba shot” cause mentally I immediately go to Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump yelling out ”BUBBA”. 

[GreenPig]

I feel normal.