speed fishing or finesse

[dizzy5868]

Lets see how many guys like to run or not.

Rob

[Alpster]

I like to fish an area that I know is productive, lots of structure & cover thoroughly, But if the bite is way slow, I will start covering more teritory. So I start out spot fishing and end up gunning. Just depends on how the fish are acting. JMHE

Ronnie

[Catt]

I can't vote due to the fact you've only given two choices when in reality there are three

1. Run & Gun

2. Sit & Play

3. Both of the above

I may sit anchored on deep water structure playing the waiting game or I may use the trolling motor to work than same structure. During pre-spawn I'll work a mile of shoreline back and forth all day, this is a spot, but yet I'm accentually running & gunning.

[dizzy5868]

OK, what I meant was which one would you be more likely to do on any given day.

[Raul]

It really depends on what you 're fishing and both can take place in the same day, some spots are better worked slowly and thorougly, others are better taken on the run.

[Bass Smacker]

I will run & gun till I find fish Then fish that spot till I'm board  with it and move on.  

[dizzy5868]

That's the kind of answer I was getting at. I quess it was a bad poll.

Rob

[dmitri]

agree, little bit of both. Also, run-n-gun or sit-wait depends on the season. I would prefer more run-n-gun during pre-spawn, for example, and more sit-wait in the summer.

[fishbear]

I am the type of fisherman, that will exhaust an area before I move on.....  If I am working a jig or plastic slow,,,, I want to be able work it as slow as neccessary to catch fish...  I may work an area for 45 min, before I slide down the bank to another spot....   I hunt the same way,, yes, I may cover a lot of ground hunting, but is very slowly, 2 or 3 steps at a time, then stop and watch and listen....

When you grow up hunting the thick brushy Pacific Northwest, you have to hunt that way or else you will walk right past a deer or elk...  and they will stand there and let you walk by then move on in the other direction...

My thinking is this,, fishing is nothing more than hunting on/under the water.... if you are blasting thru an area, you may just miss that one you are looking for.....  

[Cigarlover 1]

I"m more likely to spot fish. When I first get out I'll hit a few different spots for 5-10 mins then once I"ve hit several spots I pick out the one's that got bites or I felt most confident about and slow fish those for a while.

[Gatorbassman]

I run and gun untill I catch a fish and then I slow down and fish that spot out good.

[BucketmouthAngler13]

Well, since i've never been on a boat with a motor, when i'm not bank beating i'm paddling from structure to structure. It takes a while to paddle anywhere, so i usualy fish each spot for a long time. If i havn't cought anything from that spot for a half-a-hour then i move on. When bank beating, i work my way from spot to spot, fishing each place throughly. I cast in the same spot twice, then cast again 5ft to the side, cast there again, then cast another 5ft to the side, intill i have covered all the water in that area. If i catch a fish or get a hit, i cast there again intill it becomes inactive. After that i move to the next spot, and repeat.

So to answer the poll question, i'm more of a sit and wait guy. If i've covered all the water and havnt gotten anything, then i'll move on. I've cought bass after casting more than 5 times in the exact spot before getting them to hit.

[Craw]

I'll run and gun until I figure something out.

[RoLo]

So not to skew your poll, I withheld my vote.

I'm essentially a finesse fisherman, who doesn't throw many crankbaits and veeeery few spinnerbaits.

However, I don't spend a lot of time in any one spot unless it's remains productive.

As a result, I "run-and-gun" between the spots where I "finesse fish"

Roger

[ga_hawghauler]

It all depends on what conditions i am trying to fish. I will use a run and gun aprroach if i am searching for fish but primarily i am a spot fisherman.

[justfishin]

Very tricky question. It really depends on the season. I would rather, if I have to make a choice, to spot fish a area that I think is probably going to have some fish and take my time and pick it apart. This is probably going to be around the spawn and late summer. For pre-spawn and fall I probably will use more of the search bait ( spinnerbaits, swimming a jig or throwing a crankbait ) until I think I am on to an area. For pre-spawn they are usually following those underwater roadways such as creek channels and moving up the points leading away from the main lake and to the more shallow upper lake  and in the fall they are heading back to the main lake via similar routes and sometimes its tricky to find just how far they have already moved. Just my opinion. There are always variables to consider such as cold fronts,etc. Good post, thanks.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I am a "wear out the trolling motor" kind of guy, so of course I answered run-and-gun. Anyone interested in teaching me some finesse techniques is welcome to come to PA to teach....

Wayne

[bass_101]

I think bass are a "schooling" type fish which means running-and-gunning doesn't seem like it would be productives. Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits and any reaction-bite lure seems to change your mind about that though.  If you are sitting in a spot and fishing a pieces of structure for 20 minutes and catching only a few fish, running-and-gunning might be more productive when it comes to numbers of fish.

IMHO, I think running-and-gunning it produces on average, smaller fish. I have caught more "big" fish on very slow presentations while spot fishing than running and gunning a spinnerbait or crank. I do not do just one of these techniques because some days call for finess fishing and the next might call for running-and-gunning. You have to let the conditions and fish tell you what to do. JMO

[dizzy5868]

Well guys, thanks for your input. I started this poll to show just how different everyone fishes a body of water. As you can see there are alot of different aproaches to picking a lake apart. No one is right and no one is wrong, just how you feel where your strength is. I my self like to run-gun until I find a patten and then run to as many spots as I can matching the pattern and hit all the active fish. Most of the time my fishing is in tournaments, so quantity is what I am after. Get a bag and then slow down. This works for me but might not for someone else. Again, thanks for the input.

Rob

[dodgeguy]

i like to run and gun but that may be because i fish from a rowboat most of the time and have to spot fish.when i get on a bass boat with somebody i like it when we run and gun.

[Siebert Outdoors]

This is a loaded question.  I guess I am neither

To me spot fishing is for beer drinking.  Pull out the lawn chair and cooler and cast and wait for a bite.

a consistent Running and gunning wastes to much time moving.

But put them both together and you have something.

I will run until I set a pattern and once that is done look for similar areas and fish slower.  Or if the conditions are right and you have cruising fish I will just fish faster.

No reason at all to fish dead water. There is to much productive water to fish.  

Remember 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water.  Find the 10% running and slow down to catch the 90% of the fish.  Sounds good in theory anyway.