How many fish am I missing out on?

[Rolltide09]

For the past few years I have limited myself to only fishing jigs, t-rigs,c-rigs, topwater and weightless worms. Occasionally I will throw a wake bait or a very shallow running crankbait or spinnerbait but not much. I mainly have been sticking with bottom baits. Just dont care for moving lures too much. My question is. How many bass am I missing out on by not expanding myself to different lures and presentations?

[roadwarrior]

Well, sometimes the fish want only moving

lures. A few years ago at Guntersville the focus was

lipless cranks (Rat-L-Trap type lures) and spinnerbaits.

I fished a Senko in shallow water, too. The moving

baits outfished the Senko 10:1.

8-)

[senile1]

No specific answers can be given but there are definitely times when an active bait is the ticket. On a windy, warm day in the right area using a spinnerbait or lipless crank I have averaged 8 - 10 fish an hour for four or five hours when the fish were active. This doesn't happen on a regular basis but it is an example of what you could be missing.

[Nick]

Some. Be observant. If you spot bass feeding on shad. or a bass rips your worm as you are fast reeling it back to the boat to make another cast, the bass are giving you a sign to speed up.

Some days it's a matter of covering more water esp. if fishing shallow weeds and flats where the bass are somewhat scattered; or if you are fishing some new water and must do it quickly, it's hard to beat faster moving baits to get a feel for the new water. Once a prime area is located, then it could be time to slow down to cover the area more thoroughly with your favorites.

[SuskyDude]

Most days, your probably not missing too much. On some days, however, your probably missing ALOT of action. Sometimes they just want a fast moving crank, etc.

[JigMe]

It depends on the mood of the boss, just like a woman. Sometimes they have the craving for worms, and sometimes cranks. Work an area with everything in your tacklebox, and see one they like. On a sunny day, when the water is clear I have more luck catching them on lipless than anything else. Then, someday I couldn't catch them with anything else other than plastics. Fortunately, slow moving plastics have always produced for me regardless of condition.

[senile1]

The lesson here is to be versatile.  Under many conditions slow moving baits are needed but there are times when a fast moving bait will be just what the doctor ordered. 

[Grey Wolf]

Probably more than you want to know or not.

[bryand82487]

I hardly ever throw a spinnerbait

[farmpond1]

Probably not as many as if you restricted yourself to fast moving baits. But why limit yourself that way? While I don't advocate changing baits just for the heck of it, I do believe there is a time to change. Let the location, the time of year, the weather, the temperature (especially water temperature) and, most importantly, the bass tell you when to switch locations, lures and/or presentations.

[Hot Rod]

Another aspect is that you could be limiting your ability to locate active fish.  In many situations you can cover water quicker and be more effective with an active bait (i.e. "search bait").

Once you figure them out you can often go back with a slower presentation and catch additional fish.  This is especially important when fish are on structure in summer and also can be in the fall too.

[Shane J]

Sometimes it's cool to just catch what you catch, but catch them how YOU like to catch 'em.

[Vinny Chase]

I will help put this into perspective on what you COULD be missing out on.

This wasn't an everyday occurrence, but I was fishing slow senko style baits all morning and into the afternoon. I decided to go to my specialty, DD cranks. Within 20 minutes I caught three 5 lb fish....Being well rounded in your techniques is VERY important on some days, because you never know what you are going to have to do to get them to bite.

With being said, you should be fine 75-80% of the time with the techniques you listed.

[J Francho]

You might be missing out on the fast action, but I doubt you're missing too many bigger fish.  I do quite a bit of point fishing during prespawn, and I'll beat up a point with a lipless, sometimes catching fish cast after cast.  When that bite slows down to next to nothing, then I'll pick it apart with plastic or a jig.  This is where I usually catch my biggest fish.

Now, would you be missing something?  Hard to tell.  But catching those moderate fish cast after cast sure is fun.  Just don't abandon what you already know works either.

[K_Mac]

The lesson here is to be versatile. Under many conditions slow moving baits are needed but there are times when a fast moving bait will be just what the doctor ordered.

I think this sums it up well.

Roletide I also much prefer a slower presentation. A jig or plastic of some kind is always my preferred choice. I caught some really nice fish this year on chatterbaits, and a few decent fish on cranks at various depths when the standard stuff wasn't getting it done. This year I am going to try swimbaits to see what all the fuss is about. ;D

Shane also has a good point. Using what you're good at is often the right thing to do. Look at KVD; he almost always manages to find fish willing to bite a deep crank, by finding the right location. Location is the real difference maker IMO.

[fishfordollars]

I hardly ever throw a spinnerbait

Might want to rethink this. There are many reasons millions have been sold.

[Vinny Chase]

I hardly ever throw a spinnerbait

Might want to rethink this. There are many reasons millions have been sold.

x2

Spinnerbaits shine is windy/warm/active conditions

[WRB]

You can catch active bass on slow the moving lures you mentioned, what is important is where you are fishing those lures.

If you consider that bass are active about 10% of the time each day, then you are presenting lures to inactive bass 90% of the time. The key to catching bass is locating active bass and presenting a lure that resembles what they are feeding on or looking for.

It's the difference between fishing like KVD or Denny Brauer, they both know where to use what type of lures and when to use them; KVD prefers fast, Brauer prefers slow.

We all pass up bass during a day's outing, hopefully we find bass that are active.

WRB