Power Fishing

[fisher of bass]

hello, two weeks ago i met up with an old friend from high school who likes to fish, we went fishing 3 times, but from the time we launch the boat until were ready to leave the trolling motor is on. i like to fish jigs, t-rigged soft plastics, spinnerbait, chatterbait, lipless and squarebilled crankbaits, he uses spinnerbaits and buzzbaits he got 1 bass in 3 trips, i asked him to find a spot and slow down but he didnt want to hear it, i caught 3 pickeral and 2 small bass on a spinnerbait, what is a good lure to use in this case tia.

[slowpoke274]

i like to use a lipless crankbait and a suspending jerkbait when searching for fish then i slow down and use the jigs and plastics even after a cold front it seems that i still get bit on these lures also as the water warms you may need to add some lead wire to the trebles on the jerkbait to get it to suspend

[dhami013]

Dude tell your bud he's killing the therapeutic capabilities of fishing. You gotta slow down, and breathe. When I start fishing to fast I try to stop and calm down. Next thing I know I've got a fish on.

But when power fishing as it has it's place. I like to use crank baits. All sorts. Shapes, sizes, and colors.

[Bluebasser86]

You can still use soft plastics and jigs, just use a heavier weight so it gets down faster. Cast to likely spots, move it a couple times and reel in to pitch again. A couple lakes I fish that is the best way going to get a bite.

[Fishing Rhino]

You can still use soft plastics and jigs, just use a heavier weight so it gets down faster. Cast to likely spots, move it a couple times and reel in to pitch again. A couple lakes I fish that is the best way going to get a bite.

That sounds like me, at least on some of the ponds I fish. I'm told I fish plastics faster than what is recommended. On some ponds, it's the only way you can fish plastics, unless you want to get hung up.........on every cast. As soon as the bait hits the water, I flip the bail and give the bait a twitch, then retrieve. It's the only way to keep the bait from wedging into the rocks.

The water at the edge of the Purple Loosestrife is a foot and a half to two feet deep, but the rocks are only a few inches below the surface. The fish hang in pockets between rocks. If you allow it to drop into the rocks, you'll get hung up.

Use topwater baits you say. You could. I've tried them, but the plastics fished just below the surface produce more and better fish on average.

To make matters worse, when I fish wacky rigged worms, I use a Jackall Wacky jig head, usually the 3/32 ounce version, and retrieve it fast enough to keep it just below the surface, slowing it down a bit as it gets into deeper water.

I use six pound fluoro, and check the line every time I catch a fish. It gets interesting when you hook a good fish, and feel the line dragging over the tops of the rocks. The thing that makes it possible to use such light line is that there are very few places where a fish can wrap a line around a rock. They can dive into a pocket, but have nowhere to go but up from there.

The bottom is as rocky as riprap, but the stones do not have the sharp broken edges of riprap. Hook a fish, and they generally make a break for the open water, away from the stones. If they do get in a pocket, I run my canoe up to them, then lift them from the pocket, and the fight resumes.

This has me tending to retrieve the bait faster than necessary in other places. If I'm not getting hits, I'll vary the retrieve, from very slow, to fairly fast.

Most of my retrieves are a series of twitches, each moving the bait very slightly. The bait is moved with the rod, not by cranking the reel. It's like pumping the bait. Move it toward you, then take up the slack when the rod is moved toward the bait.

No matter what bait, or technique you use, mix it up, vary your retrieve, until the fish tell you what they want. Do not fall into the trap of thinking there is one best way to work any particular bait, and doggedly sticking to what you always do.

[Grey Wolf]

Find a fishing partner that is more suited to your way of fishing.

[Jigfishn10]

Figure out the pattern before you crank up the trolling motor.

For example: You caught a couple fish near a stump on the shady side, hit every stump you can find and cast to the shady side.

[kms399]

watch the depth finder and when you see a good looking spot have an errant cast in front of the trolling motor and let your line get wrapped up in it. quickly retie and get to working the spot while he gets all your line out of the prop

or just start working plastics faster as others had said.

[Hamby]

Make shorter casts. You'll still be moving fast, but you can leave your lure in one spot a little longer. Or just troll along with a senko. Twitch it a bunch of times to get slack in the line, then let it sink. When the boat catches up with the line, do it again. You could do the same with a jig.

Or let him move fast, but ask him to move in shallow so you can beat the bank with a jig or plastic while he casts the other way. A fish wrapped up in something will get his attention.

[zach t]

Being a power fisherman, I will say this:

If you only caught two small fish all day, you don't have much to complain about. Doesn't sound like they were on to me. It would be different if, say, you caught those two fish back to back.

If you want a good bait to use in this situation, go to a swimbait on a 3/16 to a 1/5 ounce weighted hook. Cast a little ahead of the boat centerline.

Some swimbaits don't like fast retrieves, so make sure you select on that does. I have two molds for my swimbaits: a fast retrieve and a slow retrieve. they are the same size and look almost identicle, but they each need different speeds for the same action.