Slow Presentations

[Jake P]

This year I have been catching everything off mainly 2 lures. Spinnerbaits and lipless cranks. Some days i dont even think I threw anything except one or the other. I felt like i didnt need to because i was catching consistently all day reguardless of where i was on the lake. I feel this has handicapped me now that it is later on in the year. My last 2 outings i was almost completely unsuccesful with cranks and spinnerbaits.

I decided to try a couple of plastics like a senko, rigged a couple of different ways along with a few different plastics. I was throwing around some boat houses and some docks and had 0 success. I feel like I was not going slow enough so i slowed down. Went from 5 second pauses to 10. Still nothing.

What do yall suggest i try?

[clayton86]

Slower

[Jigfishn10]

I'm not sure what stage you're in as far as a fall season is concerned, but maybe the fish have pulled out and are in deeper waters/structure. Have you checked structure near or in deeper water? Near channels or creek arms? In creek arms?

[Jake P]

Its 96 today so not much "fall weather" yet. It has deff cooled down from 112 and has averaged about 88 for the past 2 weeks and the lows dipping down to about 70. I think my weakness is finding structure under water. I generally stay around the shoreline or about 100 feet off and throw at timber or structure like boat houses or docks etc. I feel like i can catch them there rather than stray off, its a mental thing i guess. I just need to stick to it for a whole day and try something different cause i know they will flee to deeper water soon...

[Randall]

Most of the time I don't really pay as much attention to the length of pauses as to how slow I can keep the worm moving. Try very small shakes of the rod tip and just reel up line to take slack out of the line. If I know fish are there this is how I fish worms most of the time. This way I get very subtle action and movement while the bait stays longer in one area.

For me pauses with quick movement of the worm in between does less to get strikes most of the time. The worm just lays there and does nothing to trigger a strike then the fish watches the worm dart off just to lay there on the bottom again. That pretty much just leaves the worm falling and taking off again as a good strike trigger. I will take constant slow motion most days over any other way to fish a worm. Not to say other methods will not work either and some days just pulling and deadsticking the worm work better than anything else but just not the way I get bites most consistantly.

[WRB]

Bass will hit faster moving baits when they are actively feeding, slower when they are less active. If you prefer using spinnerbaits, try a chatter bait and work it deeper for example.

Doesn't matter how slow or fast you fish; it's where and when you fish that counts.

Doesn't sound like your weather has changed enough to slow down the basses activity level. The days are getting shorter so the bass should moving, if the bait is moving. Find the bait, then try different presentations or techniques to get the bass to strike.

[JigMe]

Fall is a good season to slow down and fish plastic, or Jigs.

I like to leave some slack on the line, since I am a big line watcher. Usually fish my worms weightless, and let it sink to the bottom then count to 5. And then, reel in the slack and shake it few times then let it sink to the bottom. Most of the time, I will get a hit on the initial fall or when I shake it. With reaction type of baits, you will feel a big stump when bass streaks your lure but when fishing plastics 80% of the time you don’t even feel anything. If you think you are fishing slow enough, then slow down even more and watch the line.

[webertime]

I fished 2 tournaments this weekend, of the 10 fish I weighed in 9 were caught on a Fat Ika, of those 9 the 4 largest (4.3-3.5lbs Smallies) were caught with the Ika dragging along the bottom at .5mph or less according the GPS.

There was barely a breeze and we just tossed them out there and twitched them a bit once they hit bottom (12-20 fow) then for all intents and purposes ignored them. I was culling when the 4.3 smashed it and I am 99% sure we weren't even moving and hadn't in some time.

Just goes to show you can never fish too slow...

[hookingem]

Location and presentation are the 2 most important things when fishing a soft plastic. You mentioned you are constantly tossing at the bank move off the bank and find some deep water structure a grass line or a creek channel ect. Then figure out how the fish want the soft plastic fast/slow or anywhere in between they will let you know.

[endless]

Location and presentation are the 2 most important things when fishing a soft plastic. You mentioned you are constantly tossing at the bank move off the bank and find some deep water structure a grass line or a creek channel ect. Then figure out how the fish want the soft plastic fast/slow or anywhere in between they will let you know.

This is something allot of need to learn and do!! Myself included!