Slow Drag Versus Hopping A Jig Or Plastic

[volchuck]

hey folks, watching the BASS Arkansas River tournament on TV the other day and Aaron Martens mentioned dragging very slowly on his soft plastic versus the normal 3 jerks or hops a normal person retrieving does. Said it was mostly because it appealed more to overfished bass in very heavily fished areas. Which happens to be alot of what I fish not having a boat yet...

I went out the next day and tried this on a local pond and absolutley tore it up. Fish after fish, and all just lifted the worm/lizzard and slowly swam away before I set the hook. I was catching almost none before. I feel like, in my mind the light bulb went off and I figured out something I may have been doing that prevented alot of bites.

Question I have is, do you think its a matter of a place being over fished and me changing the presentation or just that I slowed way way down during a time when the fish are still prespawn and slower to react on a bait? When would a faster retrieve be more conducive to getting a reaction bite? Has this worked for any others out there, and when you are having success on a jig or plastic are you always slow dragging or do you hop the bait most of the time??

Thanks

Chuck

[Catt]

Only the bass can tell you which retrieve they perfer & when, so until we can interview a bass we will have continue alternating retrieves.

Whenever I'm throwing a Texas rig, jig-n-craw, Carolina rig or wacky rig I change retrieves before I change lures or locations.

[Nitrofreak]

Only the bass can tell you which retrieve they perfer & when, so until we can interview a bass we will have continue alternating retrieves.

Whenever I'm throwing a Texas rig, jig-n-craw, Carolina rig or wacky rig I change retrieves before I change lures or locations.

One can only wonder what they would have to talk about. lol.

[Floridalargemouth]

Catt is right on target. Bass are pretty finicky about your presentation. I've taken clients out and had to change how we were fishing a specific lure on a day to day basis otherwise we wouldn't get bit.

A slow drag might work well today or even for the next few weeks, but that'll eventually change as the fish move into the spawn and later into the postspawn.

On a side note, the bass in Florida are usually pretty active right before they spawn and reaction baits can be deadly. Interesting that you fished a prespawn situation with a slow drag and killed em. Might have to try that next year...

Capt. Dalton

[Raul]

If bass fsihing was as easy as simply following an instructions sheet there would be no need for places like BR.

The answer to your question is: there´s no true answer, there´s no "right" and there´s is no "wrong", only by trying thisor that, this way or that way you can find out how the fish want the bait.

You say: " normal people giving the bait 3 hops" ........... where is it written that you gotta give the bait 3 hops ? ( like if it were some kind of commandment ), so now the questions would be: ok, 3 hops

How hard ?

How fast ?

From where to where ?

You have to position your rod how ?

How much you lift your rod between one hop and the other ?

We can follow that line of questioning ad infintum and turns out that fsih won´t necessarily will want the bait that way.

In order to score what you have to do is what Catt says: change retrieves, that´s the only way you can find ou how fish want the bait presented that particular moment..... which doesn´t necessarily mean it will work all day long, there are times when one way works all day long, there are days when one way works for a while and later it doesn´t.

[K_Mac]

It is easy to get stuck doing things the same way, esp when it works most of the time. Last year a friend was putting a serious smack-down on me, with both of us fishing essentially the same bait. I finally stopped fishing and watched him. He was letting his shaky head sit motionless for several counts, then moving it slightly and doing the same thing, over and over all the way back to the boat. When I slowed mine down and left it alone I started catching more and better fish. I have been fishing long enough to know not to get too locked in on any one technique, but I have to be retrained from time to time...

[Bluebasser86]

It is easy to get stuck doing things the same way, esp when it works most of the time. Last year a friend was putting a serious smack-down on me, with both of us fishing essentially the same bait. I finally stopped fishing and watched him. He was letting his shaky head sit motionless for several counts, then moving it slightly and doing the same thing, over and over all the way back to the boat. When I slowed mine down and left it alone I started catching more and better fish. I have been fishing long enough to know not to get too locked in on any one technique, but I have to be retrained from time to time...

Had the same thing happen to me with a buddy at Table Rock last year but it was a combination of things. Both fishing almost the same jig but he was getting bites, I wasn't getting touched. I starting paying attention to him and noticed not only was he dragging his instead of hopping it like I was, his trailer had very little action while I was fishing a twin tail grub because it usually works there. I made the adjustments and starting catching fish immediately.

While I like to think that the little things aren't that big of a deal most of the time, sometimes they are a huge deal and if you don't adjust the little things you may not get bit.

[WRB]

Bass can let you know if they are active or not active feeding by they way they respond to your presentation. Bass are usually active about 20% of any given day, that means they are less active or not active the balance of the time.

When bass react to faster moving lures they are telling you they are active, otherwise slow down and keep the lure in the strike zone for longer periods of time.

In general slow bottom moving critters appeal to bass that are less active, faster moving lures like crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jerk baits etc can be a better choice for active feeders then the slower moving bottom critters. The odds are in your favor fishing the slower moving lures slowly.

Tom

[I-wanna-fish-now]

I tend to change up my retrieve every 2-3 cast one time I'll bounce it the next time I'll drag it then I'll let it sit for a few seconds and pop it and sometimes I'll just reel it straight in I also change up colors all the time but I'll try just about everything in by bag to catch the fish

[Professional Overrun]

Ill be honest, i believe water temperature, bottom structure and forage base play the most important role in which speed or style of retrieve to employ. I.E. at my local lake, the bass absolutely gorge all fall, winter and spring on crawfish. You cant NOT catch a fish by dragging a jig slowly over and around rocks, it absolutely kills them. In the city pond with a mud bottom and shallower warmer water, you have to hop your bait to keep it up and out if the muck where the fish can locate it easily. Two completely different situations with different requirements and retrieves. The challenge is, to fish new water and easily identify which retrieve with which bait is most appropriate based on water temp, bottom composition, season, forage, clarity, moon phase, lucky socks, how many cups of coffee you had, bait color, sponsorship deal....... Do that consistently, and ill gladly buy you a beer, or watch you on "the bassmasters"

[Will Wetline]

Yup, season and water temps. dictate retrieve. Also my socks and the amount of caffeine in my system.

Recently I was having a discussion about fishing tubes with a bassmaster of long experience. I said I just mosey them over the bottom. He, on the other hand, pops them which is the trigger for the time of season and location he's fishing.

And how about hard jerkbaits? I fish them with a sweep and pause retrieve early season. Others twitch, twitch, twitch, pause.

The only certainty is we should try different retrieves until we either get bit or decide to try a different bait,

[Catt]

If season & water temperature play such an important role then can someone explain Rat-L-Traps to me?

Season: late winter

Water temps: mid 40s to lower 50s

Deadliest techniques ripping a Rat-L-Trap through grass or ricocheting them off stumps.

Season & water temperatures suggests small, slow lures in deeper water.

[Crestliner2008]

Years ago, when I first started fishing tubes for smallies on a deep, clear reservoir, I use to slow drag them or wind drift through an area. I caught bass, yes. But as time progressed through the seasons, I learned that the attitude of the fish varies dramatically. I believe it's due to their limited, or expanded strike zone, based on changing weather patterns. I started to pop the tube off the bottom and pow! I got nailed big time. Then I started "popping" them all the time. All of a sudden, I wasn't getting hit anymore. I slowed down and again....pow!

You have to be flexible each and every day you are on the water. If you become a "one method Pete", you will have a lot fish-less days. That I guarantee.

[GOOCHY]

I definitely had more luck on my local lake with a little faster retrieve yesterday. It has quite a bit of pressure from what I can tell and the fish just seemed to respond to a slow retrieve instead of jigging yesterday. I've only fished this place a couple of times so we'll see if that ends up being the ticket in the long term.

[eyedabassman]

If season & water temperature play such an important role then can someone explain Rat-L-Traps to me?

Season: late winter

Water temps: mid 40s to lower 50s

Deadliest techniques ripping a Rat-L-Trap through grass or ricocheting them off stumps.

Season & water temperatures suggests small, slow lures in deeper water.

X 2 On my summer bite pattern on deep weedlines the bite on a jig may be a slow jig the next day they want to bite a football head jigs moving fast. Let the bass tell you what they want.