Speed

[Oldfart9999]

Dales little post about senkos got me to thinking, I have a headache now but that's ok. To me the biggest problem I've seen and had myself with the bait is speed. Not being patent my self I sometimes work it faster, harder, than it should be, it's not a power bait, it can be power fished but slowly, don't dawdle between casts. I've found that the hardest thing to do with it is to let this bait do it's own thing, when I do it works. The other problem is it has to be used where fish are, in the part of the world I live in that's grass beds and shoreline cover, like docks. When I met the gentleman I mentioned in Dales post we were both over a decent sized grass bed, he, so I was using them weightless, he taught me to just toss it out 10 to 15 feet with some slack and let it make it's way down into the grass, they will and it works.
I wonder how many other baits we move too fast or too slow. Swimming grubs is one, they work best not with a jigging action but brought along at a certain depth, that means reeling slowly. Buzzbaits look and sometimes act like they need a high speed retrieve, I catch most of my fish on them with the speed being just enough to keep the blades from sinking. I caught my PB on my home waters deadsticking a ned rig, 3 inch sticko on 1/16 ounce head. On my home waters there are 2 break walls that get a lot of action, they're on genteelly turning points ranging from 3 to about 5 feet of water. I've gone into them after 6 to 8 boats have already worked them hard, a 1/2 hour break and I'm there tight to the wall with a dropshot, 3 inch sticko with just enough weight to get it to the bottom, I have to move slowly to keep it down or just let it sit, pulled a number of 4 plus pounders along with 3s and 21/2s slow does the trick.
There have been fish caught working a spook or popr as fast as I could and as slowly as I could, same with jerks and soft plastics.
we need to let the fish tell us how they'll take it, and the really hard part, learning to wait it out when they demand the bait slowly, speed is relative. Speed is relative to the mood of the fish and I know it drives me nuts sometime, especially when that speed has to be slow.
Take the time to be a fish whisperer, you'll learn to catch them like Dale, Mike, Mother, and some others here.
Rodney     

[coldfront]

love guys who see 'power fishing' as the only way.
one of my favorite books (that's why I keep repeating this):  In Pursuit of Giant Bass by Bill Murphy.  the section on stitching was/is fascinating.  I re-read this book every few years.
it's just that important.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Speed..... yeah, this key element to fishing has taken over 30 years to sink into my head. But!! Its finally starting to sink in. These last 6 months I have adopted the "slow down" approach especially when throwing a stick bait. My brain is yelling at me to MOVE!! but I'm telling it NO!!.... SLOW DOWN!!

There is a time and a place for speed. But for certain techniques, I have been led to the conclusion that baits moving at a snails pace yield some pretty damn nice bass.

[D.W. Verts]

My number one "secret" to catching big bass is slowing down. I still, to this day, struggle with it. When they're biting, it doesn't matter. As much. But most of the time slow and methodical is the key. So you have to have a ton of confidence in your location, else it'll be a lost cause.

So-

CONFIDENCE then becomes my #1 secret to catching big bass. With confidence I can then slow down and work them out.

Great post, Rodney!



Dale