New techniques

Ok everyone, I don’t know about you, but I have had enough of winter. Currently I am sitting in the basement taking inventory of my tackle and rigging rods for the upcoming(?) open water season. That got me to thinking about how many different ways there are to catch bass. I have rigs and tackle that I know have never seen the water and this year I want to expand my arsenal and become proficient in new techniques. What are some of your go to techniques for catching bass and do you have any tips on using them? I really enjoy finesse fishing (drop shots, ned rigs, neko/senkos, Texas rigs) but do a fair share of froggin, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits too. I plan on jig fishing more this year but just have never had much confidence in it. What is your favorite rig and why? Thanks!

My favorite is a small Ned head jig head with a 2 3/4 or 3 inch crawfish style bait for bass. It’s nothing special like a Ned rig just using a small creature bait but once summer hit’s for me it catches bass 2 to 1 for me then the regular Ned rig Half senko worm. The original turd worm (senko) seems to work better early in the season and the creature later

I have really walked away and never looked back at the abundance of presentations. When I was doing mediocre in tournaments, I took a couple seasons off from bass to just chase walleyes. Ya, the GMC vs Ford thing. But as much as bass guys and walleyes guys bicker, I learned so much more about bass behavior and quality locations.

So as I concentrated on more off shore habitat for eyes, i on average caught much bigger bass on a regular basis. But the second year I was seeing patterns develop where the more mature bass went deep, related on very deep weed lines, bottom transitions and so much more.

With that came learning simplicity. Often I was pitching ringworms, slow rolling paddletails, bladebaits, rippin lipless baits. What became most apparent was “how” vs what. We were “suspending” years before we heard the term drop-shot. We laughed at the guys “drop-shotting” with a round weight – foolish! Need to use a needle weight to drag through sand grass. But back to my point, it’s worth exploring other species to see what your missing or over looking.

Frogging, I’m addicted to it, and there is plenty of water to fish on my home lake with suitable habitats in all directions.

Bass Pundit wrote:

Frogging, I’m addicted to it, and there is plenty of water to fish on my home lake with suitable habitats in all directions.

Main reason I fish bass in summer! If you can get on a frog bite, nothing better!

As far as confidence goes my favorite technique is a weightless wacky worm in the pads or skipping docks. It was especially magical last year for about the first 3 weeks fish got up on docks late spring-early summer. There were several times in bigger tournaments on lakes where docks are a premium I would be rolling up on docks 5-6 docks behind the next guy that he had already hit with a jig or power fishing and I would be able to get 1-2 fish that he missed. The biggest complaint I here about it is that it takes to long to fish slow like that. For me I am willing to wait. Nothing like seeing that braid floating on top of the water take off to the side. Keep in mind a lot of these smaller docks only have one bass on em. The bigger the dock the deeper the dock and the more shade on the dock the better. I have had a couple early in the season where I just sit there for 15-20 minutes and catch fish on em. The best docks seem to be adjacent to deeper water this also seems to be more of the case in the summer.

Tackle wise I use a 6,10 spinning rod for this setup with a 10-pound suffix braid and a floro leader. I seem to use braid to floro on everything these days, however. As far as fun factor nothing more fun than burning a prop bait or whopper plopper across a pad edge and getting smacked or frog fishing so shallow you see their backs arce through the water to chase it. For smallies nothing beats a ned rig with any sort of z-man plastic. I save so much money using z-man it seems like I will use up a pack of yum dingers before a use up one z-man stick bait.

It was a great year for bass last year and I learned a lot and am still learning. Looking to focus more on eyes this year than bass as it’s something I have not done until this winter. Will be able to access so much more water now that I can drive can’t wait it’s gonna be a great year.

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I can’t think of any new techniques to be used this year.
It will be jerk bait, crank bait, spinnerbaits, chatter bait, jig and craw, Texas rigged creature bait or worm, Neko rig, tube, swim bait, drop shot and slugs (I wish they still made them. Good thing we have a few 50 count bags still.) Throw in a little top water every once in awhile.
It’s been 20 years since I have fished a moss boss in lily pads. That was always fun. Might have to give that a try again this summer.
Definitely will fish more top water for smallmouth.

Favorite rig is the Neko rig. Got absolutely obsessed with it a couple seasons ago. You can’t beat it from June through August. Started using the ned more last season and really figured it out. Hated it before.

This year I am going to try the Carolina rig. Gonna drag it out deep on structure middle of summer. I don’t think many fish will have seen it up here and hope to catch some bigs on it. We’ll find out.

When I want to catch Bass, I just go walleye fishing. LOL

Seriously, I’m going to try SM fishing in Roosie this season. I’ve never fished SM in a lake before only Rivers.
After creepin on you Bass guys threads, I’m, thinking “ned rig with a crawfish”.

So what craw fish is your go-to?

p.s. I can’t believe you guys could have ever converted this walleye guy.

Here’s my new technique this year!

Now I’ll actually be able to focus on my techniques without have to worry about wind!

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Randy Wieland wrote:

I have really walked away and never looked back at the abundance of presentations. When I was doing mediocre in tournaments, I took a couple seasons off from <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass to just chase walleyes. Ya, the GMC vs Ford thing. But as much as bass guys and walleyes guys bicker, I learned so much more about bass behavior and quality locations.

So as I concentrated on more off shore habitat for eyes, i on average caught much bigger bass on a regular basis. But the second year I was seeing patterns develop where the more mature bass went deep, related on very deep weed lines, bottom transitions and so much more.

With that came learning simplicity. Often I was pitching ringworms, slow rolling paddletails, bladebaits, rippin lipless baits. What became most apparent was “how” vs what. We were “suspending” years before we heard the term drop-shot. We laughed at the guys “drop-shotting” with a round weight – foolish! Need to use a needle weight to drag through sand grass. But back to my point, it’s worth exploring other species to see what your missing or over looking.

Randy sounds exactly like a mentor of mine. I partially took his advise, but I am sure he/they are correct here.

EP Z-man makes a small ned craw but anything 2.5 to 3″ will work good.I’ve used Yum 2.75 Craw-papi for years love them.Walleyes seem to have an addiction to them also.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Here’s my new technique this year!

Now I’ll actually be able to focus on my techniques without have to worry about wind!

Got her hooked up and ready to go huh

Randy Wieland wrote:

I have really walked away and never looked back at the abundance of presentations. When I was doing mediocre in tournaments, I took a couple seasons off from <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass to just chase walleyes. Ya, the GMC vs Ford thing. But as much as bass guys and walleyes guys bicker, I learned so much more about bass behavior and quality locations.

So as I concentrated on more off shore habitat for eyes, i on average caught much bigger bass on a regular basis. But the second year I was seeing patterns develop where the more mature bass went deep, related on very deep weed lines, bottom transitions and so much more.

With that came learning simplicity. Often I was pitching ringworms, slow rolling paddletails, bladebaits, rippin lipless baits. What became most apparent was “how” vs what. We were “suspending” years before we heard the term drop-shot. We laughed at the guys “drop-shotting” with a round weight – foolish! Need to use a needle weight to drag through sand grass. But back to my point, it’s worth exploring other species to see what your missing or over looking.

Randy Wieland wrote:

I have really walked away and never looked back at the abundance of presentations. When I was doing mediocre in tournaments, I took a couple seasons off from <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass to just chase walleyes. Ya, the GMC vs Ford thing. But as much as bass guys and walleyes guys bicker, I learned so much more about bass behavior and quality locations.

So as I concentrated on more off shore habitat for eyes, i on average caught much bigger bass on a regular basis. But the second year I was seeing patterns develop where the more mature bass went deep, related on very deep weed lines, bottom transitions and so much more.

With that came learning simplicity. Often I was pitching ringworms, slow rolling paddletails, bladebaits, rippin lipless baits. What became most apparent was “how” vs what. We were “suspending” years before we heard the term drop-shot. We laughed at the guys “drop-shotting” with a round weight – foolish! Need to use a needle weight to drag through sand grass. But back to my point, it’s worth exploring other species to see what your missing or over looking.

Agree with Randy 100%, I’d add dead sticking. For me it’s the hardest presentation, I suspect most of us Bass guys are attention span deficient. Dead sticking 5-10 ft beyond the weed line seems nuts to us.

“I’m going to try SM fishing in Roosie this season. I’ve never fished SM in a lake before only Rivers.
After creepin on you Bass guys threads, I’m, thinking “ned rig with a crawfish”.

So what craw fish is your go-to?”

Here’s one to try (can’t get the links to post but you can Google them):

*Shur-set Ned head 3/32 oz down to approx 12 fow, 1/8 oz 15-20 fow)
*Maxscent Lil’ Trooper craw style Ned

Let us know how you do

New techniques? I don’t really know of any that I haven’t tried at least once before. I can’t stand drop shotting or jig worming though. Ultra finesse fishing is not my forte so you could say that I need to improve on those strategies.

gimruis wrote:

I can’t stand drop shotting or jig worming though.

Wow !!! I would list those as my top 2 ways I like to fish Bass. I would est. that 75% or more of my bass caught in a season come on either a dropshot or a Jigworm ( Then again that’s because it’s what I fish the most ) That’s what I like about Bass fishing. There are so many ways to catch them. I’m always willing to try new things. Last year I just started to really fish the Neko rig. That one came up big on a few outings for sure last season. I do want to try to fish some Larger Swimbaits this season. I may even play around a little fishing a few LARGE glidebaits.

I’m definitely more of a power angler when it comes to bass fishing. I find drop shots, Ned rigs, jig worms, and other finesse styles of fishing with soft plastic to be slow and boring. I’d much rather chuck and wind. It probably comes from the muskie angler in me.

I know it’s effective, it’s just not my thing. There are times when I have to do it to catch fish.

EPG, a few years ago we rented a VRBO that was two driveways N of the bridge on the right. Huge place that slept like 20 of us.
We had the most success for bass around that island that is in the SW corner of the lake. Just worked our way around the island with spinner baits and plastics. We also went through the culvert and had some really good pike fishing on Lawrence.
At that time we were looking for retirement lake home and we really liked the lake. But in the end we choose to be closer to the cities so the kids/grand kids would come visit more. Beautiful lake.

gimruis wrote:

I’m definitely more of a power angler when it comes to bass fishing. I find drop shots, Ned rigs, jig worms, and other finesse styles of fishing with soft plastic to be slow and boring. I’d much rather chuck and wind. It probably comes from the muskie angler in me.

I know it’s effective, it’s just not my thing. There are times when I have to do it to catch fish.

I’m with you. I have a hard time dropshotting. Actually hated the ned until last august when I couldn’t catch a fish on anything but Ned rigs. Got good with them though and once you’re catching fish on them it’s not too bad.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
I’m definitely more of a power angler when it comes to bass fishing. I find drop shots, Ned rigs, jig worms, and other finesse styles of fishing with soft plastic to be slow and boring. I’d much rather chuck and wind. It probably comes from the muskie angler in me.

I know it’s effective, it’s just not my thing. There are times when I have to do it to catch fish.

I’m with you. I have a hard time dropshotting. Actually hated the ned until last august when I couldn’t catch a fish on anything but Ned rigs. Got good with them though and once you’re catching fish on them it’s not too bad.

gimruis wrote:

I’m definitely more of a power angler when it comes to bass fishing. I find drop shots, Ned rigs, jig worms, and other finesse styles of fishing with soft plastic to be slow and boring. I’d much rather chuck and wind. It probably comes from the muskie angler in me.

I know it’s effective, it’s just not my thing. There are times when I have to do it to catch fish.

I would agree that a drop shot would fall in the finesse category ( although I have seen some fish it using a far from finesse size bait ) to me the Jigworm does not fall under the finesse category. Chunk and wind not much different than a crankbait ( Maybe at a slower speed ) there is just something I like about the bite on a drop shot. I also like how you can fish it behind someone else fishing another method and catch fish that they missed. Often I fish out of the back of a buddies boat and he fishes for fish over the top of weed flats and I fish the outer edge of the same weed flats. To me Power fishing has its place when fish are really aggressive, but I often find they are in a much more neutral mood. This is when the jigworm and dropshot really excel to me. like I said thats whats fun about bass – So many different ways to catch them.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<I’m with you. I have a hard time dropshotting. Actually hated the ned until last august when I couldn’t catch a fish on anything but Ned rigs. Got good with them though and once you’re catching fish on them it’s not too bad.

That’s how I was with the Neko rig until last year. There was a few days where this out fished every other method. I think part of it is that its something that fish just don’t see as much of as other techniques.

Had a real fun time last summer fishing smallies like Muskies out on voyageurs national park. Was fishing super windy islands covered in rocks with either a normal spinner bait or a jerkbait. also could not beat a WTD top water in the mornings. Largemouth for sure skipping jigs or frogging/punching.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I’m with you. I have a hard time dropshotting. Actually hated the ned until last august when I couldn’t catch a fish on anything but Ned rigs. Got good with them though and once you’re catching fish on them it’s not too bad.

The Ned is like my last resort when the fishing is slow. It has definitely saved me from a few terrible outings and turned them into decent success. I tend to catch smaller fish on it and it seems to get pecked a lot by panfish. The positive is that Zman elaztech is extremely durable.

I caught some of my biggest fish of the year in the Fall on the dreaded Nerd Rig. It works for numbers and some big ones too (My profile picture is two LMB caught on the Nerd). I hear ya about the little fish pecking it to death at times. That’s the clear signal to me to change up to either a Neko or Shaky head to keep the little guys off and get bigger bites.

gimruis wrote:

The Ned is like my last resort when the fishing is slow. It has definitely saved me from a few terrible outings and turned them into decent success. I tend to catch smaller fish on it and it seems to get pecked a lot by panfish. The positive is that Zman elaztech is extremely durable.

Yeah I had that train of thought too. But last year when I had success with it I’d catch numerous 1-2 lb bass, but at least once or twice each time I was on a school, I’d get a 3-4lber as well. Keep in mind I use the Big TRD’s.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Keep in mind I use the Big TRD’s

You ever try the Giant TRDs?

My late son always talked about hair jigs for smallies. One day I tried it on Blackwater Lake. I caught smallies where I didn’t know smallies lived. He taught me something after all.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
Keep in mind I use the Big TRD’s

You ever try the Giant TRDs?

You mean regular senkos?

ssaamm wrote:

My late son always talked about hair jigs for smallies. One day I tried it on Blackwater Lake. I caught smallies where I didn’t know smallies lived. He taught me something after all.

Love when the river smallies are on the hair jig bite. That can be a absolute blast