Which Technique Are You Learning This Season?

Can you tell I really have the itch? Man I want to bass fish! Getting the boat this weekend!

2 years ago it was the Neko Rig, which has become my go to technique from June-August. Last year it was fishing a jig on deep structure, which I gained some confidence in after catching my PB using it. This year I think it’s going to be the Carolina Rig.

A buddy of mine caught more 5 lbers last year on a C rig than I think I have in my life. It was really impressive. I also think there are barely any bass anglers in MN throwing this so it’s something that the fish might not see often.

What are you guys looking at learning this year?

I am going to spend way more time fishing a Jig this year. This has been my goal the last few seasons. With a little more success on it last year I think I’ll spend way more time fishing it this season. I also want to start using more crankbaits. This is something that I have a Ton of and almost never fish. Not sure why. Like most bass fishermen I tend to find something that works for me and I like to fish and have a hard time putting it down to try something else.

I use to fish a C-Rig a fair amount. I don’t think I’ve thrown one for several years now. They have a time and place for sure. I just don’t fish the type of structure that they excel in much these days.

Ha, yes me too on the C-Rig… I’ve used it in the past but plan to much more post-spawn. Floating worms on shorter leaders work best for me, but again its been awhile.

Pre-spawn and after I plan to throw a lot more hair jigs. Tougher deal to throw the lighter 1/16-1/8 oz variety on baitcasting gear. I did pick up a Daiwa Air TW and did a few casts outside with 7 lb Sniper. Truly impressive reel to get that much distance with light stuff. We’ll see, but I have seen guys absolutely mop up on the smallies with hair when other guys are struggling with everything else…

Honestly there really isn’t a technique I want to learn and/or get better at. The only one that comes to mind is the drop shot. I hate using it though because its numbingly slow and boring IMO

Using a jerk bait more for largemouth perhaps. I know its more of a cold water smallmouth tactic, but guys on tour use them all season for largemouth too, and they’re successful doing it. So I guess I’ll go with that.

C rig for me, I never used but we have some nice grass/rocks on trout in crosslake that is 30′ deep.

Probably taking a deeper dive into the big swimbait game. Had some success with largemouth, smallmouth, and the occasional tiger muskie on 6″ Megabass Magdrafts towards the end of the open water season. Probably looking to expand into S-Waver 168s and get more confidence searching for giant bites. I’m planning on adding that new St. Croix Victory 7’4 Heavy action to my arsenal for baits like those. It’s not everyday you find a 7’4 heavy action coming in at a mere 4.3 ounces, so I’m pretty excited for that too.

Other than that I’d like to experiment with more hair jigs, as they are a pretty well-kept secret as you get further up north. Might try and dedicate more time to fishing out deep (25ft+) because that’s where I tend to see the giants come out of.

I’m itching for open water!!!!

gimruis wrote:

The only one that comes to mind is the drop shot. I hate using it though because its numbingly slow and boring IMO

The Drop shot is one of my 2 go to rigs. I bet I have it in my hand 50% or more of the time from Early June till Early Sept. When fish are setup on Weedlines or mainlake rocks I don’t think there is a better technique to use.
I can see how it can be boring if you like to fish fast and have a hard time slowing down.

Floats and hair for suspended smallies. Aug when they are feeding heavy on yoy bluegills and right at turn over when they are all over the water column

Fry, I find that when the pre-spawn smallie jerkbait bite dies – for me around 53-55 degrees – that’s the signal the fish have moved to the spawn grounds and will greedily eat little black hair jigs. Casting distance is key to maximizing this bite. I use Sniper as well but 7lb is pretty thick for a 1/16 oz hair jig and may cost valuable distance and therefore decrease productivity. I’ve begun tying my own marabou hair jigs on slightly heavier 3/32 OutKast heads and stepped down to 6lb line. Distance is so important I might even drop to 5lb Sniper this year, but wouldn’t want to use a heavier jighead as it seems smallies really like the bait ‘floating’ and not diving to the bottom when the retrieve is super slow. That’s another key for me as well – floating the bait – which is hard to explain but involves maintaining a steady depth at the slowest possible speed. Essentially, I’m trying to eliminate any vertical movement during the retrieve while s-l-o-w-l-y retrieving…floating the bait. They absolutely cannot resist it when everything is dialed-in perfectly.

fishingdakotacountymn wrote:

Probably taking a deeper dive into the big swimbait game. Had some success with largemouth, smallmouth, and the occasional tiger muskie on 6″ Megabass Magdrafts towards the end of the open water season. Probably looking to expand into S-Waver 168s and get more confidence searching for giant bites. I’m planning on adding that new St. Croix Victory 7’4 Heavy action to my arsenal for baits like those. It’s not everyday you find a 7’4 heavy action coming in at a mere 4.3 ounces, so I’m pretty excited for that too.

I just about ordered a bunch of Magdrafts yesterday. I keep hearing more and more people using them and I think the 6 inch size is perfect for chasing big largemouth in our state.

Randy funny you mentioned float n jig.I have thought about trying it on the river and just never got around to it.I may give a try this year.

My plan is to try more lakes with my techniques to get better at reading water faster. Too easy to stay on the same lakes sometimes.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
The only one that comes to mind is the drop shot. I hate using it though because its numbingly slow and boring IMO

The Drop shot is one of my 2 go to rigs. I bet I have it in my hand 50% or more of the time from Early June till Early Sept. When fish are setup on Weedlines or mainlake rocks I don’t think there is a better technique to use.
I can see how it can be boring if you like to fish fast and have a hard time slowing down.

I’m a DS guy as well. But, then again, I’m a walleye guy so I’m used to boring. I’d say I’m 50% DS, 30% weightless wacky, and remainder split between cranks and spinnerbaits. When you get on a weed line DS bite, it’s far from boring. This year I’d like to use the jig more, and also learn to dock skip.

So this might sound a little crazy. But fishing open water schools of bait. Almost like you would for muskies.

I’m also going to use the combo of Livescope and 360 Imaging for the first time this season to locate structure and off-shore bass. I can beat the bank and skip docks like everyone else, but when it moves out from there I have mixed results if I don’t have a good plan.

There’s alot of water to cover on any given body of water and I want to become better at narrowing it down to high percentage spots and finding fish quicker and more efficiently whether they are deep or shallow.

Soft swimbaits for me. It seems like the natural progression from my favorite, TRig senkos. Maybe also topwater plugs. I haven’t had any success with them and haven’t found any I’m confident in.

I am going to attempt the jig again this year. I just have no confidence with it. But fishing with grubson and watching him catch some hogs I really need to learn it.

Youbetcha wrote:

So this might sound a little crazy. But fishing open water schools of bait. Almost like you would for muskies.

I focus on that pattern hardcore once the young of the year gills/panfish are schooling. Bass are also VERY cannibalistic. YOY bass schooled up is smallie candy. I’ve had a few very old reports written about what I typically use. Incredible bite in late summer

chuck100 wrote:

Randy funny you mentioned float n jig.I have thought about trying it on the river and just never got around to it.I may give a try this year.

Ive done it on a few closing dams and around some brush piles on the river. Works awesome when they are feeding high. Keeps a jig from sweeping beneath them. I also started to do the same with rippin raps for crappies around brush – works well

FryDog62 wrote:

I’m also going to use the combo of Livescope and 360 Imaging for the first time this season to locate structure and off-shore bass. I can beat the bank and skip docks like everyone else, but when it moves out from there I have mixed results if I don’t have a good plan.

There’s alot of water to cover on any given body of water and I want to become better at narrowing it down to high percentage spots and finding fish quicker and more efficiently whether they are deep or shallow.

I have been working on that since last season. I’m going to be out on White Bear finding all the deep rock piles that the smallies sit on all year. Last season I didn’t spend enough time graphing those before the weeds grew up.

I never had any confidence fishing off shore structure until I started using the neko rig. I use it off shore almost exclusively. Rarely throw up in less that 15 fow. It’s been an absolute killer for me and has opened up my options on lakes. Now if I can keep honing my jig skills I’ll feel really good about fishing off shore. But electronics are definitely key in that deep game.

I really need to get updated electronics. At this point I’ve got to get my Daughter thru college and then it will be time for the boat and setup of my dreams. I love to fish offshore rock and I know there is probably a fair amount of it on these local lakes. Its just hard to find it with the old outdated technology that I have. My fishing buddy is looking at upgrading to the new livescope, so hopefully that will help us locate some more rock spots. I can always find it in his boat and transfer the waypoint info. to mine. I have a ton of rock waypoints on the metro lakes, but almost none here on lakes in this area.

Here’s a good debate for everyone. Keep in mind this is strictly regarding bass fishing.

Would you rather have Livescope or 360 up front?

I would go with 360 personally. I just love the way it looks and gives you such a great 360 picture of what is around you.

Just for bass fishing?? I would go with the M360 if I had to choose. Thankfully I don’t have to choose and can run them both simultaneously. They do very different things and complement each other very well.

Live scope or 360? I’d probably go with 360. But neither one is in the cards for this guy. I just upgraded my electronics 2 years ago. I don’t think the common angler can just go upgrade to the latest and greatest that comes out seemingly every year.

I don’t do a lot of offshore deep water structure fishing. Part of the issue is that I don’t have the boat for it. Side scan has helped me locate isolated patches of rock on Mille Lacs though.

gimruis wrote:

Live scope or 360? I’d probably go with 360. But neither one is in the cards for this guy. I just upgraded my electronics 2 years ago. I don’t think the common angler can just go upgrade to the latest and greatest that comes out seemingly every year.

I don’t do a lot of offshore deep water structure fishing. Part of the issue is that I don’t have the boat for it. Side scan has helped me locate isolated patches of rock on Mille Lacs though.

Oh yeah, I can’t afford it either. I’m hoping to get an Ultrex this season. That is more important for me honestly.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I’m hoping to get an Ultrex this season. That is more important for me honestly.

When I bought my boat in 2015 I would have gotten one on it instead of a maxxum. The problem is that it didn’t come out until 2016. I have a 12 foot talon that works pretty good but obviously anything deeper than 11 feet and it simply won’t reach.

Is livescope any better than SI at finding offshore rocks? You can scan over 100′ in 2 directions and you can move quickly if you are only looking for rock. I would be happy to help you Thumper, if you do not have SI, we could take my boat and you can mark the spots-rock is easy.

SI is better at covering more water and locating rocks/structure quickly. You could do that with Livescope but would take a little more time. Better to locate with SI and then circle back with Livescope to see if there are fish.

Brian what is so good about Sniper-wouldn’t you cast farther w/good ol’ mono on a spinning rig? How about Power Pro w/ a flouro leader? Thanks

tim hurley wrote:

Brian what is so good about Sniper-wouldn’t you cast farther w/good ol’ mono on a spinning rig? How about Power Pro w/ a flouro leader? Thanks

Braid casts further on a spinning reel than mono or fluoro for sure. Salt Strong did some experiments that showed an improvement of up to 30% vs. mono. To be more specific since you asked, I’ve been using Sniper affixed via an FG knot to 6lb Nanofil. Best of both worlds IMO. However, my fluoro leaders are longer these days; usually about 15’-30’ vs. 5’-8’. The reason for the change is because of some anecdotal evidence/theories that my shorter leaders were still a turn-off to line-shy fish. Why Sniper? It has proven itself to be super strong, highly abrasion resistant, manageable, and consistent from spool to spool. I’m just not breaking-off fish like I used to with other brands. Recommend the Shaw Grisby knot with it though. Like any fluoro, it doesn’t appreciate certain knots that were popular with mono.

Thanks Brian! Talked to a guy who has a good friend who guides on Vermilion mostly for Walters-fishes with that guy a lot and they do very well. He sees people go to VERY good spots but they get too close or run over the spot B4 they fish it and end up getting nothing. Stealth is underratted, have to think about it on those clear lakes and in shallow water.