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Posts: 157
| Lets say that you are out and seeing fish, but not catching? What do you do? Just keep casting? Change baits etc?
Very Broad I know. I always seem to get fish moving on bucktails, but there are days I can just not get them to commit. Just wanted to see what your guys next step is. |
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| Changeup. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | make em eat
that's ribs get sore and reels get broken ... rippin' grandma's.
if they are chasing bucktails you gotta do something at the boat to get em to change their attitude ... sprint down into the front straightaway and a big wide turn watching what happens coming out of turn 2. if you are aggressive with your side they will follow suit. it's all about what you do to help the fish do what it was built to do. it's impossible to take a bait away from a musky ... it's equally impossible to feed it to them. |
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Location: sneaking out to get on the water ;-) | Try speeding up or like sled said you can also make turns out farther or flare the tail. Try one just a bit different. Still no action try a bigger change. Come back at prime time with bait they were most active on. Good luck |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | I would say erratic, and maybe move your boat out slightly deeper off the break and see if you are able to keep contacting fish.
Part of why I say this is that I get very few follows compared to many other fishermen. I use a lot of rubber baits or twitched baits like Triple D's. I also fish a little deeper than many guys with my baits landing AT the weedline or deeper many times. I don't use a lot of bucktails, but notice I tend to get more follows vs hits on bucktails.
I think lots of guys that fish deeper notice fewer follows vs fish just eating (due to the attitude of deeper fish), so where I'm fishing might have something to do with it. However, I think erratic lures tend to get a higher strike to follow ratio than straight retrieve baits like bucktails.
First thing I would do is vary your retrieve or use an erratic rubber, crank, or jerkbait. If that doesn't work maybe back off the structure a little and see what happens. Be warned though - if you are used to getting a lot of follows and you start doing something that leads to not seeing a lot of follows it can be hard on the confidence at times. You might change tecnhique or location slightly and at the end of the year put more fish in the boat, but you could likely see fewer fish on average. The ones you see will just be hooked. |
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Posts: 325
Location: Otsego, MN | First thing I do is speed up the retrieve to induce more of a reaction strike with the bucktail. If that is unsuccessful and the weather is clear skys, cold front conditions, I throw a slower presentation (jerk bait or rubber...). Something that hangs in there faces longer, might go a bit deeper too... If all they are doing is following I wouldnt do the same thing thats for sure!
Mark the spots you have follows, and revisit during prime times (moon and sun phases) and switch to a different presentation. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | Curlytail brings up a good point ... are you seeing them late? if you are they are coming from behind you and you are likely crowding the spot. get out and work the spot from furher out. lots of people suffer from fishing too close or on top of the weed edge. get to know what depth the weeds grow to or estimate it ... dark water 6-8', semi-clear 10-12' and clear find the sand-grass and get down to it. if i'm in dark water my boat is in 12-14' and if i'm in semi-clear it's in 18-20'. |
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Posts: 20248
Location: oswego, il | come back to them in the last hour of the day. fish baits that run deep enough to where they are barely visible for you to see. many ti,es that is where the fish that follow your bait are at and they will eat it when the bait looks like its coming up. |
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Posts: 661
Location: Sussex, NJ | If you're talking about trying to get them to commit at boatside I would first try and change the speed of my retrieve and than especially with a bucktail I would change the height of the bait. Stick the rod tip deeper in the water and than as you come around the eight raise the rod tip more. I've had fish take swings while changing the height of the bait. Either way getting a musky to eat boatside can be a pain in the ass no matter what you do! |
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Location: Contrarian Island | put a sucker in their face...  chomp chomp chomp. oh wait, that might be trolling. |
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| twitch a crane
erratic jerkbait
downsize
fish a few feet deeper
plastics and jig'm |
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Posts: 504
Location: Ludington, MI | Slow down. Twitch a pike-sized bait like a Flat Rap 16. And as has been mentioned before, return at dark or first light.
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Posts: 373
Location: Maine Township, MN | What would be a "go to" changeup bait when fishing a 20' breakline / weedline that breaks into 50 FOW? I was getting tons of follows on double 10's, but they turn away sluggish at the boat. Tried fast, slow, erratic, all types of figure-8's and nothing seems to make them eat. |
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Posts: 285
Location: Price County WI | nocturnalmotors - 3/15/2013 8:54 AM
What would be a "go to" changeup bait when fishing a 20' breakline / weedline that breaks into 50 FOW? I was getting tons of follows on double 10's, but they turn away sluggish at the boat. Tried fast, slow, erratic, all types of figure-8's and nothing seems to make them eat.
Rip some Big Rubber!!!!!! |
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Seeing Fish