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Posts: 8
Location: Lake Vermillion | I've been experimenting with different figure 8 tactics with the different lures I've been throwing and I am curious as to what everyone's favorite strategies are for each bait they toss. For instance, while twitching a bulldog or jerk bait close to the boat, do you continue twitching into a figure 8 or go right into on continuous motion. While using blades, do you rip it fast on the straight a ways and slow it down on the turns, or vice versa. As for topwater, I have been mostly continuing on with a prop bait or walk the dog lure on the surface right around the boat assuming that is the best option. Any tips or tricks on getting more boat side strikes would be greatly appreciated! |
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Posts: 2017
| Well you are headed in the right direction because you are thinking about how you can improve your 8 hookups. Very little will help you by reading what to do on the internet - IMO - every fish and situation is different, commonly referred to as "reading the fish" and you need experience to do this... Staying calm and not moving too much is definitely key.... For me more and more fish come on the 8 every year, 6 of 8 bucktail and dawg fish have been in the 8 so far..... but only 1 of 7 have ate a topwater boat side, WTD topwater you are much better chopping the bait away from the boat "force feed them" than bring the fish boatside -IMO
1) Bulldawgs will catch fish without twitching for sure especially when the fish is hot, just go around like a bucktail - however when they are not aggressive I often twitch trying to play keep away...the goal is to get the fish fired up...you can tell when they are getting aggressive enough to soon charge/ overtake the bait.. go to a "bucktail" 8 at that point , give them time to eat high outside.
2) when to go fast/slow .....I'll almost always go faster in the straight aways but again read the fish you want to keep their interest...I don't want the fish to eat in the straight away it generally leads to poor hookups and more lost fish, give the fish a chance to eat the bait on the high outside corner
3) I catch more fish on walk the dog and prop baits under the water than on top in the 8 but both techniques work I often mix it up below and on top - but there are techniques to get them to eat away from the boat if you know they are following....and if a fish blows up on the bait, you may want to actually take the bait away from them rather than pull them off the spot....what I'm saying is topwater boat side its a lower percentage game but you can get fish to eat topwater boatside - especially if the fish engages the bait late in the retrieve.
Good luck!
Edited by IAJustin 6/20/2014 5:06 PM
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Posts: 3869
| Experience will tell you how to react to a follow fish. Justin above seems totally right on with his tips but the one thing missed is dealing with deep follows, usually tanker fish that most people never see because they are not looking that far behind and/or that deep. Took me a while to learn to look for those big girls in the right way. I toss back a jig/creature, sinkin slow and ripping up and sinkin slow again, what I do with most all lazy follows. My best luck comes with a heavy bass jig, hair mostly trimmed away, tipped with a 5-6" sucker or shiner. The throw-back sits waiting in a small, cold areated cooler in the boat because the minnow must spark from the moment it hits the water until I rip the life out of the poor critter. |
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Posts: 791
Location: WI | Watch a video of Bill Sandy figure 8ing fish. He is IMO the beat in the business. He hangs it a little on the outside turn and gets them to eat probably 80% of the time. He talks about reading fish. Musky whisperer |
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Posts: 93
Location: Des Moines IA | As IAJustin mentions to stay calm and not move to much I could'nt agree more. I have seen many people move to fast and rock the boat, kick something and make a loud noise or just scream and scare the fish away before they had a chance to start a figure 8...
Figure 8 fishing is a whole new ball game and experience will be your best teacher... |
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Posts: 1037
| Be smooth. Let muscle memory kick in. Hang the bait, no matter what kind, on the turn. Make the turn nice and wide. Vary depth on the figure eight. Use speed on the straight away and again, hang on the loop.
It gets to be fun when you get that "hot" follow, cuz you just know that she is going to eat!
Lastly, practice makes perfect. |
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Posts: 512
| Im still confused on how to set the hook on the 8 once you get the fish to hit.. seems years ago you were told to set back into the fish, or towards its tail.. Now it seems most i see on t.v. Bucher especially, just continues going with the fish, and walks the fish around until they net it...
which is it???? |
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Posts: 8789
| You have to just go out there and learn. We've all heard the same stuff - wide turns, keep the lure in front of the fish, etc. Until you have enough boatside encounters to experience for yourself what works and what doesn't, it's all just words. You have to screw up a lot of them to get it right. You have to forget what you did on the fish that were going to eat no matter what. You have to forget what you did the fish that weren't going to eat no matter what.
Catching a fish on a figure 8 is like being with a woman. You figure out a little bit with every one. You'll never figure it ALL out. But after several years of stupid, you will start to get the hang of it eventually. And no matter who you are or how good (you think) you are, you ARE going to **** up from time to time. That's just the way it is. |
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Figure Eight Tactics