|
|
| I've been out quite a bit this year and have seen a ton if fish, but am having a tough time getting fish to commit and hit a lure. I have had a lot of follows where fish will not even hang around to follow the figure eight. Any suggestions on what could give me a better chance of getting these fish to commit? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1168
| What baits are you using?
Encountered a similar thing last weekend. They'd follow straight running baits (bucktails, spinnerbaits, prop type surface baits, etc) like nuts but as soon as there was a change in direction or when we'd have the slightest bit of disturbance caused by a rod in the water they'd dart off. Switched things up and went to more erratic baits and they'd eat. The other thing change was to position the boat so we were facing the sun instead of casting a shadow on the side we were casting. Not sure if that was the trick but once the approach was modified it went from a couple of days of irritation caused by too many follows to count to a pretty decent weekend. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 20219
Location: oswego, il | Like committing to register? Sorry could not resist. Try fast erratic baits. Something you can rip hard and does something on the pause. Good reaction strikes with baits like this. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 345
Location: Poynette WI. | I had the same thing happening a couple weeks ago. had 9 follows one day and all stopped at the begining of the figure 8, which is not surprising because i have yet to do that well with the 8 anyways, but what i was using was bucktails and basically a strait retrieve lure. the second day we knew where the fish were and downsized our baits and used an erratic bait that would stay in front of the fish longer. we put four in the boat that day and continued to use the bucktails for search baits and would go back to those spots later with an erratic bait or smaller bucktail worked faster. We also postioned the boat differently based on where the fish came from prior. |
|
| |
|
Location: Contrarian Island | are you speeding up when you see the fish and see if they react the same way? kiss of death 98% of the time is slowing the bait down in the 8, or even going the same speed...that said I have seen where the fish actually did want it slowed down but that is not the norm.. if you are slowing down or even keeping it the same speed you are missing out... speed it up on the turn then slow down just a touch on the high/outside corner and they will pounce on it...don't tie em into a pretzel either, do a nice big turn and the fish will hit it...
Edited by BNelson 7/3/2014 11:06 AM
|
|
| |
|
| Thanks for the tips! I was using small bucktails to start and had a lot of follows. I did decide to try more erratic baits after numerous follows but the fish only seemed to want those small bucktails. I had about 8 follows on the one bucktail. As soon as I would change up baits to try and get the fish to eat something, I would stop getting follows all together.
|
|
| |
|
Location: Contrarian Island | did the fish actually go into the 8 or turn off? |
|
| |
|
| None have followed the 8 recently. I'm not pulling the bait out of the water or anything like that. I make sure I keep it moving. Some of the fish will even just stop and watch the 8 for a second but will rarely follow it. And only one fish has hit farther then 10 feet from the boat and I'm not sure why. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | 2 things that are impossible …
1. you cannot move a bait too fast for a fish to catch up to
2. you cannot feed a bait to a fish
i always try to send this concept message to folks new to the boat side game …
and, what smelly is saying … true |
|
| |
|
Posts: 349
| Anonymous - 7/3/2014 11:41 AM None have followed the 8 recently. I'm not pulling the bait out of the water or anything like that. I make sure I keep it moving. Some of the fish will even just stop and watch the 8 for a second but will rarely follow it. And only one fish has hit farther then 10 feet from the boat and I'm not sure why. Right on, one of the hardest parts of catching fish in the 8 is keeping them engaged from the cast through the L turn and into the 8. This varies lake to lake, but on some pressured waters most follows will either lose interest going into the L turn or turn the opposite way and sit there. The best way I've found to get those fish to eat is to cut your L turn short and zip the bait just over and in front of that fish's head as fast as possible if it's still in reach. A lot of times that will get them chasing again and give you a shot. If you see the fish on you from a ways out, speed up and as you get closer to the boat curve your bait out the opposite way your L turn is going to go... as your coming into the L go deep and fast and then bring it back up and do a little hesitation coming out of the first turn... this is where I get fish to eat.
|
|
| |
|
Location: Contrarian Island | biggest and most challenging thing for most to do is "read the fish"... watch the fish and how it reacts.... you simply do what the fish tells you it likes...if it speeds up when you do, good... if it slows down when you speed up, bad... it's a hard thing for relative newbies to learn but simply put... 'read the fish'. |
|
| |
|
| That's what I've tried to do but a lot of times they don't even give me time to read them! But I appreciate the advice from everyone and I'll try different things and will hopefully get a few of the less aggressive fish to bite.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Are you sure they aren't pike? Pike don't tend to go into the 8, though some certainly do. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1660
Location: central Wisconsin | I hear dogfish bite on the eight. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | There's only one person I know of with skill and cunning and guile to catch a dogfish on the 8. I believe he's already replied on this thread, should have been the end of the discussion right there. |
|
| |
Follows