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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | So I just wanted to throw this out there as I think this can be a point in the retrieve that alot of people really don't focus to much on.
Is it the first turn, is it the depth change, or the straight aways? I actually think that it's the part going INTO the figure 8. When going into a figure 8, I try to keep my bait going at the same depth it was at (say using a bucktail) then smothly go into the L turn, and into the 8. I think by keeping it initially at that same depth, then adding changes once they are still engaged will help keep that fish interested.
The other thing would be to make BIG 8's or circles. I see alot of really skinny 8's. This definitely won't hold up well when a fish is chasing, as they are going to loose the bait.
I think figure 8s are probably one of the easiest ways to put some extra fish in the boat each year, but still don't see too many people seriously focus on them.
What would ONE part of a GOOD 8 that people should really focus on? |
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Posts: 1769
Location: Algonquin, ILL | 1, DO IT
2, Make the transition from your retreive into the Fig 8 as smooth a possible, I've seen many folks stop the retreive and then do an 8,L,C or what ever
this will spook more often than not
3, Don't yell and scream when you have a fish following this will also spook fish
Edited by JohnMD 9/28/2006 11:56 AM
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Posts: 2024
| A smooth transition into the 8 from the main retrieve is a must. This has been where I've popped more of my fish in the 8 then anywhere else during the maneuver. You stutter here and I bet 9 times out of 10 your going to spook or make that fish lose interest. You need to find a rhythm to enter the 8s with (i.e. no herky jerky switch hand maneuvers). My .02 cents |
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Posts: 2378
| JohnMD - 9/28/2006 11:53 AM
1, DO IT
2, Make the transition from your retreive into the Fig 8 as smooth a possible, I've seen many folks stop the retreive and then do an 8,L,C or what ever
this will spook more often than not
3, Don't yell and scream when you have a fish following this will also spook fish
SPEED!!
You gott make 'em want it.
Watch Jonesi do a few 8's once...I learned alot just watching him.
Edited by BALDY 9/28/2006 12:11 PM
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| Deep, big, wide, exaggerate on the corners, don't make them too tight. Try to drag back towards the fish if she stops, is she dissapears drag back at her last spot. This summer I 8ed a fish for five minutes, she disappeared and came back at least three times, the last time I pulled my bait right at her face and she took it. Do more than one move, too. Go at least three times around. Long rod helps a lot. Shape doesn't matter, "L" or an "8" I draw a big rectangle sometimes. Surface baits, walk them around the boat sometimes. Some guys disengage the spool, I only do that after the fish is 100% on, then I thumb the reel so she can get a few feet from the hull/motor. I leave the reel in gear to set the hook, they calm down a lot when they're a few feet from the boat vs. right on top of it. Some baits I will 8 from deep to shallow, others I will pull from the surface deep thru the loop etc. |
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| Do it, or at least a J or O
Change speed, speed up or sometimes even speed down
Make it a smooth transition into the 8, J, or O
Take it under water deeper and deeper
Keep doing it until there is no sign of the musky still around (sometimes you get a bonus musky from out of nowhere) |
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Posts: 8865
| I replied and my post is now gone, or I'm having some sort of episode here...
I can tell you what does NOT work:
I've lost count of how many fish I have scared off going into a figure 8 -- lean down and BAM, off like a rocket.
I still have yet to figure out what it is I do to scare them so bad, but MAN do I scare them!
Everyone I have ever fished with has heard me say "I spooked her"
1. Don't scare the fish away. Maybe it's movement, maybe it's sudden movement, maybe I lean over too much?
Another thing that seems to happen to me quite a lot is they will follow into the 8, go around a few times, get bored and fade away. There I think it's lack of speed -- you can't figure 8 faster than they can swim. I tried once. Guess what happened 
2. Speed up
I've noticed a few other things:
You can figure 8 tighter than they can turn. It doesn't work. They give up and don't come back.
3. Make it big enough for the fish to actually follow the bait around
4. Even though you really want the fish to eat the lure, don't stop or slow down to help them along -- it ain't a dog. Many times I slowed down so the fish could catch up to the lure and eat it, and just as many the fish slowed down too. Never had one eat doing that, either.
Edited by esoxaddict 9/28/2006 12:28 PM
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| Planning is required to keep things smooth into the 8 then the change in Depth and Direction is the Key. |
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| hahahhaha
pete K....any advice here?? |
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Posts: 1939
Location: Black Creek, WI | READ the fish.
Every opportunity is different and requires your 8 to be tailored accordingly.
For fish that have fully engaged the lurePRIOR to reaching boatside and are in chase mode (preferrably very excited, tail quivering, and absolutely fixated on your bait).... that first turn can be deadly... and prior planning and speed increases are big factors. Truthfully, I plan to hook these fish on the first OUTSIDE turn, rather than the boatside turn... so part of my planning is to make as subtle of a first turn as a can and make that first outside turn the "sharp corner".
If the fish is a late arrival and had not engaged the lure yet.... most often you are screwed.... but getting the lure down deep and bringing it back up on the outside turns will usually bring back a truly interested fish.
For those slow and low fish that just seem to be window shopping.... well.... anything goes. Go down after them and start mixing things up to see if you can get them to engage the lure.... or at least "nose up" to the bait where you have a better chance of triggering them.
So... I guess I'm saying the most important part of a good figure8 is the ability to adjust your offering as required.... in order to get bit.
To avoid blowing "suicidal" fish... then I guess a seamless transition into the 8 is pretty vital... with minimal body movement to spook the fish. But... if they are truly suicidal.... pretty much just keeping the bait in the water should do the trick (heh heh).
Its those lazy lookers that I could use some tips on. Anyone find something that gets those slow and low fish to explode?
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Posts: 3926
| I can't add much to the great tips above. Here's some thoughts..
1) Don't bang the boat with yer rod any time. I have foam water pipe wrap (get it at any hardware store) duct-taped to the gunnels where I do 8's to make sure if I happen to bump then I don't bang. Looks like hell but it works.
2) I wear sky blue or grey/dark shirts in an attempt to blend in with the sky that day.
3) I hang a live sucker down next to the boat in hopes that a follow will at least hit the sucker. I use an Abu with a "bait clicker". |
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Posts: 639
Location: Bloomington, MN | The water pipe foam tip KILLS ME!!!!! If you actually do this, I would say you are a visionary!!! I don't stand on my back half bench seat anymore due to age, balancing, and bending on the 8's, but I do believe in being "low profile". I realize that I have probably spooked off following fish due to the "TING!" of the rod hitting the side of my aluminum boat while doing a figure 8, but my friends say it is due them seeing the "Clorox Bottle Blue" color of my boat.
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Posts: 26
Location: Bayfield, Wisconsin | Jason,
Personally speaking, for some of the slower and low followers I have encountered.. it seems that once I have spotted them and am either in an 8/oval or making my transition into such that if I can somehow get my lure below the fish and come back up quickly past them they will hit... Not a sure fire technique, cause I have spooked a few doing this, but I also have made 4 fish commit doing this type of trigger in the past two years... |
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Posts: 3926
| "The water pipe foam tip KILLS ME!!!!! If you actually do this, I would say you are a visionary!!!"
I do it. Clark, most folks that know me, well, I range from a good guy to party with to an unbearable liberal who ironicaly pulls a gun at the worst possible moment.
Edited by Ranger 9/29/2006 11:03 PM
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Posts: 331
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin | Feed the bait to the fish! In other words use speed in the strait portions of the 8 (big 8’s) and slow the bait and allow it to somewhat hang on the turns. I run the bait deeper on the strait-away and then raise and slow the bait on the turns. I find that the speed in the strait-away excites the fish and they accelerate on the bait, then as the bait starts into a turn I raise it and slow it down, this allows for the bait to hang right in the fishes face and more often then not they eat it. |
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