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| i seem to get alot more follows from fish while slow rolling my baits than I do when reeling at meduim to higher speeds. Does this mean I am doing something better while slow rolling or not. Just looking for opinions on this, I need help on this I dont catch many fish. I usually cast bucktails and dawgs, I rip and slow roll blades and usually slow roll or meduim paced retrieve for dawgs. I usually dont count baits down that much. |
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Posts: 3907
| try a Hirshes Ghosttail. As you bring the bait to the boat sorta quickly lift and then drop yer rod tip. That bucktail will still spin the blade on that steep slow dive and the following fish will run right into it.
One idea. |
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Posts: 774
Location: South East Wisconsin | Speed your baits up when you have a follow. They will eat! |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | There are lots of factors to consider. Slow rolling not only slows the speed of the bait, but it usually also allows the bait to drop deeper into the water column which is usually closer to the fish. It could be that the slower retrieve is drawing their interest or it could also be that the lure is more into the strike (or interest) zone.
I slow roll spinner baits a lot when the water is colder or when the fish are not so active. Sometimes I even drive the spinner baits right through the cabbage to get as close to the fish as possible.
I have found that when the fish want a slower moving lure, it rarely helps to increase the speed. It seems that direction changes usually work much better in those cases. One can drop a spinner bait to get a downward direction change, rip it up, or one can simply sweep the rod back and forth to change the direction and speed, for a moment, with any type lure. I often times add a direction change half-way through a cast or just smack the cover with the lure. The sudden stop and go of hitting a rock or weeds has worked many times in my boat.
I tend to prioritize lure location, lure speed, and then triggers in that order. The lure first has to be in the right place. Then it usually needs to be in a proper speed range, but sometimes speed doesn't seem to matter at all. And then I add triggers to get a strike.
Sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error to find out what works on a particular day. And it seems that half of the time it makes no sense what the fish want. Sometimes it seems like opposite day. 
Just my experience. |
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Posts: 619
| i slow roll alot...hence the name...i like rad dogs... put em in the weeds...literally slow roll right into the weeds...if you get too hung up, rip it really hard to clear the weeds - this can trigger a hit...just slow rolling and not contacting the cover hardly ever produces - just slow lazy follows. |
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| thanks guys, as far as bumping weeds go I hear this alot but not sure how much weeds your talking about, it's hard not to contact any weeds and get hung up and foul the bait out though. |
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Posts: 21
| I recently reread an article from bucher about spinners and bumping weeds. He states that you should just real if you bump and not rip it and you will come up fouled a lot less. I can't say I've done this since I always rip it from weeds but it's worth a shot. |
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Posts: 426
Location: Perryville, MO | I use to wonder about that alot too...while it is true bass fishing to a degree, it is definitely true with muskies (in my experience)...don't worry about too much contact. If the bait fouls, rip hard and 95% of the time it will clear the weeds and you will not have ruined the cast...you've only increased the odds of attracting a bite. Even the dense slimey muck will come off with a solid rip. The distance the bait travels in that rip is not as big a deal with 'skis as it is with bass. An interested muskie will likely investigate what happened even if it has traveled a fair distance away from the edge. Bass, at times, are less willing to travel away from the edge to find the bait.
As I think about it, I've had has many strikes slow rolling spinner baits as I have burning them, but the great great majority of strikes on those slow retrieves was only after making some sort of contact. I throw saftey-pin style spinners as much or more than the average muskie angler throws a bucktail (makes me wonder why I have so many tails). |
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Posts: 3907
| believe this or don't....
I used to fish gin-clear water where, on a decent weather day, I could see many bass and an occassional muskie holding in/around shallow timber and rocks. I learned that, for the most part, if the bass didn't chase the bait then neither would the muskies. Baits that interested the bass were chased by muskies.
On those tough days, when the bass ignored the bait, I learned to go much smaller and change colors until I moved the bass. Once the bass reacted I stuck with that bucktail and usually started catching fish.
My go-to bucktails are Bucher700s and Ghosttails. But on these tough days I went down to Mepps in either all black or all hot pink. In the all-black, the baits with yellow lettering worked better than any other all-black Mepps, really, that's how sensitive the fish seemed, by watching the bass react.
You wouldn't believe how yer day can turn around by snapping on a small all-hot-pink Mepps Muskie Killer. I have two and both are named "Pinky Tuscadaro".
Anyway, going small and working thru colors is my other idea. |
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Posts: 426
Location: Perryville, MO | Ranger,
It's an interesting insight that you raise. The down-sizing makes sense, of course, when the bite is difficult, but identifying when the bass begin to react is an interesting indicator and one that I'll experiment with. I'll try and put this into practice this Fall a bit and see what happens...I say Fall because that will likely be the first time with any sort of consistency that I see gin clear water.
Anyway, the point I was making was that when ripping out of the cover with a spinnerbait seems to spook the bass to the point that they fail to chase, it causes me little concern with a muskie choosing to chase. The bass often get spooked by the ripping action simply because they know or sense or are just generally cautious of a muskie's presence and naturally flee away from the bait flying out of the cover in concern/fear that the commotion may just be the muskie tracking them down. I've noticed that when I begin to foul my bait with weeds when bass fishing a more tackful bump that knocks weeds off results in more bass strikes. Muskies never seem to give a darn. Even when I rip the crap out of it to get the blades running and free the bait, if a muskie was there and is all in the mood to eat, that bait is not getting away from her. True with the bass to a certain degree, but I just have found the more tactful bump to clear the bait works better for bass especially when muskies are present in the system. The top predator thing makes a difference when it comes to the violent sort of manner one can clear their bait.
Thanks for the insight. |
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Posts: 426
Location: Perryville, MO | jsali,
It works when you're truly just "bumping" weeds, but I think "guest" is talking about when he really gets hung up in the crap. And there is no doubt that the 'skis are often back in the dense stuff. I've never gotten away with just reeling through the thick stuff. Always results in the need to clear the bait for me. |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | For going through the tough stuff, I hold the rod straight out in front of me while reeling and then just pull straight back when the bait gets hung up. One thing to consider is the bait you're using. The short-armed spinenr baits like CJs, Rad Dogs, and Grinders will go through a lot more than a long armed spinner baits. And, when in or near heavy cover, always use a single-hook type spinner bait instead of a threble type bucktail.
Just what I do. |
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