June is almost here and my fingers are itching to get bass fishing! Due to local regulations here in Canada, we are not permitted to fish for bass for a few more weeks yet, so I will discuss the techniques I have used for upstate New York and Connecticut. Despite a harsh winter, the bass will begin their annual movement towards the shoreline in preparation for feeding and bedding.
No hunter makes a bad shot intentionally. Inexperience, buck fever, equipment malfunctions, and sometimes nature itself works to conspire against a hunter. When one or more of the aforementioned events happen, that particular hunting situation is forever imprinted on the hunter’s psyche. Events like these can ruin the remainder of a season for some hunters. He’ll replay the scene over and over in his mind searching for something he could have done differently, and as opening day of the following season approaches, he’ll toss and turn in bed reliving that nightmare hunt. The good news is that should that hunter encounter a similar situation on a future hunt, more than likely s/he’ll be successful because s/he learned from previous experiences.
With cold setting in and winter fishing just around the corner, I thought I would talk a bit about the techniques that in the last few years have become a big part of my winter finesse fishing strategy.
First of all my favorite finesse fishing technique is somewhat of a spin-off of the drop shot technique. It’s Secret Weapon Recoil Rig. The technique is very similar to the drop shot except you have a leader that stretches attached to the weight. When you shake this rig with the tip of the rod, the bait attached above the 18 to 20 inch leader becomes very responsive to movement. It moves and twitches and shakes and causes a reaction bite with a finesse presentation. This bait rigged with a fluke is one catch fishing technique.
Ask any fisherman or woman the most entertaining method of catching bass and chances are they will respond with “the top water bite”. From my own personal experience, I can tell you that I laughed so much with the excitement, that my partner thought I was going to have a heart attack!
Not unlike the breeding cycle of many of God’s creatures, the life cycle of the bass is filled with mystery. To try and help those who find this piece of the fishing puzzle somewhat confusing, we must begin by breaking down the series of events that make this a unique time in the calendar for both the fish and the angler.
A recent question sent to my private email had me typing an answer. The answer became so long and involved that I realized if one person had this question, that there were probably a bunch of other people out there with the same questions about nets.
It seems that this should be a pretty simple answer, I mean; a net is nothing more than a flexible basket with a hoop and a handle. Pretty basic stuff, right? Well, yes and no.
My first introduction to lipless crankbaits, was when I won twenty of them in a raffle on Lake Cayuga in upstate New York. The following week, I tried in vain to catch fish with this noisy, skinny looking object. What I did catch was wood, weeds and rocks. So the lures remained in the bottom of the tackle bag collecting dust like so many baits that I believed were for catching fishermen, not fish!
Is this the year you get your offspring on the ice? Each season I try and take youth on the ice who have either never been ice fishing, or don’t have an outlet to go. I don’t worry about broken lines or lost lures. I do however keep initial forays close to home and take along lots of extra gear in case they get wet feet by stepping into a hole. It happens, but what’s important is for them to know that winter fishing can be just as much fun, if not more fun than fishing in the summer.
With so many lures available on the market today, it is often a daunting task to decide what is good for a particular situation, time of day, water clarity and temperature. The jerkbait is a lure that can produce quality fish for almost all situations, in both still and moving water. What is more, the adaptability of this bait makes it a “go to” when crankbaits or spinnerbaits are not producing.
Like most methods of fishing, some require additional skills like “reading the line”. Others require us to use our “sixth sense” to detect those soft or delicate bites from bass. Well welcome to the world of worm fishing, because this is a combination of everything I just mentioned and more! NOTE: When I use the word worm, I am also referring to other soft plastic shapes and creatures, which can be fished by these methods. The need for sensitivity with worm fishing is the number one skill you must perfect if you are to be successful, whether you’re using a four-inch or a twelve-inch worm. When I first began fishing worms as a child dangling them under a bobber, the worm did all the work. Now, when using the plastic worm, you will have to make the imitation look so good that the fish just cannot refuse it.
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