That thing you do. . . . that others probably don't.

 

I won't even try to take credit for 'discovering' this because I originally heard about someone doing this back in the 80's, but have never run into or talked to anyone else that does this since then.

 

When fishing what I would characterize as a finesse Carolina rig, I fished with 6 lb mono line with a Mojo finesse sliding sinker, and rather than employ a leader, I used a the main line all the way to the hook. But instead of using a Carolina Keeper or a 'sinker stopper' in place of the swivel, I would take a skinny natural rubber band and tie it tightly over the line with two overhand knots and trim the tag ends very short. 

 

It is more secure than a Carolina Keeper or sinker stop, fairly easy to adjust if needed, weighs almost nothing, doesn't seem prone to snags, doesn't damage the line, and much cheaper than swivels, keepers or stops.

 

Whatchya got?

Before I know they made Ned jig heads you could rig weedless,  

 

I used a #1 wire worm hook, finesse TRD, 3/8th worm sinker, bobber stop to fish it the same way but weedless.  It’s my go to bank fishing setup.   I didn’t invent a thing:  realized it quickly.  It’s a Texas rig. 

I'd say there is very little if anything, about the way I fish that just about any & every Basshead is not doing or has done at one time or another.

 Perhaps one aspect of my deal that may be 'different',

is that I am willing to be on the water in places and at times

when other anglers are not.

Many of my best trips occurred when I was the only one out there.

So just being there may be at least half the battle.

A-Jay

 

 

I go when others won't.

 

I work on angles of my presentation a lot. I think most people go down the bank and just cast in or 45* cast as they go, but I'll park my boat on the bank and parallel a lot of the time to give them a different look, or cast out and work uphill. Paying attention to where a fish comes off cover tells me a lot too.

      I use spoons a lot .... sometimes in places they hang up way too easily. Then I remove the treble (or Siwash) hook and attach a worm hook that I've dressed. I might not hook up as many hits, but I don't snag up as much, either:

 

  

 

   jj

On hot summer days, I sometimes use my regular texas rigged worm but add  a 1/8 oz split shot about 2 ft up from my rig. I use it to drift creek beds and channels that have steep drop offs that are fairly close to the shoreline. It gives the bait a different look when falling or working it like a drop shot. The most success seems to come when not lifting the bait up too far before letting it fall back to the bottom.

I hold the rod in front of the reel with the line held between my index finger and thumb . Just something I have done since I was a kid . I use to jig crappie lures up and down in brush and it aided me into feeling the lure  . When I ventured into bass fishing I still held it that way .It does help detect light strikes. 

I sometimes use an older Fenwick flipping stick when I'm bank fishing. One pond I fish is unmowed, thick cover all around. The long rod and heavy line works best. Most of my bass are caught here within 10ft of the bank.

7 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I am willing to be on the water in places and at times

when other anglers are not.

 

Night fishing ?

 

Despite all ya hear, read, or videos watched; I seldom see anyone night fishing. Oh there's an occasional tournament or Crappie fisherman but 98% of the time I have 190,000 acres to myself.

 

I have a swim twitch method that I use with my homemade buck tail jigs.  It is especially productive at night in the spring in shallow water.  
Several colors work but the absolute best is purple and orange.  1/16 oz is too light and 1/8 oz is too heavy.  So I carefully drilled out a mold until I got the size that works best.  It weighs in at 30 grains on my powder scales.  

These baits produce largemouth, spots, smallmouth, whites and walleye all in a single night.  I don’t know of anyone else who fishes this way and I am sure no one else has the same baits.

So far no giant fish but largemouth to 6.5 #, smallmouth to 4# and walleye to 8#.

19 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Night fishing ?

 

Despite all ya hear, read, or videos watched; I seldom see anyone night fishing. Oh there's an occasional tournament or Crappie fisherman but 98% of the time I have 190,000 acres to myself.

 

Bugs must not like you!

I got nuthin’! ?

42 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Bugs must not like you!

 

When night fishing Toledo Bend Bend I'm usually not within a couple hundred yards of the bank, not to many bugs offshore.

Bottom-bouncing a Teeny sinking spliced shooting head on a fly rod.  

It's a white bass technique I've been fishing 40 years.  

I use Teeny lines 99% of the time with a fly rod in warmwater.  

The fly I'm usually fishing this way is a bead-chain cats whisker, tied to keel hook-up

On the flagstone bottom in our spring creeks, can watch big bass chasing the mudballs, and slam their head sideways into the bottom 4 or 5 times trying to eat the fly.  

 

Even on our crowded cold tailwater, I can take it to the wide slow spots no one else ever fishes and bring up big rainbows.  

1 hour ago, Catt said:

 

Night fishing ?

 

Despite all ya hear, read, or videos watched; I seldom see anyone night fishing. Oh there's an occasional tournament or Crappie fisherman but 98% of the time I have 190,000 acres to myself.

 

And you'll not hear me complaining about that at all @Catt

Besides, we all know how scary fishing at night is - 

?

A-Jay

Well....I don't peg bullet weights to the bait on my T-rig set up.  I'll put the stop a few inches up the line and put not one but 2 beads between the weight  and the bait.  Usually a glass one and a shiny metal one.  In my mind, it gives that little bit of click and the shiny metal bead gives a target and the whole thing is just a little different than what is normally seen?  Does it work?  I dunno.  I've caught plenty of fish with that rig but I don't know if it's more than I would have without it.  Most of the time, my T-rigs are weightless as I'm usually fishing a straight stickbait.  The above set up is for a ribbon tail, brush hog, or even a hula grub.  *shrugs*  Works for me!

1 minute ago, A-Jay said:

And you'll not hear me complaining about that at all @Catt

Besides, we all know how scary fishing at night is - 

?

A-Jay

Night fishing has many advantages, and never quite found it scary.  

I will say surf fishing at night is the most manly sport I know.  

It's extremely disorienting - the wind, waves, current, the sand under your feet, even the stars and moon are moving - your only fixed reference is a coleman lantern on a board on the beach.  

A buddy tells a story about the sharks after his stringer in the surf at night.  

After starting over with a new stringer, he began throwing it over his back.  Twenty minutes after loading up a few more specs, a fish on his back made its dying kick, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up.  

47 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

Night fishing has many advantages, and never quite found it scary.  

I will say surf fishing at night is the most manly sport I know.  

It's extremely disorienting - the wind, waves, current, the sand under your feet, even the stars and moon are moving - your only fixed reference is a coleman lantern on a board on the beach.  

A buddy tells a story about the sharks after his stringer in the surf at night.  

After starting over with a new stringer, he began throwing it over his back.  Twenty minutes after loading up a few more specs, a fish on his back made its dying kick, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up.  

Agreed ~

I was being a funny guy.

Spent many a night on lakes and in the surf ~

Few things got my attention as much as when standing in chest deep surf on the blackest of moonless nights off of Montauk, NY and a seal popped up right in my face.

Or even worse, something bumped into my leg ! 

Usually retreated to the ankle deep stuff - for a little while at least. 

A-Jay

 

9 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

      I use spoons a lot .... sometimes in places they hang up way too easily. Then I remove the treble (or Siwash) hook and attach a worm hook that I've dressed. I might not hook up as many hits, but I don't snag up as much, either:

I use spoons as well early and late season for multi species fishing.

I'll add a small panfish tube to the treble. Not sure what it is, but it's been very effective.

18 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

I'll add a small panfish tube to the treble.

 

 

   I've tried that, and I found out that different spoons have a different level of action. On a few, even a small addition to the hook kills the action. On others, you can add  quite a bit to the spoon with no problem. Unfortunately, it's expensive to find the differences across the board.     $$$$$$$$          ???           jj

@bulldog1935 & @A-Jay

 

My first experiences with night fishing was 135 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

I know what swims in them waters...I ain't waddling in it!

 

@bulldog1935 You are correct, night fishing can be disorienting even in a boat. I seen some pretty good boat captains get turn around at night. 

10 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

      I use spoons a lot .... sometimes in places they hang up way too easily. Then I remove the treble (or Siwash) hook and attach a worm hook that I've dressed. I might not hook up as many hits, but I don't snag up as much, either:

 

  

 

   jj

That looks like a killer idea for a "dropper" behind a topwater. You should sell them.

11 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

      I use spoons a lot .... sometimes in places they hang up way too easily. Then I remove the treble (or Siwash) hook and attach a worm hook that I've dressed. I might not hook up as many hits, but I don't snag up as much, either:

 

  

 

   jj

Darn! All this time I thought I invented the bucktail weed guard!...    

 

 

 

I'm not sure there's anything I do differently.  I do feel like I think differently about things.  I can't help but to wonder why something is.  I try to avoid assigning an explanation, but it's human nature to to do it.  The more time I spend on the water, I notice more things that just don't make sense.  

@J Francho no offense, bro, but for me, that fits the internet more than the water.  

I've naturally understood the water from childhood, and nothing about it seems complicated. 

Thinking like a fish?  Well, fish have an IQ of 6 (12 for the smartest, carp).  

Their greatest motivation is fear, by natural selection. 

Brave and inquisitive fish become fodder.  Big fish are cowards.   

 

E.g., when fish feed in a time cycle, they're motivated by fear, and it's us fishing them that got them there (you especially find this in stupid trout in heavily fished tailwaters).  When their neighbors begin to feed, then competition takes over.