With soft plastic worms,craws, etc, what's your best producing retrieve?                                                    Mine has always  been a slow lift/drop retrieve, with occasional pauses. I don't seem to do nearly as well while dragging a soft plastic bait.                   What's everyone say? What retrieve has worked best for you?

Same here. Life and drop followed by a pause. Sometimes draging works too, depends on the day.

Same

 

I use 7 1/2 foot rods.  I drag with the rod tip from 9-12.

Dragging and working through cover always works the best for me no matter the situation or cover.  

 

Depends on the location, structure, cover ,uphill, side hill, and down hill. 

Jigs making a long cast down or side hill with sparse rocky or soil change clay to whatever I use the reel to move it with the rod tip pointed at the jig. I shake the jig loose if snagged and use the rod to lift the jig over obstacles while continuously feeling the line. Uphill use the rod more to shake and lift over objects while feeling the line.  I may hope sometimes and change the pace until the strike more often. Every day is different.

Sliding weight T-rigs I look for worm water with more cover and flatter structure. I like to shake worms and hop them but try to keep the rod less then 45 degrees up.

Drop shot is more of a dead stick with some rod tip action.

Slip shot is a simple drag.

Tom

Same. Lift and drop

Most of my bites come from lift and drop 

Depends on where I’m at . Dragging won’t work in slimy bottom but works great in rocks or sand or even mud without slime 

drag and pop over cover, unless it's slimy down there like @TnRiver46 mentioned.

Lift and drop with a worm, pump/hop a craw. Other plastics on a jig head, I'll drag.  Which bait I choose depends on conditions.

5 hours ago, WRB said:

Depends on the location, structure, cover ,uphill, side hill, and down hill. 

Jigs making a long cast down or side hill with sparse rocky or soil change clay to whatever I use the reel to move it with the rod tip pointed at the jig. I shake the jig loose if snagged and use the rod to lift the jig over obstacles while continuously feeling the line. Uphill use the rod more to shake and lift over objects while feeling the line.  I may hope sometimes and change the pace until the strike more often. Every day is different.

Sliding weight T-rigs I look for worm water with more cover and flatter structure. I like to shake worms and hop them but try to keep the rod less then 45 degrees up.

Drop shot is more of a dead stick with some rod tip action.

Slip shot is a simple drag.

Tom

This pretty much sums it up for me as well.

I like to slider and shakey head fish, I do well twitching a split shot rig. 

I have no clue what is the most producing retrieve. It's all about what is working in the moment for me. 

Lift, drop, shake, drag…

Not necessarily in that order. 

All depends on what I’m using and where. 
 

There is no set pattern, just trying to find one. 

 

Mike

I got on a bite  last year , out on a point that was new to me . I could see fish on the depth finder and suspected they were bass but could not entice a bite . I kept adjusting and coaxed a few bites with a paddletail  grub and jig . Instead of lifting and letting it fall back  down,  I lifted then held my rod still allowing  the lure to glide back   toward me .

shallower water i like to lift and give the rod a few little pops. deeper water on humps and channel swings i like to slow drag on the bottom

Texas Rigs & Jig-n-Craws I start out with "short strokes", kinda like hopping but more aggressive.

 

I adjust from there by speeding up or slowing down.

I don't honestly know, I go out and try things until I start having repeatable success, and stick with that, I couldn't tell you from one day to the next which kind of retrieve will work best, I let the fish tell me and I just follow the lead.

My favorite retrieves for texas rigs/jigs are slow lift and drop (cast out let your bait hit the bottom, slowly raise your rod tip which causes the bait to drag along the bottom pause it for like 5 or 10 seconds then real in slack-repeat the previous steps. This retrieve I like best on hard/rocky bottoms or mud bottoms that I know don't have grass/muck. For those bottoms I just mentioned I prefer a slow hopping style. It comes through the stuff and junk better. I feel like 90% of my texas rig bites come on the initial fall though. 

I usually lift and drop a Texas rig with rod up. Carolina rig (split shot) I drag with rod down maintaining bottom contact. I pause between movements on both. 

2 hours ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

I feel like 90% of my texas rig bites come on the initial fall though. 

Ya know, I've been wondering this: how can you tell when you've got a strike on the drop? While reeling, it's easy, as you can feel the resistance and jerks, but if you're letting the line unspool on the fall, how do you feel the bite?

It depends on what I am using. If I'm fishing a worm, craw, or jig it is usually a drag retrieve. If I'm using a creature bait it is usually a lift and drop.

10 hours ago, Mike L said:

Lift, drop, shake, drag…

Not necessarily in that order. 

All depends on what I’m using and where. 
 

There is no set pattern, just trying to find one. 

 

Mike

This is me to a T.  I add a snap or a stroke in there too just trying to find out what they want.  

 

scott

All of them! Or often times none of them. Hmmmm.