I took the year off fishing early last season for other hobbies and organizing/getting a small business started so from September-February i think i only fished once....

 

Well when i returned to bass fishing this spring every time ive went out either from the bank or on the kayak almost every rod if not every rod has some sort of search bait tied on, even if i was in the same spot for the whole day. I caught bass doing it this way but for the slow days when the bite was almost non existent i caught little to no bass. And i know for sure im missing alot of fish by not slowly fishing soft plastics....

Fishing fast is now practically burned into my brain, and slowing down or fishing a soft plastic is somehow difficult.

 

The weathers getting nice and its almost time to take the kayak to the river, and that means ill be fishing a ned rig constantly. And with the grass growing in the lakes and ponds ill be needing to start fishing either a wacky worm or texas rig along the edges. So i gotta overcome this soon.

 

Heres my problems

Fished a wacky worm, i used to love fishing them. Well i tried it several different trips, most of the time i ended up reeling it back in before it could slowly sink to the bottom even once, the other times i cut it off and tied something else on after a few minutes.

Tried lighter Texas rigs, between 1/8-3/16. And if its not atleast 1/4-3/8 weight i feel like i know for certain that 90% of the time im fishing them they are too high in the water column. In my mind its like i always feel no matter how long i wait for it to sink to the bottom its still not even halfway there, so ill retie with a 1/4-3/8 weight. I atleast know its on the bottom, but its so heavy and sinks so fast that the bass in 6' of water dont want it.

And when i do let the lighter weight Texas rigs hit the bottom, i bring them back way to fast, and thats why i think they are too high in the water column.

Then with flukes, even in the dirt shallow water the big bass have been cruising along the bank, ill cast it out and have 0 patience to wait for it to go down, i tend to just work them on the top of the water and they swim away.... Ugh its literally 10-20 seconds but i just cant wait that long for it to sink.

 

Fishing slow with finesse baits used to be my #1 way to fish for bass, and was also my favorite way to fish. But now if im not reeling the line in at mach 1 speeds i just cant do it.

Its just so boring, i know some people prefer fishing slow, and others only fish fast .And i guess im turning into the second option, but id prefer to retrain my brain to be able to fish slow as well, i need to be able to fish both ways, i know its the best way of catching more and larger bass.

 

On one hand i can cover lots of water in just one quick retrieve of a lipless or Chatterbait, vs casting a Texas rig, waiting a minute for it to fall, and then taking 5-10 minutes to bring back to the bank.

 

On the other hand, that 5-10 minutes might let that bait have better chances of being picked up by a big bass.

 

What are you guys who fish fast doing to slow down? And what do you guys fishing slow do to not speed up?

 

I gotta slow down again, but idk how.... Please help, before my reel handles start falling off.

My best option so far is to use my Abu 5500 in a 5 speed ratio, but i really dont want to do that.

I think the solution is to simply keep fishing fast. Warmer water means higher metabolism means more bass willing to chase down your fast-moving baits. 

Don't be afraid to use heavy weight on the Texas rig. Try texting while fishing to slow down. Or drinking coffee or water. Something to occupy your hands. It's great until you get bit, then drop it overboard 🤣

To get the wiggles out use a faster moving lure like jerk baits, deep diving crank baits and dog walking top water.

When you come to areas that look good or you meter fish near the bottom put down the bait casting and get out medium finesse spinning rigged with 3.8 Kietech fat on a 1/4 oz ball head jig. You can cast this a long distance and swim it or jig it back. Using spinning reels you need to slow down because the IPT is faster then casting reels. The change in outfits usually automatically slows you down, yet you are still covering water. Catch a bass and you will slow some more.

Tom

I learned to slow down by taking nothing but a spinning rod and wacky worm with me one day. I had no choice but to either fish slow or go home.  JMHO.

A fun way to fish slow is with a heavy weighted t rig or jig.  I like to try to guess what I'm bumping into and imagine a big smart fish being very curious but only if it moves very naturally. I don't think being forced to slow down by weightless plastics worked as good for me.  Once I was good at fishing slow with my training wheels (a heavy jig that telegraphs the bottom), I was more ready to fish slow with any presentation.  I still am not a huge fan of weightless plastics unless it's very very shallow but they get used.

I'm with @VTFan . The easiest way for me to learn things is pull everything off the boat except what I want to learn. You either fish it or you go home and I'll be damned if I'm going home. 

Stick around   forty years, You will slow down.

With the wacky rig, you can stick a nail weight in the stubby end which will increase the fall rate, turning it into a neko rig.  I find it painful to wait for a standard wacky worm to fall to any depths greater than about 5 feet, so I use this neko rig instead.  Quite often, fish will strike on the initial fall.

 

BTW I prefer to power fish more aggressive, moving lures too but sometimes they just aren't willing to bite or chase those.  In order to catch fish, you have to slow down with a more finesse approach with plastics.  Just the nature of the beast.

First off, the best thing is to start night fishing.

 

You have no choice but to slow down.

 

You have no choice but to be happy with the location your cast landed.  

 

You have no choice but to hyper focus on bite detection.   

 

Secondly, you don't have to fish a Whacky Rig slow, and I'd make the argument that it's better fished faster or in a search bait manner.  

 

You wanna just skip or cast it up into a couple feet of water, let it sink a foot or two, maybe repeat this once or twice and reel it in.    Don't fish it back to the boat.   The vast majority of the time fish will bite it within the initial fall, or within several meters of where your cast landed.  

 

On the other hand, you want to fish a Neko Rig much slower.   It's fished more like a traditional bottom contact bait like a shakeyhead/t-rig/jig/etc.  

 

Thirdly, try a Free Rig, Wobblehead/Swinghead, or Carolina Rig.......all three baits fish much faster than a traditional t-rig/jig/shakeyhead/etc.      You can hop a Free Rig back to you, you can constantly slowly reel a Wobblehead/Swinghead, and with a C-Rig you can sweep/drag and reel retrieve it.    

 

Lastly, a 5 speed reel is a fantastic way to make yourself slow down.   When I want to really work a spot methodically I use a 5 speed reel.  

Go to a small swimbait w lightest head possible and use spinning gear.  Use the slowest reel you can and dont allow yourself to turn the handle more than 180* at a time without stopping.