What Fishing Gimmick Did You Fall For?

[KSanford33]

I'll go first.

 

My favorite way to catch them is flipping. I was completely convinced that the Ardent Arrow flipping reel was somehow superior to any other reel for flipping. As it turns out, it's just a baitcaster that has very limited use due to its design...

 

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/bWZBCA1Qo7LRojkE7

[Columbia Craw]

Kneel and Reel.  Back in the early eighties Pail Elias won the Classic by getting his Normans Deep Little N an extra two feet by plunging his rod in the water.  I bought a Lews Kneel & Reel rod.  That was a bust.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

SV spool completely useless feature afaic

[FishTax]

That I need fancy rods and lures. The bait monkey is the gimmick. 

All I ever needed was the ugly stick and a senko...

[Glaucus]

A different setup for every different bait. Believing that 7' moderate fast would have any noticeable differences over a 7'2" fast. Only a few techniques actually matter for really specialized rods. 

[A-Jay]

The very first few versions of flourocarbon line.  I was using it as leader material in front of braid on casting gear.

The knot strength was non-existent.

I was on a killer jig bite for 3 days and I bet I popped off 20 bites on the hookset.

I was fit to be tied.

You'd think I would have learned after the first 2 or 3. But, nope. Not this snappahead. I wiil say my rig got a lot lighter without all those hand tied jigs on board.  You can't fix stupid.

A-Jay

[gim]

Drop shot.

 

If that's what I have to do to catch fish, I'm going home and coming back another day.  Its like watching grass grow.

[Swamp Girl]

I bought a whole box of surface lures with props fore and aft. They're modern versions of Spin-I-Didees that I used successfully as a kid. I figured they'd be fire for smallmouth and boggy largemouth. They aren't. I think I caught one bass with them. I'm guessing that someone somewhere catches bass with them.

 

#theycaughtafisherwomannotfish

[softwateronly]

The dancing eel.  Still haven't forgiven Bill.

 

scott

[MediumMouthBass]

7 hours ago, QUAKEnSHAKE said:

SV spool completely useless feature afaic

I bought 2 SV spool reels, i was amazed by how highly praised these reels were. After 10 minutes i realized they were either on par or subpar to my other reels.

5 hours ago, gim said:

Drop shot.

 

If that's what I have to do to catch fish, I'm going home and coming back another day.  Its like watching grass grow.

Another gimmick i tried, im in the same boat with you on this bait.

 

 

For me however the biggest gimmicks have been "you need a certain rod for this bait or technique or else it wont work and you wont land the bass". This was mainly for crankbaits and jig/Texas rig rods. Ive caught 1-2 dozen bass ranging from 3-5-10lbs (and even more under 3lbs) on cheap fast action rods for both techniques. Sadly i spent alot of money and bought about 10 expensive cranking specific and Texas rig rods combined before that. I honestly do not believe any of the more expensive , or technique specific rods "that you need" to fish a certain bait wouldve caught me any more, or any larger bass. But the higher end rods sure look and feel nice, and i do love the more expensive rods i have, especially my Dobyns.

 

Another thing was Fluorocarbon, i used to buy it in big spools too. I was told by everyone who fished for trout and bass that it was sent down from heaven. To say its got a cult following is an understatement. It was nothing but a sensitive pile of a rats nest, it broke off on any and all snags (even with going through the extensive process of making sure the knot was tied correctly). If the wind blew the wrong way the spinning reels would be a mess. It casts poorly with my casting reels too. Abrasion resistance? Rocks would chew it up, Zebra mussels too. Sensitivity? Sadly i never found the titanic with it while dragging bottom. Or much else.

And the price is awful.

[WRB]

Hook, line and sinker I fell for Sound Bite  Lures. They were electric jigs and C-rig weights that actually worked at night but they didn’t keep working, the battery died.

Tom

 

 

[Buzzbaiter]

3 hours ago, gim said:

Drop shot.

 

If that's what I have to do to catch fish, I'm going home and coming back another day.  Its like watching grass grow.

I used to struggle to get bass on the dropshot rig, until I realized the fish didn’t like when I shook the rod too much. Once I started catching fish with the technique, I gave it up pretty quickly. It’s like fishing cutbait except you occasionally have to remind the bass that the bait is still alive.

[Susky River Rat]

Whopper plopper and jack hammer. My money would have been better off spent using it as toilet paper. I bought into the hype though. 

[Reel]

It's funny how somebody elses gimmicks are another person's staples.  Besides the Ardent reel, the SV spool, the Dancing eel and the Sound Bite, all the other stuff are thing I use every time I go fishing.

[Swamp Girl]

9 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I'm guessing that someone somewhere catches bass with them.

 

1 hour ago, Reel said:

all the other stuff are thing I use every time I go fishing.

 

So, you're the someone somewhere! 

[Jigfishn10]

I remember when Vanish line came out and I spooled it up. What a nightmare 4 casts. I think  I used it for the weed whacker  

 

EDIT spelling correction

[Swamp Girl]

7 hours ago, MediumMouthBass said:

Another thing was Fluorocarbon, i used to buy it in big spools too. I was told by everyone who fished for trout and bass that it was sent down from heaven.

 

Me too. I don't like fluorocarbon. I want to like it. I feel I'm supposed to like it. But it's stiff and unknots itself and the bass I catch don't really seem to care if I'm using easily seen braid.

 

2 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

Whopper plopper and jack hammer.

 

Bought 'em both. Caught thousands with the Whopper Plopper and maybe one with the Jackhammer. However, I think the Jackhammer is a good bait, just not one I've yet learned to use well. 

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

I remember when Vanish line came out and I spooked it up. What a nightmare 4 casts. I think  I used it for the weed whacker  

That's the first FC I used too.

Was also the last for about 5 or 6 years.

I will admit that in many respects,

they named it perfectly.

😎

A-Jay

 

[Jigfishn10]

9 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

That's the first FC I used too.

Was also the last for about 5 or 6 years.

I will admit that in many respects,

they named it perfectly.

😎

A-Jay

I guess we’re both “snappaheads”

 

I have nothing against Berkley, I like a lot of their products especially in the salt world. But Vanish was a quick 3 fastballs and take a piece of pine  

[DogBone_384]

"What fishing gimmick did you fall for?" ....

 

ALL

[J Francho]

Rapala DT series

Koppers crawfish cranks

Whopper Plopper

at least a half dozen cull tags

a scale

[Tim Kelly]

Oh dear, there aren't enough letters on my keyboard to list them all. 

 

I have the added joy of having to import the crackpot ideas, then try to apply them to fish that aren't bass. 

 

You'd think I'd learn, but I'm the one who is born every minute, apparently. 

[the reel ess]

Red hooks. They still sell them.

[VTFan]

10 hours ago, gim said:

Drop shot.

 

If that's what I have to do to catch fish, I'm going home and coming back another day.  Its like watching grass grow.

Amen!!! My brother can wear them out on a DS but I just do not have the patience for it.

9 hours ago, softwateronly said:

The dancing eel.  Still haven't forgiven Bill.

 

scott

I laughed but I fell for it as well. I still have a couple somewhere. Caught a few with them but again, I got caught by the bait monster.

[padlin]

Line conditioner, if it made a difference I not good enough to tell.

 

I should go through my tackle and toss everything I don’t use, I’ll bet it’s at least 50% of what I have. If I try something new for 30 min and don’t get fish it’s back to what I have confidence in. I really shouldn’t blame the tackle, but I do.