I'm a run and gun angler. I like to cover water and I'm looking to find the most active bass. I also like to increase my odds of finding bass by fishing nearly constantly, that is by trolling when changing locations, but a few times recently, while I fiddled with a lure or retied, I still had a lure in the water while the wind nudged me along and when I was doing fixing a problem, I picked up that outfit that had remained in the water and found it was loaded with a bass. Now, I'm torn. A slow retrieve means I cover less water, but I'm learning a slow retrieve can mean I appeal to bass that passed on my fast retrieve. I won't choose one or the other. Going forward, I'll choose both, slowing my retrieve here or there and I'll try to reproduce the slow, herky-jerky retrieve that that the winds and waves pushing my boat produced.

 

Do you guys make a slow retrieve a regular part of your fishing trips?

I fish slow retrieves while fishing fast all the time!

 

Cadence is not how fast you’re fishing it’s how fast your bait is moving and cadence or tempo as Bobby Barrack calls it - can be extremely important.

 

sometimes the fish are eating whatever lands in the water and sometimes you’ve got to talk them into biting.

 

I catch a lot of very large fish with very slow cadence and also very fast cadence so I just try to do both in very fishy looking areas.

 

I almost ALWAYS start with a slow cadence in a good area and try the silly stuff just to see if they’re stupid and aggressive before leaving.

I try to let the fish tell me what they want. When I fish an area I'll try a mix of retrieves and see what gets hit. I have to admit though sometimes being out in this great state of ours is so nice I'll just make a cast and let it sit as I look around.

26 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

I almost ALWAYS start with a slow cadence in a good area and try the silly stuff just to see if they’re stupid and aggressive before leaving.

 

Great tip. Thanks, Pat!

 

14 minutes ago, jbmaine said:

I have to admit though sometimes being out in this great state of ours is so nice I'll just make a cast and let it sit as I look around.

 

Me too. I do a lot of grateful gawking. The last time I fished (with the kid), I set my rod down again and again just to watch and talk. One thing I love is when ospreys hit the brakes. They rear their heads back and up, flutter their wings, and hover to study the water. If you've never seen this, you're too focused on fishing or you don't have ospreys. 

Wait a minute @Swamp Girl....have you not caught THOUSANDS of fish...this year(!). 

 

Keep doing what you are doing! 

 

If they are not biting that day...then slow down. 

 

You clearly have cracked the code on your body of water. 

 

My Brothers voice is screaming in my head right now...."don't leave fish to find fish!"

3 minutes ago, DaubsNU1 said:

Wait a minute @Swamp Girl....have you not caught THOUSANDS of fish...this year(!). 

 

Nope. Just a thousand.

 

4 minutes ago, DaubsNU1 said:

 

Keep doing what you are doing! 

 

Yeah, I get that, but I am wondering about missing fish because I'm so zippy. If I can add another trick to my bag, I'd like that. 

4 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Nope. Just a thousand.

 

 

^^ SUPER impressive!!! ^^

 

I have fished twenty-four times this year...too depressing to add up all the fish I have caught...maybe a hundred? I should walk out and dig through the fishing logs...

Around here, the majority of the time they want a slow retrieve, sometimes completely deadsticked.

Starting out, then at random intervals through the day, I will pick up a moving  bait, and burn every third cast. If no activity, then it’s back to the bottom. 

I start with the belief (wish?) that fish are feeding and start with my fastest retrieve.  It might well be slower than what someone else considers fast, but I go into it trying to achieve its designed depth and/or action.  If that doesn’t work, I’ll slow down.  It could be a slower retrieve, or it could be introducing more frequent or more extended pauses.  I think the goal is to give the fish more time to decide if it is worth eating.

I never burn a lure, at least not as a presentation.

My general strategy is that if fish are eating, go fast.  If they are interested in only dessert, go slow.  If they are full, go home.

I am reminded of the old story about the tortoise and the hare but with a twist.  The tortoise may have won the race, but I would wager the hare had more fun.  Fish how you like to fish. If you are not having fun, try something else.

I vary the retrieve speed all the time, sometimes even on the same retrieve. I'll try to bracket the speed of my retrieve until the bass tell me what they like that day. Often times the speed they find appetizing isn't what you'd expect under the given conditions.

2 hours ago, jbmaine said:

I try to let the fish tell me what they want.

This x's2. They'll tell me what's on the menu that day and how quickly they want it served......

I “used” to fish with a guy who I’m not sure knew his trolling motor had a speed other than wide open. Me being in the back of his boat, would more or less be skiing my worm back if I was foolish enough to try one with him on the motor. When moving through what appears to be unproductive water, going fast is ok with me. But, when you get to what has more weeds, wood or rocks and has the potential for fish, I like to slow it down and pick it apart for a bit. He hated fishing slow and would often speed up and go around fallen trees so I wouldn’t be able to fish them. His reluctance to slow down at all is the reason I quit fishing with him. If power fishing is what you enjoy, do it! If boating more fish is your goal, a combination of tactics may be needed. 

One good way to learn to slow down your retrieve is to fish a weightless fluke or Crush City Freeloader.

 

If you fish it too fast it will ride the surface instead of darting below the surface. But you still have to fish it fast enough to impart action on it.

I prefer to cover water, fish aggressively, and toss faster-moving lures.  It's my jam.  My preferred way to fish.

 

However, I learned years ago that this tactic wasn't always going to produce.  I found out the hard way by trial and error.

 

There's gonna be days when bass are not interested in chasing moving lures.  Its inevitable.  So it pays to slow down and more methodically work a smaller area.

My baits of choice are spinner baits and t rigged plastics. One is moving fast and the other slow so I get an idea of the fishes mood that day and can expand on either one. Cranks or buzz baits for days when they chase or twitching a top water maybe for days that they want something slower.

I tend to get into a rut depending on the lure I am using regarding retrieves and have a different cadence for each.

A wacky weightless Senko has its own speed falling on slack line probably the slowest I use. A deep diving crank bait gets a faster retrieve in the beginning and various 1 crank, 3 cranks, 2 cranks etc stop and go retrieve where a buzz bait gets a steady retrieve speed. Jigs and bottom contact worms get a crank and stop to shake then rest etc various cadence.  How many cranks and how long the shakes and pause changes until strikes occur, no set cadence.

If I want to fish fast use a faster moving lure, slowing down takes more patience and focus to be successful.

Enjoying your environment is part of being focused, somedays just can’t focus and mis the enjoyment.

Tom

I’ve got a friend that will drop a weightless senko into schools suspended 20+ feet down. He absolutely cleans house doing it, but it’s like watching paint dry in Houston humidity. 
 

 

 

I mostly fish my mood, and what sounds fun that day. I also fish midday a lot, so I’m usually pretty methodical. That being said, I generally get what I get and move on if no further action after a few more casts, unless it’s a really good spot and I strongly feel a change up will get a couple more.
 

I also fish rivers and my spots aren’t big and gonna hold 10-20 bass. I remember one morning in June I pulled 5 nice fish off one log and thought “that’s a money spot”, and it was for awhile. Weeds have made it logical to keep it moving atm unless warranted otherwise.

First and foremost, I am a finesse fisherman.  That means I have the patience of Jobe.  Can I burn a spinnerbait? Sure but it’s not what I am comfortable with and “I” feel I catch more fish.  Now, if you ask KVD, he built his remarkable career fishing faster than humanly possible.  The number of casts he makes in a day of fishing is unreal but it obviously worked well for him.  His philosophy was to target the aggressive fish and not waste time finessing them.  

I'll cover water until I find fish, then I slow down and pick that piece of structure/cover apart. Once done there, I'll fish similar spots until the fish tell me to do something else.

I favor fishing fast since it suits my nature. I do slow down to avoid being skunked or to scratch an extra couple of fish off a spot that has proved itself to be holding bass on a given day. 

I fished a wacky worm last night, slow fished a popper, and will be using a T-rigged worm tomorrow morning, so I am tapping the brakes here and there. When I was trolling, I also varied my paddling speed, which did catch one bass. 

Here is what happened to me yesterday.  Fished a plastic bait around shallow wood with an 1/8 slip sinker.  No bites.  Changed to a 3/8 sinker and caught 9 on the same stretch.  Speed and depth, speed and depth, speed and depth.........I had the depth right but not the speed.

2 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

Here is what happened to me yesterday.  Fished a plastic bait around shallow wood with an 1/8 slip sinker.  No bites.  Changed to a 3/8 sinker and caught 9 on the same stretch.  Speed and depth, speed and depth, speed and depth.........I had the depth right but not the speed.

 

Whoa, Al, that sure persuades me to change it up when fishing. Thanks!

 

Say, Al, since you're a codger and I'm a crone, how do you tie knots in the boat? At home, I use my magnifiers. Are your glasses bifocals?