Whats the most "original" way you fish. It could be anything like coming up with a new rig, new lure, lucky socks, or just a wierd presentation. Everyone has there wierd things that they only do but they work, or at least we think they do cuase then why would we do them?

I seem to get alot of bites when I'm trying to put a dip in.(Rod tucked under arm,open can of Kodiak in my hands,line running away from me.)   DOH!

Original? Try this. My best friend growing up in south Arkansas was an American Indian. I learned from him how to catch fish by hand. It only works in small streams where you can build a barrier to keep the fish in a small area. We would stir the bottom with our feet to the point the fish would come to the surface since it had the least amount of debris in the water. The water would become very muddy. We then would watch for the back of a fish at the surface and by slow movements get a hand in front of the fish and then let the fish swim to it. When the fish cooperated we would slap the fish out of the water onto the bank. Strange but true.

Original? Try this. My best friend growing up in south Arkansas was an American Indian. I learned from him how to catch fish by hand. It only works in small streams where you can build a barrier to keep the fish in a small area. We would stir the bottom with our feet to the point the fish would come to the surface since it had the least amount of debris in the water. The water would become very muddy. We then would watch for the back of a fish at the surface and by slow movements get a hand in front of the fish and then let the fish swim to it. When the fish cooperated we would slap the fish out of the water onto the bank. Strange but true.

I did a similar thing when I was about 8 years old in the creek in front of our home.  In the spring when the water would start to receed, I would churn up the water by stomping around in the bottom of the creek and when the fish's head would appear at the surface, I would hit it with a baseball hat.  I got a few nice pike that way.  This was over 50 years ago in southern Ontario.

Where I live now, it's easy to catch brook trout that come close to shore at night.  All you need is a flashlight.  It's against the law to do this.

Here is a trick that is legal where live minnows are allowed.  First you hook a small minnow quite near the tail with a small hook.  Use no other terminal tackle.  Give a few quick hard taps to the head of the minnow so that it gets somewhat stunned.  Cast him out and he will struggle on the end of the line.  The small hook will sink his tail into the water and his head will be pointed up.  Every time he struggles, he will make a disturbance on the water.  This works very well in deep very clear calm water.

Well I almost forgot about this one. This was probably the first year I haven't used it. I tie a 6 to 12 inch leader onto the hook of a spinnerbait. I put a small piece of old soft plastic on the hook to hold it in place. On the other end of the leader I tie a #1 straight shank hook. On the hook I put a white Super Fluke.

This is my secret Blue Gill lure.

I keep all my used white flukes for this one. When I am fishing for bedding Gills and Crappie that are locked on bed and won't hit anything else. I tie a small treble hook on 4 to 6 lb line. No sinker is used. I use a 7ft ML rod. On one of the hooks of the treble I put the pinched off forked tail of the Fluke. I work the hook into the bed and try to get it snagged on something in the middle. Then I just twitch it until the fish comes to investigate. The fish will grab it and spit it out fast but if I anticipate the bite I catch some real nice Gills.

Here is a stringer from this spring. Ten of them are over 1 lb and the two I'm holding went 2.5 and 3lbs.

What a great pic fm!!!  Huge slabs too!

Dan

Man Fluke, those are the biggest gills I have ever seen!  It appears one of those aggressive fish even ate one of the kid's socks.

Bust out the corn meal the Forum is coming over for a fish fry at your place.  Thanks for letting me invite the rest of the gang. LOL

The Do Nothing Approach

It seems like I nearly always get bit when I put my rod in the rod holder to take a leak, get a beer or help someone land a fish. It's uncanny. This is really the main reason I fish soft plastics so slow, I have seen the "do nothing" approach work too many times.

RW nailed it.  All I need to do to guarantee a fish is to dig out the 'trip-ender' knot from the professional over-run on my Curado.

The best way to make your partner mad is to make a terrable cast and back lash then when  you get done pulling it out fell a good 2 pounder on the other end.

I works a lot actually if you throw it in a good spot.

Me, my brother, and my dad used to go to this small farm pond down the road a little ways. it was half -covered with thick grass mats and half submerged grass beds I still fish it today and it is one of the best fisheries EVER. What we would do is after we got done catchin' fish we would go over to the dock and crimp a spli-shot onto a 4ft. long piece of Stren mono, then we would stick half of a Richard Petty hot dog on it and hang it out about 1ft. above the water. After about 30 seconds, WHOOSH a bass we called "Richard", guess why ;D, would fly out of the water and engulf the hot dog. Richard weighed about 9lbs and although nobody ever caught him it sure was fun watching him eat them hot dogs, every time he came up it would scare the hell outta you because you see that massive mouth coming out of the water... :o  

He probably died from all them Petty dogs we gave 'im...  

the take a leak open a beer approach works well for me to

If you can get it to stay on the hook small pieces of cheese popcorn will catch bluegill. I went out after a tournament and had some left and saw bluegill all around. So I figured might aswell have some fun since the bass weren't biting.

bassdocktor

I had a pond that I would catch gills using paper or cotton. There was a group of fishermen who would bring a bunch of bread to fish with and after they where done they would throw the rest in the water. I would hit the pond with my paper or cotton and catch them after the left.

Man Fluke, those are the biggest gills I have ever seen! It appears one of those aggressive fish even ate one of the kid's socks.

:-X That might be coverd under a later thread entitled "Secret Baits".

"Secret Baits" or "Secret chum and scent tactics"  

"Secret Baits" or "Secret chum and scent tactics"

LOL ;D

i used to save my demolished trout flies for gill fishing, it always kept the wife entertained, and was cheap!!

as for secret tactics (try to keep this on the down low, i could get arrested)  well when im fishing i like to jam to a good mix CD and i often find myself getting a little too into it and get a little funky chicken going, this usually results in nice fish.  im not usually reeling, so im guessing my terrible dancing moves the lure just enough to entice a bite.  if they were smarter, they might come to the surface first and get a good laugh, because the victory dance is way better, and more coordinated!  and by then i got em by the lip!!!!!!!!  yeah i look like a spaz but..  whatever!