Dog Days And Deep Spinnerbaits
Most fishermen braving the heat this summer have been hovering over the deep ledges hoping for a little current to activate the fish and a little breeze to cool the brow.
The majority of them are probably lobbing around plastic worms the size of garter snakes.
These 10- to 12-inch monsters have become a sort of summer tradition on Barkley and Kentucky lakes, and although they work pretty well every summer, the fact everyone is using them, and so many fish have seen them, has to detract from their productivity. Familiarity does breed contempt among the scaley fraternity.
But there are alternatives lures for the ledges. Some of them not only work as well as the plastic snakesthey may even work better because most fish have never seen them.
One of the least known dog days alternatives is a short-arm, single-spin spinnerbait.
I doubt theres a fisherman out there that doesnt have some spinnerbaits handy, but I suspect most will have to search their supplies to find a heavy, short-arm model with just one blade. these arent as versatile as other models. Theyre made specifically to hop, drop and pop in the ebony depths.
If you have any heavy short arms at all, its probably a black one that you bought to fish at night.you can use that during the day, too, but my favorite is a thee-quarter-ounce, white or chartreuse, with a gold Colorado blade. A lot of guys like a silver blade when its bright and a gold blade when its overcast, but, to my way of thinking, its always pretty dark in our lakes below 15 feet.
You can go as heavy as a full ounce or as light as one-half ounce and use just about any color you like. The important thing with this technique is the thump of the blade and the rather unique way of presenting the bait.
Forget youve got a spinnerbait attached. think jig. Hop it, drop it or pop it like a jig.
The most basic way is to let it settle to the bottom, lift the rod tip just enough to get it moving and let it drop again. this is a highly effective method, but it does get you hung up occasionally.
A lot of guys like to fish a jig, or a short-arm spinnerbait for that matter, by popping it hard the instant it touches down. they flip the rod tip up with a quick wrist action (almost like setting the hook) the instant the bait hits bottom. Then they let it fall on a slack line. I dont really prefer to fish a jig this way most of time, but a little milder version of this techniques is my favorite way to present a deep spinnerbait.
The instant it touches down, I pop it quickly, but only about half as hard as I might to set the hook. Then I let it fall on a slack line, lowering the rod tip slowly and taking up just enough slack to stay in contact with the bait so that it falls as vertically as possible.
Similar to a jig, most of your strikes are going to come on the fall, so you need to pay attention to the line and set the hook at the slightest twitch or bump. Sometimes the line just goes slack. When in doubt, set the hook.
With this retrieve I call a half-pop, the bait gets hung up less, and sometimes I hook a fish I didnt realize had the bait. Big bass often just close their mouths around a bait without moving, and the line simply goes slack just like it does when the bait hits bottom. By half-popping it the instant it goes slack, Im often pleasantly surprised.
But the main reason the half-pop works so well is the same reason this bait works so well in the first place. The action of short-arm spinnerbaits entice reaction strikes from inactive or well-fed fish who grab the thing because they just cant help it.
A half-pop gets the blade spinning and thumping with a quick movement that demands their attention. When it falls, spinning and thumping slowly in front of their noses, an automatic reactiona well honed predatory instinct that theyve developed to keep them alive for so longjust takes over. Ive caught a lot of good fish with this method that were already so full of food they looked like they were pregnant.
Fishing during the dog days is notoriously slow primarily because natural forage is most abundant, so to get them to take our fakes, weve got to appeal to instincts that go beyond their hunger. Heavy short-arm, single-blade spinnerbaits hopped, dropped or popped along the ledges do just that.
Dog Days and Deep Spinnerbaits
Popularity: 1% [?]
Related posts:
- Runaway dog team found after two days
- Man survives 3 days in snowbound SUV
- How To Stop Your Dogs Excessive Barking – www.site11.com – Deep …
- A Hunt For The Mysterious Beasts Of The Deep
- wildsingapore news: Singapore animal groups growl over 8 Days …
