If you could only use one technique, it would be....
What technique do you pull out when the going gets tough and you're just not getting any bites? For me....and I go here too quickly sometimes, which is holding me back from expanding my knowledge...I'm grabbing my soft bait bag and putting a neg rig together. So if I'm dropped on an island with only one set-up, it's going to be a ned rig. What would you use?
Dropshot is probably the go-to for me. I like Ned rig, but personally have had issues with hookups. Some reasonable percentage of fish I catch are able to somehow turn the hook back into the bait. It surely gets a lot of bites though.
It really seems like a drop shot rig would be so strong. But for some reason I haven't made it work for me...yet? I just haven't committed to it enough. Same goes with swimbaits and jigs. I doubt I'm the only one that feels like this....but having confidence in what you're throwing seems to have a direct correlation to how successful I am. So I end up falling back to finesse fishing quickly.
I've been considering using one excursion a month where all I do is bring one set up that I'm trying to learn...just so I can't bail on it and go to what I already know. I think it may be the only way to expand my knowledge.
I try to visualize a bait. When I throw a Ned rig, it's often around docks, and I visualize it spiraling down like a dead baitfish. I don't fish a Ned rig like a shaky head. I fish one like John Crews discusses, I believe it's in this video, https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/ned-rig-fishing-john-crews so a Ned rig is a middle water column bait for me, not on the bottom. Now, with a dropshot rig, I like to fish it around any sort of current break, a hump, a bridge piling, etc. When it hits the bottom, I imagine the weight holding it mostly in place, the bait sitting nose into the current just like it would naturally. Often the current will slowly drift my bait right into a seam or slack water area, and that's often where I get bit.
That is a great video! Without even knowing it, I've been naturally using the top two techniques that John Crews uses with this set up. I'm definitely going to try using the slow open water retrieve this weekend to see if I can get some results with that. And I'm also going to try the micro jig approach to see if I can't get some larger fish involved. Thanks for sending the link to that video....Can't wait to get back out there this weekend!
If you want to know more from the innovator of the "Midwest finesse rig", as he calls the Ned Rig, we had Ned Kehde on our live show in 2020. You might also want to check it out https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/ned-rig-innovator-ned-kehde-july-2020
Wow! That interview with Ned Kehde was amazing. I had never even wondered where the "Ned" in Ned Rig came from and certainly wouldn't have guessed it was a first name. It makes my favorite way of catching a bass even better knowing it got started by a guy like that. Truly amazing to hear pioneers like him talk through the history of his creation. Thank you for sharing!!!!
For me, it seems to change every year. I have been trying to introduce a new technique to me yearly, and have had some excellent success in the past few years. I do not know if it is luck or if I have been using it more often, but it has worked well.
The past few years have included
Mojo
Neko
Toyko
Shakey
Hogie,
I love the Tokyo rig. I've not enjoyed fishing a new technique more than it in a LONG time. I wouldn't call it my confidence technique, but when I come up on a hump or point, I toss a heavy-weighted Tokyo rig with a creature bait as a first option and I move it fast (I'm usually fishing clear water). Seems like the big ones have never seen anything scurrying across the bottom that fast that isn't real. It's like digging a crankbait into the bottom, but without having to get the right diving depth, angle, line size, etc.
I've never tried a Tokyo rig. But Jason....Having a big'n nail a creature bait as you're dragging it across a mound sounds pretty good. Something I'll tuck away for future use.
