Category
Technique & Presentation
Depth, speed, angle, casting, drift, retrieve, and lure control. Start with Fishing Presentation: Depth, Speed, Angle and Control.
Everything filed under this heading, newest first.
Worth opening first
- One Hookset Does Not Fit Every RigSweep, snap, or nothing at all, depending on what’s between you and the hook.
- The Pause Does More Than the Retrieve on TopwaterMost topwater fish are earned in the seconds when nothing is happening.
- Skipping a Bait Under Cover Most Anglers Never ReachThe water almost nobody presents to, because getting under it is a cast they never learned.
- Working a Jig Is Mostly About What You Feel on the FallThe bite you’re waiting for shows up as an absence.
- Why an Ugly Cast Can Fish Better Than a Perfect OneAccuracy buys an angle. The angle is the part the fish reacts to.
- Topwater Bass Fishing Doesn’t Run on a Dawn ScheduleRead the surface before you start making noise on it.
- Ned Rig Fishing Is Mostly Learning to Leave It AloneA small bait doing less, deliberately.
- How a Drop-Shot Rig Controls Depth Without Pinning the Bait to the BottomDepth control without pinning the bait to the bottom.
- Right Angle Rig: Build an Indicator System That Sinks Fast and Breaks Where You ExpectAn indicator system that sinks fast and breaks where you expect it to.
Dry-Dropper Rigs: Two Flies, One Useful Question
A dry-dropper lets one cast check whether fish are coming up or eating underneath. That’s the real reason to fish two flies, not some promise of doubling your catch.
A Weed Bed Has Edges Inside the Edge
“Too many weeds” is the easy diagnosis and usually the wrong one, because fish treat the holes and edges inside a bed very differently from the green around them.
Circle Hooks Work Better When You Stop Trying to Set Them
Your hands want to swing the second the rod loads. With a circle hook, that swing is usually the thing that pulls it right back out.
Right Angle Rig: Build an Indicator System That Sinks Fast and Breaks Where You Expect
The Right Angle Rig isn’t a knot. It’s the order you put leader, indicator, weight and tippet in, so the fly gets down fast and a snag only costs you the cheap part.
The Pause Does More Than the Retrieve on Topwater
I used to treat the pause on a topwater retrieve like dead time. It’s where the fish makes up its mind, and the strike often comes the instant the lure moves again.
Working a Jig Is Mostly About What You Feel on the Fall
A jig does most of its convincing while it sinks, which is exactly when your eyes tend to be parked on the rod tip. Watch the line on the fall instead and the quiet bites start showing up.
One Hookset Does Not Fit Every Rig
A circle hook set like a J-hook can come straight out of the fish’s mouth. What’s tied on, and how the fish ate it, should decide how hard you swing.
Skipping a Bait Under Cover Most Anglers Never Reach
The shady pocket way back under a dock barely gets fished, mostly because a normal cast can’t reach it. A low sidearm skip with a flat lure can.
Ned Rig Fishing Is Mostly Learning to Leave It Alone
A Ned rig asks you to do less, which is harder than it sounds. Pick a head you can actually feel, rig the plastic straight, and give the pause more of the work than your rod hand wants to.
How a Drop-Shot Rig Controls Depth Without Pinning the Bait to the Bottom
On a drop shot the sinker finds the bottom and the bait hangs above it at whatever height you tied. Tag length, sinker weight and how much you shake the rod all follow from that.