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.
Topwater Bass Fishing Doesn’t Run on a Dawn Schedule
Bass will eat on top at noon if the surface gives them a reason. Look for that reason before you tie a topwater on, and wait for weight on the line instead of swinging at the splash.
When to Stop Changing Lures and Change the Plan
When every lure fails the same way in the same water, I’ve usually got a position, depth or location problem, and no amount of retying is going to fix that.
Match the Behavior Before You Match the Species
When bugs or baitfish are active, I figure out how big the food is, where it’s riding and how it moves before I worry about what it’s called.
Why an Ugly Cast Can Fish Better Than a Perfect One
A cast can look like a mess leaving the rod and still keep the lure in the right water the whole way back, and that’s the only part the fish ever get to judge.
How to Stop Letting One Stretch of River Beat You
Forty minutes in, the stretch looks perfect and has already eaten two flies. The fix is usually fishing less of it — one seam at a time, from somewhere better than the comfortable rock.
The Childhood Fishing Mistake That Might Be a Real Technique
Fish get caught on retrieves that break every rule, like the pause while somebody fixes a hat. Before the correction comes out, ask what the lure actually did — some of that mess might be a technique.
Change One Thing Before You Change Everything
Swap five things at once and even a fish can’t tell you which one mattered. Keeping a baseline and changing the biggest likely mismatch first is slower, and it’s the version that actually teaches you something.
You Can’t Feel Every Bite on a Tight Line
A tight line tells you things fast, and some of what it tells you is the jig getting dragged off its fall. Knowing when to give the lure a little slack is half of feeling the bite.
A Lure Can Look Right Beside You and Still Fish Wrong
A lure putting on a nice show at your feet hasn’t proven much. The line angle, the wind and the depth were all different fifty feet out, which is where it was supposed to be fishing.
A Good Drift Isn’t Just Letting It Float
An indicator outrunning the foam next to it usually means the line is towing the rig instead of the current carrying it. Pick the lane and depth first, then manage the line so you catch it early.