Learning to Fish, Vol 1: Pelican Bass Raider
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- čas přidán 8. 11. 2023
- I head out on the Bass Raider for the first of a 3 month-long cram to learn how to fish! Follow along and offer up your suggestions and advice. I am trying to go from newbie to contender and I only have 100 days to do it!
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Have you considered trying a wacky-rigged stick worm? It's mainly a shallow-water technique, but it's a simple method that flat-out catches fish. The Yamamoto Senko worm is the classic choice for wacky rigging, but there are plenty of less expensive options (Bass Pro Stik-O, Yum Dinger, etc.). Most of my strikes come as the bait is falling; the wacky-rigged worm has its own wobbling action that does a lot of the work for you. Watch your line as it falls, as I see most of my hits before I feel them. I like fluorocarbon or copolymer line for most sub-surface techniques, but that's a matter of preference. A bladed jig (the Z-Man Chatterbait is probably the most popular) is another classic fish-catcher than can be as simple as "throw it out and wind it back in". They will get hung up, especially around timber, but they do make a weedless version that's probably a little less prone to that. A Texas Rig is a great choice; I have most of my success when working it close to the bottom. I use Trick worms, stick (Senko-style) worms and various "creature baits", with the Strike King Rage Bug being one of my favorites of that style. I use a bullet-style worm weight, typically 1/16 or 1/8 oz with an EWG hook that's usually between 1/0 and 4/0 depending on the size of the plastic. Finally, if you're not watching the Tactical Bassin' CZcams channel, I highly recommend it. The two hosts are skilled anglers and excellent instructors; they typically upload a video three times a week. Good luck!
@oldeschoolbob1022 thank you for the advice. I have not thrown a wacky rig, but I definitely will. I'm hoping to get out this week on the kayak for another attempt. Question for you...do you work the rig back to the boat or just in the general area of your cast? And is it better suited for grass or timber? I bought a couple of chatter baits from Bass Pro over the weekend but I am admittedly leary because of getting hung up. The Texas rig is something I threw a little bit on my outing but was sure how to work it. I saw one guy had it pegged and drug it along the bottom and I've seen others bounce it up and down of the bottom. What is your style? Thanks for watching and commenting my friend!
I love this video because I'm in the same situation. I fished a lot as a young lad and now I'm getting into it again as a middle aged guy. The way you go for top water is the same way I go for the Texas rig and for basically the same reason- all the damn weeds and logs! It's no fun reeling in a blob of weeds every time you cast or getting hung up. If I have any advice (and I have no business giving advice) it would be this: bring one rod rigged up with some kind of micro bait. For example, an eighth ounce or less jig head with some kind of soft plastic on it (check out the "Fish Anything" channel if you want to see what I'm talking about). It sucks getting skunked so I like to at least get a few pan fish if the bass aren't biting and sometimes you can be surprised by what goes for those little baits. Also it gives you an idea of where the little fish are and where the little fish are, you will likely find the bigger fish that eat them. Finally, I recommend you take a look at the mapping feature on your Deeper. When I'm in the boat I have about one third of the screen on mapping and two thirds on fish finding. Points and drop offs and other structure are likely places to find bass. I wish the Deeper people would do a better job explaining what is a fish and what isn't! I've had the same hordes of fish show up and I don't think they are really there. It helps to turn off the fish icons and look for arches. Good luck, my man! We are learning this crazy hobby together.
That is some awesome feedback! I've actually got several questions for you if you don't mind? Since you throw a lot of Texas Rig, how do you determine what type of plastic you are going to use? Do you have a "go to" bait that seems to work better than others? Do you throw a traditional rig with a bullet weight or do you throw a weightless rig? On the mapping feature....I'm not exactly sure what that is. Does it give you a different view of the bottom? Have you used that feature to decide where you want to fish? What setting does it work best on (narrow, medium, wide)? It's funny you mention the micro baits. I actually bought a small combo last year and some little panfish lures, but never got around to taking it with me. I didn't think about using it for finding bait fish, I mostly thought about something to occupy my time when I couldn't catch bass. Thanks for watching and partcipating. I appreciate you!!!
@@yakkittymack I more or less choose which soft plastic to use in a random and chaotic manner. I am not a talented or knowledgeable fisherman! I have used bullet weights but I almost always throw them weightless. Why? I just like it better weightless. I like the "finesse" aspects of the Texas Rig and feel weights take away from that. Not sure if that makes sense! I will say this- you can fish the same spot for an hour without catching anything. Then you switch to a different color worm or a curly tail instead of a stick bait or whatever and WHAM! you start catching them like crazy. But if you come back the next day that same worm won't catch anything! Fish are weird. More and more, I don't think there's any kind of "go to" bait that we can rely on.
As for the mapping on the Deeper... I think there's an icon that you push on one side of the screen or maybe you can slide it from the edge to access it? Once you figure it out it will be intuitive. It shows the track of where you've been in the lake and the depth contours of those areas. If I'm being honest, I spend almost as much time mapping as fishing. Do you download your scan history when you get home? I spend hours going over my tracks at home on the PC and marking good spots to return to next time I'm on the water. FYI- the more you map the same areas, the more detailed your maps will be. I always scan on the narrowest beam setting (15 degrees, I think?) because it seems to produce the best maps. Going over the maps seems to make me a better fisherman and I really enjoy it. I've definitely been catching fish in areas I would have never tried without the maps.
Regarding your slow day of fishing... for what it's worth, I live in Massachusetts. We've had a crazy amount of rain this year. In very early October we had a particularly huge rainstorm. Ever since that day the fishing has been terrible. I've spoken with dozens of fishermen since that day and everyone agrees with me on that. I even participated in a tournament two weeks ago and everyone was saying the same thing. Maybe your area has the same problem? It's all a mystery to me. My best theory is the rain dropped the temperature of the water quite suddenly and the fish haven't adjusted yet. But I've had better (but meager!) luck fishing in deeper water since then. Maybe try something different and unexpected? Take the bass by surprise! I'll be looking forward to your tournament. The strategy I devised for my tournament was to get lucky and catch a 10 pounder. It didn't work out that way! We just caught one bass that barely qualified and a whole lot of 11 and a half inchers. It was still a great day with lots of good people. I hope you have better luck than we did!
I myself am having to "relearn" fishing. In my younger years I fished small rivers but had to quit because of health reasons. 3 years ago I got back into it only to find I couldn't get my boat into small rivers anymore because of times changing more towards kayakers and ramps were removed and slips were installed. So I started fishing reservoirs and tidal rivers which is a total different fishing world for me. I have found a channel TacticalBassin to be helpful but unfortunately I have had some more health issues this year setting me back. Hopefully next year will be better. I always start my morning with a top water broken back and I tie a few strands of red thread on the back hook or a plopper. No bites in 20 minutes I'm done and I turn to a search bait like chatter bait, spinner or rattle trap. The only time I worm fish is dead summer. There again I catch more trees than anything as you can see in my videos. I haven't had much luck on the resivour because I haven't had alot of time on the water and am new to fishing electronics where as on small rivers they are not needed. Tidal rivers have been a challenge for me in finding the fish at different times at different parts of the tides. Most people fish for Catfish but bass seem to be more finicky. I have not had my Quest Angler 10 on the resivour yet but hear it can be challenging without a rudder on the trolling motor or having 2 anchors. I hear you get blown around alot. Looking forward to seeing that video. Best advise I can give is don't give up. My wife always asks me when I get back from a trip "how much money did you lose in lures today" in which I always reply " it's not about the money it's about the time spent on the water".
@@monzsterman I won't give up for sure, getting skunked is frustrating but I'm too competitive to let it deter me. I hear you on tidal water. I have no idea what the tide does to fish. Some people say they do better when the tide is rising others say they do better when it's dropping. You and I are opposites, as I'm from Indiana so I have experience with reservoirs and rivers are new to me. I've only been living in the south for about 9 years.
Interesting that you will only give top water about 20 minutes before moving to a search type bait. So the question I have for you is, what do you do when you find a fish? Do you keep throwing the same bait or will you throw other types of lures?
I have the rudder done already, it took me all of 20 minutes to put on the boat. I'm hoping to get out Sunday and test / film it. I really hope it helps the boat stay on track.
I hope your health gets better. I enjoy your videos. I remember seeing your video on launching the Quest before I ever even bought a boat.
Thanks for watching and offering up some advice.
@@jasonm1884 Interesting 🤔 thank you for taking the time to help. I think I like the idea of weightless as well. The Texas rig I threw in the video had a small bullet weight because that just happened to be the video I watched. But next time out I'm gonna try weightless. Also interesting that the style of worm actually matters. Hearing that makes me think about a different strategy for sure.
I don't do anything with the info from my Deeper. I guess I never really paid any attention to it because I just throw at cover I can see without regard to the terrain under the water. Sounds like I need to rethink that too. I mean I will see there is grass or something but I don't know what to do with that info so I just look for the next log or bush and throw at it. 😆
We've actually had the opposite weather. Severe drought conditions here which is weird because this is considered a subtropical climate and we usually see a lot of rain, but we are over a foot deficit and I'm not sure what that does to fish? 😕
It's cool to know that others out there are going through the learning process too and I am thankful for you sharing it with me. Good luck in your outings and thank you for following this journey. I'll be posting more soon as I try a couple of your suggestions.
I love topwater action for bass, but I've found that in rough water or cold water, rubber worms or swimbaits work better. For spinner blades or crankbaits or floater/divers, I generally use silver on a sunny day & gold on a cloudy day or off color water. For lures, I generally use something that resembles fish species in the water. For bass I just fish any structure, either along shore or under water. Some days I do very well...other days, I throw everything but the kitchen sink & can't buy a bite. Very interesting video. I subscribed and I'll follow along.
@ChesapeakeChris thank you for watching and subscribing and for sharing your techniques. I love that you mentioned swimbaits, because I am getting ready to head out again today and will try those for the first time. There is so much timber and grass in the water here that I feel the need to stay weedless or else I'm gonna spend half my day trying to get unhung. That's one of the reasons I primarily fish top water. After my last outing I literally googled "weedless crank baits" and swimbaits is what popped up. So I bought some and I'm excited to give it a try. I'm gonna be like a kid on spring break the first time I catch a bass on soft plastic. I'm very appreciative of everyone who is giving me pointers, and I know it's gonna pay off! Do you fish your swimbaits weightless? Thanks again and tight lines my friend!
@@yakkittymack I almost never fish my swimbaits weightless. I usually use 1/8 to 1/4 oz jig heads. I like lighter jigheads because I'm usually fishing 6 ft or less. It can be hard to find a small jui head with a hook large enough for the swimbait I'm using. Often I put my swimbaits on a jighead with an underspin or I add a beetle spin blade.
@ChesapeakeChris I found these weighted hooks with a spring on them designed for swimbaits. That's what I tried yesterday but I felt like it was too heavy. I think I'll see what I can find online. I had a bite on the lure but didn't know it was a bite. It was so sudden and short I thought I just hit so I, but when I brought the lure up the paddle tail was gone. Something but it clean off!
@@yakkittymack I'm familiar with those hooks but never tried them. I don't use weighted hooks, always use a jig head for no other reason than I believe the colored jig head helps with bites. I did a video where I paint my jig heads with dollar store nail polish. I like a bright color jig head that is a sharp contrast to the swim bait color. I've lost quite a few swim bait tails due to bites.
@ChesapeakeChris I'll check that out. I didn't realize you had a channel...I just subscribed! Thanks for the tips.
Mack, you have a lot of great questions, but there are so many more questions I would have to ask before we can start breaking down what to fish and where. Everything you threw in this video will catch bass, but so much of it will depend on the water temp, water clarity, forage base the bass are feeding on, and what the layout of the lake is. I would love to help, but would almost need to have my questions answered before I could give you any advice. If you want some help, hit me up with some of those answers and I will do my best to steer you in a good direction.
@themajik1 I appreciate you offering up your knowledge. Water temp on this particular outing was about 66 degrees. Water clarity where I fish is always what i would call stained. This lake is actually more of a large creek that empties into the Mobile Bay (brackish water). One thing I have no idea about is forage. I'm not quite sure how you all know what the Bass are feeding on. I never see them and if I do spot a fish in the water I never know what it is. My experience up to this point is to see some grass or wood cover and throw a top water lure or a crank bait at it. Hahaha pretty basic stuff. Thanks again for watching and commenting and helping.
Watermelon Red Zoom worm peg sinker.
I'll give that a try for sure. I'm having fun learning the Texas rig style. Thank you for watching and commenting! @howardbenson1173
Need that weight of the drop shot on the lake bottom so the worm is 16” off the bottom
@tonyb-50 thank you. I haven't fished a drop shot since that day but I will.
@@yakkittymack I don’t fish it, but that’s how it’s fished
You need to throw everything around grass and cover!
@tonyb-50 I've started doing that as I've been learning more. I used to be timid about getting hung up.
Try a 4-5” kytek ribbed swim bait on a 1/4oz weighted hook.
I'm assuming kytek is a brand? I've not seen it in the stores I frequent. I did buy some ribbed swim baits, strike king I think 🤔
@@yakkittymack yes it’s a brand, Keitech, but strike king makes good ones as well