Favorite bass fishing techniques and lures

[Tin Man]

You @Orangeslice13 alter ego?

That whippersnapper? Pssshhh…

 

[GVF]

BFS is really just baitcasting gear designed for very light line/lures. One absolutely does not "need" to do so and can do the same thing with a spinning rod and light line. Maybe it's just a muscle memory thing but I am much better at "twitching" anything ( topwater walking bait for instance) with baitcasting than spinning gear. For topwater my favorite setup uses a 1 power (yes, 1, rated 2-8lb line) rod and a 3/16oz on 15lb braid to 6-8lb leader. Even a 2.5lber is real adventure.

I do love to throw me a weightless fluke.

I think my shoulder problems are from weightless flukes and tricks/finesse. lol. We had more success with those rigs than anything we ever fished. Didn't have dedicated light bait casting then. That's just re-marketing for money. I always threw my flukes, tricks, and even finesse worms on my regular medium action Browning Lews, my calcutta 100 or speed reel and 12 lb line. We were just skilled at adjusting our reels. Wasn't out of reach to cast out to moderate (40'ish) with weightless tricks. 15-25 feet was typical since we would troll about 30 off the banks most times. Flukes could go long way, especially on that lews speed reel. I kept one rod with 14lb for jigs and bottom rigs. Rest were 12 lb. Spinner was 10, and ultra lite was 6 for bass and 2 for trout. Regular spinning set up for trout I use 4lb.

I got sucked in early on stocking stuff that never got wet. I was hard lined about my browning rods. Have those 4 still. And my trout/spinning rod is a Berkeley Cherrywood I've used for 30+ years and will never put it down. But I did whittle my tackle down to tricks, finesse and flukes. Which also double dutied on my texas rig. Not many curly tails. And a handful of top water and spinner/lure options and some crappy jigs. But I did have loads of colors on those trick worms. And we were very committed to the Zoom worm and fluke products.

 

[hndog609]

I think my shoulder problems are from weightless flukes and tricks/finesse. lol. We had more success with those rigs than anything we ever fished. Didn't have dedicated light bait casting then. That's just re-marketing for money. I always threw my flukes, tricks, and even finesse worms on my regular medium action Browning Lews, my calcutta 100 or speed reel and 12 lb line. We were just skilled at adjusting our reels. Wasn't out of reach to cast out to moderate (40'ish) with weightless tricks. 15-25 feet was typical since we would troll about 30 off the banks most times. Flukes could go long way, especially on that lews speed reel. I kept one rod with 14lb for jigs and bottom rigs. Rest were 12 lb. Spinner was 10, and ultra lite was 6 for bass and 2 for trout. Regular spinning set up for trout I use 4lb.

I got sucked in early on stocking stuff that never got wet. I was hard lined about my browning rods. Have those 4 still. And my trout/spinning rod is a Berkeley Cherrywood I've used for 30+ years and will never put it down. But I did whittle my tackle down to tricks, finesse and flukes. Which also double dutied on my texas rig. Not many curly tails. And a handful of top water and spinner/lure options and some crappy jigs. But I did have loads of colors on those trick worms. And we were very committed to the Zoom worm and fluke products.

Actually BFS isn't remarketing. It's a from the ground up creation that came to be in Japan some time ago and made it's way over here more recently. There's no way to adjust a standard reel and throw the kind of lure weights BFS is built around...physics doesn't allow it. Spool weights on BFS reels are like 9 grams or less. The spools are also shallow to lessen line weight as there's no need for lots of extra space when using, at most, 8lb regular line or super thin braid. I actually spend a lot of my time on the "heavy" end of usage with things that weigh 3/16oz. And that's not even counting the rods. My most commonly used BFS rod is rated down to 2lb. Before BFS there was simply no such thing as a casting rod that was actually intended to load properly and perform with the kind of lure weights most people think of using for trout. Now having said all of that if one wanted to just use spinning gear you could but I lke the line management and hand placement (if you're palming baitcasters have the retrieve axis directly in line with the rod hand) so much BFS has basically replaced all but a couple of my spinning applications. (Oh, and being a level wind there's essentially no line twist)

Man you're getting me notalgic. Though my first baitcaster was an Abu 5501C I had a couple Lews I really liked but retired or passed down to a nephew. Somewhere I've got a Cherrywood with an Abu Cardinal on it too.

 

[GVF]

Actually BFS isn't remarketing. It's a from the ground up creation that came to be in Japan some time ago and made it's way over here more recently. There's no way to adjust a standard reel and throw the kind of lure weights BFS is built around...physics doesn't allow it. Spool weights on BFS reels are like 9 grams or less. The spools are also shallow to lessen line weight as there's no need for lots of extra space when using, at most, 8lb regular line or super thin braid. I actually spend a lot of my time on the "heavy" end of usage with things that weigh 3/16oz. And that's not even counting the rods. My most commonly used BFS rod is rated down to 2lb. Before BFS there was simply no such thing as a casting rod that was actually intended to load properly and perform with the kind of lure weights most people think of using for trout. Now having said all of that if one wanted to just use spinning gear you could but I lke the line management and hand placement (if you're palming baitcasters have the retrieve axis directly in line with the rod hand) so much BFS has basically replaced all but a couple of my spinning applications. (Oh, and being a level wind there's essentially no line twist)

Man you're getting me notalgic. Though my first baitcaster was an Abu 5501C I had a couple Lews I really liked but retired or passed down to a nephew. Somewhere I've got a Cherrywood with an Abu Cardinal on it too.

OK. So that system is getting down into ultra light bait casting stuff. Cause I never had issues with weightless trick worms on standard bait casters with 12lb test. But, they wouldn't have handled trout style spinners and such. I should qualify that with "good baitcaster reels" in proper application. I did have a couple bait casters on the longer/heavier Browning/Lews rods for jigging and bottom fishing that would not have thrown the trick worms. But the calcutta 100 and the Lews speed had no issues. They were magnificent and smooth casters, yet durable and strong enough to switch to heavy baits if I didn't want to use the others.

Those older Cherrywoods are the best trout rods I've ever thrown outside my gramps old Eagle Claw from the 70's/80's. I'd have to check upstairs, but I saw a new cherrywood a few years ago at Walmart or somewhere, and pretty sure I snagged it up for my son. It wasn't quite the same but still a Cherrywood.

Abu Garcia Casters are what's on the two heavier action and longer Browning Speed Sticks. I swear by those rods. The feel of my go to medium action was way ahead of time. With the reel recess it sits where your hand doesn't get cramped and you can fish all day, and the rod terminate right where the recess meets the finger. Can feel everything. There's nothing on the market if I was still an active basser that's get me off them. I've seen pics of some with the pistol grip. All of mine are the stright cork or black foam recessed. The butts are just a little longer on the two heavier rods.