Slowing Down Retrieve Speed

As we move into the heat of summer we are approaching a time of year that one of the most critical things that people do wrong, when they have trouble catching fish, is fishing to quickly when you retrieve your bait while fishing! There are many ways to work a bait and certainly many of them require you to work them very quickly to produce the action the bait was designed for; however working that bait certain times of years require you to slow down and we are approaching that critical time now! When the water temperatures reach the 80’s or higher as it is now you must slow down as the oxygen levels in the water slow the fish metabolism as it reaches critical reduced levels of oxygen.


Let me give you an example, many of us are successful at fishing a frog when we burn it across a grass mat. Burning it does require you to change speeds and tempo many times to be successful. If you’re burning the frog without stopping, slowing, speeding back up, then you could very well have the wrong tempo required to get a bass to bite, this can be a critical piece of retrieve speed. Changing you speed and tempo might be what is needed, and this requires you to change retrieve speed.
All baits we fish with require thought on the presentation; and many times the presentation you use at first light may need to be changed drastically to get the same bite at 11am. Fish are more active many times at 6am than they are at 9am and retrieve speed and tempo needs to be changed many times as the day progresses.


Lastly tournament anglers are a perfect example of critical retrieve speed. Many times a tournament angler hits the water for a practice day and really slays the fish. He goes back to the same spot at the same time of day during the tournament and can’t get his fish to bite; why? He is fishing with a different tempo than he did during his practice time. Not realizing how critical this can be, his body is hyped up and the speed and tempo at which he caught fish in practice has changed!


Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
www.facebook.com/FishGuntersville
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry