What bait?

What bait do you wish you could be more proficient with and gain more confidence in using? Mine would have too be spoons especially vertical jigging.

Spinnerbaits. Everyone talks about how versatile they are but I just can't build enough confidence in them to throw them very much.

Jigs would be mine. Have tried but just not patient enough I guess.

crankbaits....for a newbie cranks baits can make your head spin.....

I have always heard that if you want to learn how to fish a certain lure, you should take everything else out of your boat. Only fish with what you want to learn or build confidence with. It makes perfect sense but it's really hard to do.

[QUOTE=dabassking;518009]I have always heard that if you want to learn how to fish a certain lure, you should take everything else out of your boat. Only fish with what you want to learn or build confidence with. It makes perfect sense but it's really hard to do.[/QUOTE]

Yep kinda like going to a lake and saying am going to fish different, like deep water structure. And then falling right back into that old familiar pattern that you have confidence in cause you caught fish there in the past. You don't want too waste any precious fishing time trying something that is unproven too you.:D

[QUOTE=cantcatchafish;518007]crankbaits....for a newbie cranks baits can make your head spin.....[/QUOTE]You gotta learn them. #1 thing to remember about crankbaits, you gotta bump cover with them which means you can't be afraid to lose that $7 crankbait, #2 keep the hooks sharp and #3 you will lose fish with them, no surefire way to avoid it.

[QUOTE=dac244;517991]What bait do you wish you could be more proficient with and gain more confidence in using? Mine would have too be spoons especially vertical jigging.[/QUOTE]

for the last several years (since cumberland was lowered to work on the dam) me and missus stripernut have absolutely clobbered the big kys vertical jigging in the heat of the day in the middle of the summer. i cant remember ever having a technique or pattern that would yield 25+ fish in 2 hours, but this stuff was crazy, when you get the first fish to go it was on. the underwater ridge breaks with stumps or rock piles were the key. now the lake level has been raised back up and those spots are a little over a mile deep lol, and hold ZERO fish, i have graphed and graphed with no luck. im certainly not an expert on the subject but what i have found with vertical jiggin is this....you graph 75% of the time and fish 25%. locate the fish suspended on some sort of structure with deep stuff very close by, and schools of bait . the vertical jigging varied from day to day, some days you would need to rip the spoon 6-7 feet and let it flutter back down, some days you would just twitch the rod tip to rasie the spoon a foot or so, the fish would tell you what they want. also one thing became very clear over time, the brighter , hotter sunnier days were the ticket, the fish were more tightly concentrated on the deep structure and were more competitive and the bite would start quicker and we would catch more fish in a shorter amount of time. cloudy dreary overcast days were usually a bust.
also 8lb pline flourocarbon line seemed to make a difference over mono.
vertical jigging spoons is probably the hardest technique ive ever dealt with, its not the actual mechanics of lifting and dropping the rod, its spending time on the graph, lots of time on the graph, and more time on the graph lol.
best of luck to you

[QUOTE=sweetwater;518033]You gotta learn them. #1 thing to remember about crankbaits, you gotta bump cover with them which means you can't be afraid to lose that $7 crankbait, #2 keep the hooks sharp and #3 you will lose fish with them, no surefire way to avoid it.[/QUOTE]

I will add, for me anyways, when I'm fishing shallow cranks on flats, the flimsiest rod I have is the best for keeping fish hooked. I bought it about 6 years ago for 20 bucks for my wife. I've watched her reel countless fish almost to the tip of this pole and they stay hooked ove and over. So I started using it on my two favorite flats on the Ohio river and it's made a huge difference in keeping them hooked. Obviously, it's only for open water, but if that's what I'm fishing, that's the rod I use.

[QUOTE=bigwormy;518052]I will add, for me anyways, when I'm fishing shallow cranks on flats, the flimsiest rod I have is the best for keeping fish hooked. I bought it about 6 years ago for 20 bucks for my wife. I've watched her reel countless fish almost to the tip of this pole and they stay hooked ove and over. So I started using it on my two favorite flats on the Ohio river and it's made a huge difference in keeping them hooked. Obviously, it's only for open water, but if that's what I'm fishing, that's the rod I use.[/QUOTE]Yes that is true and the flimsy rod should give you more casting distance as well. Personally, I prefer a 7'M rod and I use the heaviest mono I can get away with so I can set those hooks as deep as possible. The stiffer/longer rod helps me keep them out of cover and land them quickly and the mono gives me a little line stretch so I can keep constant pressure on the fish. I do not give them a chance to jump or head shake the hooks out if at all possible. Either way you choose to fish cranks you're still gonna lose fish. But, day in and day out over the course of a full year, you'll also have more bites with cranks than anything else. Excluding live bait of course.

[QUOTE=stripernut1;518047]for the last several years (since cumberland was lowered to work on the dam) me and missus stripernut have absolutely clobbered the big kys vertical jigging in the heat of the day in the middle of the summer. i cant remember ever having a technique or pattern that would yield 25+ fish in 2 hours, but this stuff was crazy, when you get the first fish to go it was on. the underwater ridge breaks with stumps or rock piles were the key. now the lake level has been raised back up and those spots are a little over a mile deep lol, and hold ZERO fish, i have graphed and graphed with no luck. im certainly not an expert on the subject but what i have found with vertical jiggin is this....you graph 75% of the time and fish 25%. locate the fish suspended on some sort of structure with deep stuff very close by, and schools of bait . the vertical jigging varied from day to day, some days you would need to rip the spoon 6-7 feet and let it flutter back down, some days you would just twitch the rod tip to rasie the spoon a foot or so, the fish would tell you what they want. also one thing became very clear over time, the brighter , hotter sunnier days were the ticket, the fish were more tightly concentrated on the deep structure and were more competitive and the bite would start quicker and we would catch more fish in a shorter amount of time. cloudy dreary overcast days were usually a bust.
also 8lb pline flourocarbon line seemed to make a difference over mono.
vertical jigging spoons is probably the hardest technique ive ever dealt with, its not the actual mechanics of lifting and dropping the rod, its spending time on the graph, lots of time on the graph, and more time on the graph lol.
best of luck to you[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the tips.