Surface Plugs - the initial retrieve - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Finaddict · 02-09-2007, 01:27 PM

For poppers ... I use a method that Phil Schwinn wrote about in his book "Striped Bass and other Cape Cod Gamefish" ... cast it out, let the rings settle, pop it, let the rings settle, pot it, let the rings settle and continue to this practice ... it can be very effective.

However, fish will respond differently each time you fish, so you need to be flexible in your retrieves -- speed, etc. Don't be close minded to try different techniques if you're not catching anything on your old standby ...

... for pencils, I like to start working them as soon as possible ... my theory is they don't look natural and won't illicit a response from a bass unless they are thrashing about ... in fact, when pitching them from a boat, most of my hits come right when I am pulling it out of the rocks ... so I wouldn't recommend letting pencils sit ...

as for swimming plugs and metal lips ... the guys above have given good advice ... but just be ready to switch it up if your lures are not finding any takers ...

Canalman · 02-09-2007, 02:40 PM

Generally... I start the retrieve right away. This past Nov 30, I was in SoCo and when my Danny landed... I had a loop sticking out of my reel... so I stripped line off until the loop came out, when I had re-gathered all my line I got ready to work my plug... well I though the heavy surf had rolled my plug into the boulders... that is until it took a hard left 26# fish took the plug down on a dead float. So I may experiment a little more with some dead sticking this season. On other occaisions I have dead sticked bombers at night when there was excessive fire in the water... this is a deadly method works well with floating needles too. Just let it sit there for like 1 minute... twitch reel... another minute.... Slam. Try it.

The other big question has to do with the chase... what do you do when that fish swells up on your plug and retreats... comes back again- big swirl and still won;t take? I have tried a million different things and they all work and they all fail! I'd like to hear some other angles on this.

cow tamer · 02-09-2007, 06:15 PM

In response to your question, check out this other recent thread.
http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...ad.php?t=38026

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canalman

The other big question has to do with the chase... what do you do when that fish swells up on your plug and retreats... comes back again- big swirl and still won;t take? I have tried a million different things and they all work and they all fail! I'd like to hear some other angles on this.

bloocrab · 02-09-2007, 07:09 PM

During one of my overhead experiences I witnessed 3 mid-teen sized bass raise my live-bait to the surface...they were circling it and each taking their turn at tail-whipping it. I cautiously and curiously watched as they just wouldn't swallow it. It was almost as if they were either playing with it, or it (the baitfish) just wasn't ready to be swallowed. When the baitfish had the chance it dove down, got nailed and quickly made it's way back to the surface...it looked a little beat up telling me that one of the stripers had it in her mouth. They rose again but never made an attempt to swallow it. A few more tail slaps and the baitfish started to sink...of course once out of sight, BANG!! Fish on -

Same day, same type of baitfish, same conditions - The baitfish got chased to the surface, slapped by one of the stripers and swallowed immediately by another (different) Striper -

What that tells me, is that in the case of your lure being chased and "swirled" after....either a "dead sticking" method may work...hopefully showing that your imitation baitfish was stunned by the initial attack.....or a continuous steady retrieve showing the baitfish is still trying to escape. Unfortunately we don't always know when we've lost the attention of the following predator. I think if that particular Bass is in the "stun" mode and there isn't much competition around as far as other Bass, she may keep "slapping" it until she's satisfied that it won't give her any trouble when trying to swallow it. As far as it getting hit just as it's approaching the boat or shore tells me that the Bass knows it's entering safer waters and this is her last chance to swallow. I'm sure guys on here have had plenty of situations that went both ways...again, be confident in what your doing. It may work one day but not the next, doesn't mean you're doing someting wrong. Confidence is KEY!

Just my theory -

EricM · 02-09-2007, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Unfortunately we don't always know when we've lost the attention of the following predator.

Free associating here, but I was once assigned to a country where it was difficult for me to fish, so I figured on practicing my fly casting on the lawn with just a piece of yarn tied to the end of the tippet.

Well, a few casts in I got surprised when a stray cat jumped out of the bushes to attack the yarn when I was retrieving it (lots of stray cats there). So it turned into a double game- cast the yarn, and then try to trigger the cat to "strike." Sounds awful, I'm sure PETA is coming after me as soon as I post this, but it gave me a chance to test different methods to get the cats to strike...sometimes they just wanted to watch it, sometimes they were hammering it as soon as it landed, and sometimes I would have them poised to strike the hole time and following it, but wouldn't strike it.

The takeaway? On different days, there were different retrieves, you just had to find out how the "Lawn Stripers" wanted it, and give it to them. But they liked the suspense when it wouldn't move...they would load up and often the longer one waited to move the yarn, the more explosive the hit...it was cool, you could watch their focus developing.

OK, now I'm going to get ready to be attacked by PETA...but this happened, it wasn't my plan, and none of the cats were hurt and all of them seemed to enjoy it more than a bit...

Backbeach Jake · 02-10-2007, 09:20 AM

I wait til the rings in the water are gone. Twitch, wait not so long slowly bring it in. If that don't work then a faster jerkier retrieve.

doc · 02-10-2007, 10:39 AM

before i used braid, i used to like to have the popper moving when it hit the water which was real productive for me...but with braid, there are too many chances of getting a little loop in my line so now i let the plug sit for a while...i still think having the popper moving when hitting the water produced more fish for me but braid offers other positive benefits...

cant wait for the winter to end!!!!!!!!!