Catch Fish.

Ok, I could wax lyrical till the cows come home...but, I won't. I will instead try to simplify what is already quite simple when put into practice. What isn't so simple is the actual need to 'Tune' your lures to do what we need them to do.

Why 'Tune' em ? Plugs work just fine as they are right ?

Yes, you keep believing that and close this article right now. It's not for you.

Ok, we all know about the 'straight' in and back retrieve. Everyone uses it and yes, it catches fish. However, if it where that good, why are you reading this ? Simply because, deep down, many know that the straight retrieve, as good as it CAN be, isn't the holy grail. There is NO holy grail.

I've spoken loads recently on forums about Bass and the fact that successful lure anglers must adapt to integrate new stuff into their fishing. Well, to reiterate what I've said before a multitude of times, Bass will come to the lure IF you give them time. Bass are curious, they can't help it, they are after all, predators and live by eating stuff they have investigated. We aren't assuming this, it is a FACT. I've personally witnessed this curiosity whilst diving.

So,moving along. This, the first in a series of lure tech articles will work on 1 thing we now know to be true and, to utilise gear we already have without going to any trouble to alter or change anything.

This retrieve is going to be called...' The Pull and Rise'.

NEVER cast at a feature, cast near a feature. This is something again that I have recently wrote on another forum but remember it. Casting near a feature will draw the Bass to your lure.

Take 1 floating minnow bait.

Cast it near to feature, perhaps a rocky weed strewn head that is 2 or 3ft subsurface and you think a Bass could be near. It could in fact, be anywhere fishy. You decide.

Cast then WAIT ! do 'NOTHING', seriously do NOTHING other than count. Count to at least 10 by 1 & 2 & 3, etc.

Then take up the slack and twitch the bait. This could result in the biggest Bass you've caught all season or nothing. Then, slowly retrieve the plug making the lure accelerate (this sounds tough but make say, 5 turns of the handle, each one slightly quicker than the last.) then whilst doing this, against the now vibrating lure, PUSH the rod top toward the lure and SNAP the rod tip back at an angle to JERK the lure down and STOP !

Your floating minnow bait, depending on what you had selected will now work its way UP toward the surface.

In addition, that JERK will have sent out a shock-wave and heavily activated any rattle in the lure. Of course, in sunlit waters that are clear, omit the rattle unless fish are blasting it. The JERK will equally put out enough roll and flash to visually stimulate any fish near enough to see it.

click the image to display full size..

When does my lure surface ?

This, in daylight is easy to do, you'll often see the minnow break surface and when it does, wait again for a second or 2 before you again twitch and repeat the above cycle.

At night or low light levels, its different .

Work out in daylight just how long the lure takes to surface from running depth after that JERK. Actually count it because not all lures react the same way and some float up far quicker than others. I actually prefer a very slow floater for this method.

Give it a try and you might be surprised.

This pull-and-rise technique takes full advantage of a variety of triggering mechanisms. You’ve got topwater, a pull down for reflex action strikes, an underwater pause (depending upon the actual rise rate.) for any deeper reluctant fish, and a dying rise as that final convincing finale.  Add these all together and you have a repeating method designed to trick big Bass consistently.

Try not to forget this.... A 'STOPPED' lure is rarely holding still. All water is moving so, a slowly rising lure may cover 10 ft in the horizontal if you are fishing into or across current's like we have here in Jersey. Waves too are not moving towards you on the beach, they are cyclic motions of swell so your stopped plug could, in theory, do a loop underwater whilst stopped. Bait goes around in the washing machine too so it's not uncommon for Bass to see.

I'm going to expand on this article very soon with a range of things to try and how to modify your lures to make it happen. You have to do the latter for a number of retrieves and techniques because, sadly, many lures don't work as described straight out of the packaging. I often hear 'critically balanced this, and that'.. Rubbish, let me tell you now, lots of 'balanced' lures are exactly the opposite. The only thing they balance is your bank account and that, usually to the negative.

However, with careful preparation, these issues can be rectified with some effort on your part and I'll give instruction on what to buy and what NOT to buy along with the bits you'll need to make the modifications.

You know your lures are worth it.

More to follow and thanks for reading.