Techniques For Fishing With Soft Plastics
By Bob Ives
They’re not hard to learn how to fish, but you need to be sure that
you understand the proper techniques for fishing with soft plastics.
Fishing too fast, too slow, in the wrong part of the water column, or
anything that is a little bit off can hinder your success with soft
plastic baits. Hopefully these fishing will set you on your way to
success with these great tips lures.
Surface Fishing With Soft Plastics
When surface fishing with soft plastics you need to be sure that you
go slow and steady. That’s not to say you can’t employee intermittent
bursts of speed, but just don’t reel it in like you’re afraid an
alligator’s gonna get it. There are times when speed can create the
noise and commotion you need to make the bait work, like when using a
buzz bait. But even then you want to reel it in just fast enough to keep
it on the surface and making noise.
Fishing Soft Plastics On The Bottom
When fishing soft plastic baits on the bottom, fish them slowly, too
(are you seeing a pattern here?). A worm of a crayfish wouldn’t
naturally be found darting across the bottom, so don’t do it with your
plastic baits. You want to make them look natural, remember?
Now, here’s something to keep in mind: crayfish and other creatures
will occasionally dart and move quickly, but not at a steady pace. So
it’s good to have replicate those speed bursts, but only for very short
distances. An occasional short, quick jerk of the rod tip should be
enough to produce this effect.
There is more than one school of thought when it comes to fishing
soft plastics on the bottom, and they are both right so mix them up.
One way fishermen like to fish plastics is to bring the bait in in
small jerking twitches; just enough to move the bait about 8 to 15cm. I find that changing things up by alternately between one and
three quick jerks helps; one jerk – pause … two jerks - pause … three
jerks – pause, etc.
Also very effective is what I call the 12 o’clock rock. This is when
you just very slowly bring the rod tip up to the 12 o’clock position and
then let the plastic bait sink back down in the water by releasing the
slack. Fish will most often hit the bait on the fall. Mixing this up
with the aforementioned method makes for a very good combination.
Fishing Soft Plastics In The Middle Water Column
How to fish the middle water column employs all fishing techniques
describe above and probably more. This is because it’s kind of a ‘no
man’s land’ of the fishing arena. Fish in the middle column may be high
in the column, they may be low, they may be suspended or they me be in
the predatory mode looking for quick snack.
That’s the good thing about fishing soft plastic baits in the middle
column; you can bring them in faster to keep them up higher or you can
bring them in slower to let them get further down in the column. Or, you
can use the 12 o’clock method above and run them through all three water
columns several times during one cast and retrieve. If you do this, pay
attention to where the bite was when you got the strike. If it was
higher, or lower, that’s where you want to focus on keeping the soft
plastic bait.
Oh, and one more thing, as soon as you figure out exactly where they
are, give me a call and I’ll be over to congratulate you (with my
fishing gear in hand, of course). |
