The way I want to fish

[Al Agnew]

A guy on one of the fishing groups I frequent on Facebook put up a post in which he said he got immediately into tournaments when he first started bass fishing, and now he is at a point where he wants to just fish for fun, with no pressure to catch a limit of fish or big fish to win, but he can't turn off his wanting to fish as hard as possible.  It got me thinking...

When I was a kid, from about the time I was 7 or 8 years old, I was fishing every Sunday with my dad on Wappapello Lake.  That was back in the early 1960s, and you could have counted on the fingers of your hands the number of really serious bass fishermen on the lake back then.  Dad was one of them, and I wanted to be like Dad, so I tried to be one of them, too.  And it was all run and gun, power fishing back then.  Topwater lures like the Devil's Horse and a Lucky 13 with a prop on the back in the spring and fall, deep diving crankbaits in the summer, hitting the stump fields.  That was even before many spinnerbaits had appeared; if there had been spinnerbaits like we have now back then, I'm sure we would have fished them.

I quickly learned to use a baitcast outfit, after starting out with a Zebco spincast rig, because that's the way power fishing like we did was done.  No spinning reels.  No light line; we used 20 pound test Trilene.  We made thousands of casts each day, and man, did we catch fish!

When I first started fishing the local river, at about age 10 or 12, I was given my first spinning reel, a Mitchell.  But the fishing remained the same.  Make a lot of casts with lures like Rapalas (this was not long after the original Rapala swimming minnow first came out).  Cover a lot of water and just cast to everything.  

I never got out of that mindset.  I still far prefer fishing with fast moving lures.  Unless it's cold weather or I get desperate to catch a fish, I never use slow moving stuff on the bottom.  I guess as an angler I have Attention Deficit Disorder.  I want to keep moving and keep casting.  It's how I like to fish.  And if it doesn't always work, so be it; I'm not going to change.  Oh, I carry a rod with something I can fish slowly and on the bottom, rigged just in case I see a situation where it might work.  I see people ask all the time what you use to catch river smallmouth.  Seems like 90% of the answers are stuff like tubes and jigs and Nerd Rigs.  At least 90% soft plastics fished slowly and deep.  That's almost an alien concept to me.  I fish fast, and high in the water column.  Here lately I've had four rods rigged with a walk the dog topwater, the plopper lure I fell in love with, a shallow running crankbait, and a spinnerbait.  And even on my one "slow" fishing rod, I've been using a swimbait.

Monday, I floated a stretch of river that doesn't see much use because of inconvenient accesses.  Covered about 10 miles in 10 hours.  Between when I started at 8 AM and noon, I caught 40 bass, mostly on spinnerbaits.  Only one was a good one, about 18 inches.  I considered it a slow morning.  But in the afternoon the fishing got a lot better, and between noon and 6 PM when I reached the take-out, I put another 70 or so bass in the canoe, including 8 that were all around 17 inches, a lot on the spinnerbait but the later it got the more they hit topwater.  It was a great day, fishing exactly how I wanted to fish.

Then today, Mary and I floated another stretch of river.  This one sees a lot more pressure, and the fishing was tougher.  I just kept fishing what I like to fish, even though I suspect I could have done better if I'd slowed down and fished the optimal spots carefully with the bottom stuff, especially because it was such a bright sunshiny day.  I probably only caught about 20, none over 16 inches and most under 12 inches, in 6 hours.  But I was fishing the way I want to fish.

So getting back to the tournament guy...I still fish HARD when I'm on the water.  I cannot turn that off any more than he could.  But I'm fortunate in that it's the way I WANT to fish.  Catching the most fish possible or the biggest fish I can is just not that important to me; if the stars align as they did Monday and I catch over 100, fishing like a danged fool, I love it.  If they don't align and I have a day like today, so what, I'm still fishing the way I want to, enjoying the casting, the working of the topwater lure, seeing the fish hit, hoping for a big blow-up or the bulge on the surface as a big one takes a shallow running crankbait.

People who know I fly fish out in Montana all the time often can't figure out why I don't do more fly fishing in MO.  Well, it's because I love fishing with light baitcasting tackle just as much as I like fly fishing; in fact, probably more than I like fly fishing.  I get my fly fishing for trout fix in Montana, in Missouri I get my baitcasting for river bass fix.  I'm fishing the way I want; heck, I'd rather fish with streamers than anything else for trout, even dry flies.  I've been known to fish streamers when the trout were rising and my buddies were catching them on dries.  I might not catch as many as they do, but I just love stripping streamers, and hoping for that big meat eater.

[fishinwrench]

I get it, Al.   

But jig fishing doesn't always mean "Slow hopping and dragging along the bottom".   I fish jigs alot, and there's nothing slow and boring about it at all.    90+% of my bites come as the jig (usually a 1/2-3/4 ouncer) is initially falling.   I might give it a hop/twitch/short drag if it reaches bottom without a bite..... but more often than not I burn it back in and immediately make another pitch.   It's all about making an accurate pitch without a big splash.....then just let her fall on a semi-tight line.   And honestly, most times, a fast fall where the fish has to decide QUICKLY whether to eat it or not, gets way more bites than what you might consider a slow-seductive fall like a 1/4-3/8 jig does.....or like a real crawdad would if scooting off a log (ain't none of us got the patience for that !) 😅

You can cover a lot of holding areas rather quickly with a heavy jig.  You just have to drop it in the right spots and stay on your toes.   🙂  I bet your crankbaits/buzzbaits/spinnerbaits aren't moving faster than my jigs fall. 😉

[Foghorn]

One of Al's high school classmates and possibly the last of the "Gumbo" boys has taken up trout fishing. He camps and gets up at the whistle and heads to his favorite spot . He usually stands on the bank or in a few feet of water and enjoys his time until the folks who are wading show up. He tires of them scattering the fish as they wade thru the hole he fishes. He has been using spinning gear and spinners and can cover most of the water. I asked him if he can roll cast because he won't be able to stand on the bank or in most places barely in the water we gets his fly rod out. He hadn't thought that far in advance. Most of his adventures have been to Montauk and he's not going to be able to always fish the way he likes in any of the trout parks. His fly fishing is a work in progress.

[Mitch f]

To each his own…I’ll adapt to what ever I can catch the biggest fish on. Even if it’s not the way I like to fish. 

[tjm]

Whatever works for you. I don't have the patience for either sitting in a small boat for hours or for cast and crank fishing. It's not as boring as rod and line bait fishing for carp, but it would cause me to take up knitting.

[Hawg]

I brought some buddies to the stream with me last time and we absolutely had a blast fishing every spot out my kayaks. Kind of gave them my technique for jigs and Ned rig and bottom stuff because it’s such a sure thing and I wanted to make sure they had fun.

Even though I’m certain I would have caught more smallies fishing the bottom, I decided to stick with the plopper/bait caster setup and just wait for the blow ups to happen.
 

Sometimes I’ll do a the entire run even though it’s less productive, when they slam that thing aggressively, it really feeds my addiction haha. At times they catch me off guard and startle me, that’s the best..

Or when they smack it as soon as it hits the water 👍

[bfishn]

[Lloyd]

I don't think I have a favorite way to fish. If I do any one thing for long I get tired of it and need to change it up. Of course I love the surface explosions that come with topwater lures, as well as the ability to make long casts and cover lots of water. I also think I tend to catch bigger fish (at least when it comes to smallmouth) with topwater. But I loathe all the missed hits and the number of fish that throw the lure or just come off. And with topwater, I'm lucky to catch two or three fish from a school, whereas with soft plastics I might catch every one of them. That last point is important when I'm creek fishing and there are only so many good pools I can access in a day. Soft plastics also tend to be more weedless, allowing them to be skipped right up to the weeds, root wads, and undercut banks where smallies wait in ambush. 

[Mark]

Good read, Al. I haven't seen you and Mary in a good while, hope all is well.

The thing I love most about fishing is just being on the water. If I can catch enough to keep my interest, it's a good day. Our group still camps on the river once or twice a year and still find it to be as enjoyable and relaxing mini vacations as I could possibly take anywhere even though I'm very much a novice fisherman. 

Hope the Livingston area is recovering from the flood. Tell Mary hello for me!

[Gavin]

Lost me at I.