Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Wednesday, 12 May 2021 07:32

Retrieve can make a difference.
by Mike Gerry

Doing the same retrieve, the same way, does not always get the same results. The problem is that it may, or may not, be good!
Most experienced anglers are constantly adjusting their retrieve and making changes as to how they present the bait until they find a bite. Making casts and constantly changing your retrieve speed, cadence, and rod tip, can make the big difference in your success.

Customers ask me all the time, what and how am I presenting my bait. My answer is standard, I am constantly changing what I do with the bait until I find a presentation they react to.
This adjustment in my presentation is something every angler should do day after day, cast after cast, and when you find a bite, remember what you were doing to get that bite and then repeat it. Pay attention to detail, focus on your action, and be astutely aware of what and how you are retrieving your bait; if you do not you cannot repeat it!

Many of the world’s best fisherman will talk about cadence as a key to catching fish on many different types of baits; there is no doubt that cadence is especially important while retrieving a bait, but cadence does not mean to do the same thing every time you work a bait. Change your cadence continually with speed variations or pauses. Change your tip and wrist action; when you do this, you are still creating a cadence it is just changing it until you find a cadence that the bass react to.
It is also a fact that all rods present a variety of tip action. If you find that you cannot easily change the action of bait then you might very well be fishing with a rod that might be too stiff in the tip. The rod might be too long, or short, for your body type making it hard to make longer swings or fast movements with your wrist.

Lastly, line is also a factor in being able to change your cadence or retrieve action. All lines are different, some are thick, many are thin, some have stretch and some do not. Additionally, many different lines sink and many do not. That old saying “if you’re doing the same thing and getting the same result,” it might be time to change.
Captain Mike