First Boat, New Gear?

[tomandwendy]

Hello

I have recently bought my first boat and been out about 5 times on Lake Anna, VA. The first 4 trips was nothing and the last I caught one at about 1 lb. Now before obviously I fished the sidelines and would do rather well on the shore with some 8-10 lb every year. (not at lake anna). I used to use a yamamoto with a bullet weight or a purple culprit with same set up and cast, let sink, bob line and let sink again until I would see the line take off.....works really well. However when you troll this is quite difficult. So my question is......what would be your abosolute must have for good bass fishing to start off with? Oh I did catch the bass on a spinnerbait, but not to expereinced with them.....are you supposed to do any action with these, or just a basic throw and retrieve and let the spinners do the work?

 

[CATransplant]

Re: First Boat, New Gear?

There's a lot more you can do with spinnerbaits than just a straight retrieve. A varied retrieve, which lets the bait move up and down is effective. So is a retrieve where you sweep the rod to speed up the bait, then stop and let it helicopter down.

A spinnerbait is just a big jig with spinners, really, and lots of the same techniques that work with a jig work with spinnerbaits, too. I've even had some luck jigging vertically with a spinnerbait.

If you're not already a B.A.S.S. member, join. Every issue of Bass Pro magazine is full of good information.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: First Boat, New Gear?

8-10 pounder on a VA lake? or is it 8-10lbs total? If you troll then your worm definetely not going to catch a bass. Now, if you cast the same worm to a fishy looking place and work it slow like you did when you was bank fishing then you should be able to catch some. You don't have to do much with a spinnerbait but there are time when you can and want to put some action to it. It is probably one of the most versatile lure that can use in many ways. By stop reeling just as it reach the end of a dock or a laydown and let it flutter for a couple seconds and then start reeling again, this is called "kill" it. Sometime you "slow roll" it by reeling really slow just enough to keep the blades spinning and keep the lure close to the bottom, you can "burn" it by reeling really fast through a grass bed. You can "wake" it by keeping the rod tip up and reel slow so that the blades would be barely breaking the surface and leave a wake behind it. Normally, most people would just chunk it out and wind it back with a steady retrieve. If you wanna learn about spinnerbait fishing, I highly recommend getting a Kevin Vandam DVD and listen to every word he got to say on the subject.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: First Boat, New Gear?

With a boat it's a whole new world. All kinds of "minnow" lures to troll or cast. Lots of structure to troll, cast or jig. \Get a topo map and hit the drop-offs. I find a sonar unit indespensible for this. I also like a gps to mark any particullarly good spots. Drifting can be effective for walleye if your lake has any.
About 7 threads below this one is one titled "Whats your favorite style?", lotsa good info there.

 

[BF]

Re: First Boat, New Gear?

yup, with a boat the lake is at your disposal. My favorite is slowly following the shoreline and casting spinnerbaits, spinners, small spoons or jigs into shore. If the shore looks really good, I'll stop there and stay awhile, but if it's just average shore, I keep moving at slow trolling speed, but really I'm just casting from a moving platform, not really trolling. Sometimes I'll stop and bounce a jig if there is a drop off along a point or something.

The only times I do real trolling is, when I want to hold my coffee cup for a few minutes, if I have a bunch of kids in the boat and I'm draggin' their spoons along weed beds for pike, or if I'm slow trolling or backtrolling with nightcrawlers for walleye.

Do you have a depth finder? It'd help you a lot to see structure and know the depth. Especially in new lakes.

good luck

 

[tomandwendy]

Re: First Boat, New Gear?

Thanks for all the kind replies......actually caught 7 or 8 bass this past weekend.....now for the retackle of my tackle boats......yea......well.........who is willing to let me borrow some money? lol