Unorthodox techniques? 2024

If you are willing to divulge, what are some unorthodox techniques that you have used with success to catch bass?  Techniques that you either thought of on your own, or modified, or lures that someone wouldn't expect to catch bass on.  What we're some of the results?

i caught a bass and pick stroking a tube last week i couldn't get hit with any thing till i did that for the fist time it really works

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i caught a bass and pick stroking a tube last week i couldn't get hit with any thing till i did that for the fist time it really works

I thought stroking your tube in public was illegal!

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i caught a bass and pick stroking a tube last week i couldn't get hit with any thing till i did that for the fist time it really works

I thought stroking your tube in public was illegal!

LoL. I guess its only illegal if you get caught. LMAO ;D

I'm sure that most of my bass fishing techniques could be pigeonholed as "unconventional".

The beauty of our sport is that nothing is carved in stone, where heterodox is the norm.

(Stay flexible and experiment).

Roger

There is a lake that I fish on a lot and it has tons of blue gill - often, if you feel a tug or see your line move, it will be a blue gill - I discovered that if I'm fishing in a highly productive are, but letting the bg's run with the lure and waiting until they change directions that I would be more likely to stick a bass that was trying to take the lure away from the bg.  This pattern held up all of last year on that lake, I haven't had a chance to try it out this year.

I don't know if it meets the definition of "unorthodox", but there's never a time I don't try topwater (except in cold water). Even in summer, on afternoons with bluebird skies, I've caught plenty of bass, including large ones (large by my standards).

i'm not sure if there is such thing as "unorthodox" in bass fishing...

I've caught some big bass on a zoom finesse worm and a circle hook fished on spinning gear.  I thread the the worm on the hook so the top is nearly a semi circle. The hook is exposed and I twitch it on retrieve.  It zig zags and darts around.  there are days I have used this and caught alot of bass as well as some up to 5 lbs.

Fish a Ribbit under the water.

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Fish a Ribbit under the water.

I Texas rig a Stanley Bull Ribbit 

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i'm not sure if there is such thing as "unorthodox" in bass fishing...

You're probably right but watch.  I'll go fishing tomorrow and see some guys using a "Crankait and Pig."  Nothing like slapping a Yum Super Chunk on the back of a Rapala DT-10.   I'll probably see some dude putting Jig skirts on a 10'' swimbait, or drop shotting a spinnerbait.

Spear, dynamite, poison.....

Just kidding.  Look up Charlie Brewer Slider Fishing.  Not exactly "unorthodox, but is quite different than the power techniques we are bombarded with.

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Fish a Ribbit under the water.

In what situation would you prefer to do this?

In grassy areas, I like to throw a plastic worm out and bring it back like a crankbait. I will run it just over the top of the grass.

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In grassy areas, I like to throw a plastic worm out and bring it back like a crankbait. I will run it just over the top of the grass.

When fishing the ribbit under water, do you use a lift and drop retrieve on a Texas Rig or do you work it faster?  Has the worm on top of the grass out preformed other baits, like frogs?

I don't fish toads that much.  I started running the worms fast after I started getting strikes when I thought that I had left the strike zone and was reeling in the bait.

Tarpon fly on a spinning rod, with and without a casting bubble.......... often hand pulling the line in. Do the same exact thing in the swash at the beach for snook.

Last Friday - 2 to 3 ft visibility - water temp 65 + or - a degree or so depending on where in the lake I was.  Main past of the lake was cooler than coves.  Dogwoods fully bloomed out.  According to Guido Hibdon, when the dogwoods are bloomed out, 80% of the fish in any given lake are in 8 ft of water or less.  OK - for reasons too numerous to list I don't think spawn was happening yet.   I was marking quite a few fish on the bottom, next to bushes and thorn trees in 5 to 7 feet of water.

I threw at maybe 60 different bushes, using several different jig colors and a couple of different weights.  No takers - not one.  3:30 pm or so I'm thinking - someone told me once that Japanese fisherman compare every fishing technique they come across to the drop shot.  So I figure I'll drop shot some.  4.20 Beaver - 3/0 hook - 3/8 oz weight.

I rig it so there is  just 4" between the bait and the weight - maybe 5.  1st bush - bam - a hit.  I miss it.  In the next 40 or so minutes, I get bit a dozen times, land 2 16" keepers and 2 dinks.

I'm stunned.  No hits on a jig all day, yet a drop shot with a 4" leader gets bit first cast.  Color wasn't an issue.  The beaver I threw was roughly the same color as the jig I was using.  Same rod - same line (14 lb fluoro)

Next trip, the jigs are going to the bottom on the bin and I'm going to fool around with drop shot much more.

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If you are willing to divulge, what are some unorthodox techniques that you have used with success to catch bass? Techniques that you either thought of on your own, or modified, or lures that someone wouldn't expect to catch bass on. What we're some of the results?

A few summers ago, my wife and I did a lot of nightime bass fishing. One night we were both bumping junebug ole monsters off the bottom, and for some reason without the usual success. She got a 1/2ounce jig head out that I normally used for striper fishing, bit off about 1 1/2" of worm, and threaded it on the jighead. She took this and started swimming it. Within 2 casts, she hooked up with a nice bass, and ended up with 22 that night.

Of course I copied her after the first fish.

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In grassy areas, I like to throw a plastic worm out and bring it back like a crankbait. I will run it just over the top of the grass.

When fishing the ribbit under water, do you use a lift and drop retrieve on a Texas Rig or do you work it faster? Has the worm on top of the grass out preformed other baits, like frogs?

let it fall under pads and give quarter turns to your reel instead of a straight retrieve

try it.

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try it.

I've seen this video on the forum before.  Do you think this will work in more heavily pressured areas, and from a bass boat?

Ive done it in the boundary waters from a canoe and it does work as long as your shadow is behind you. I have caught fish in pressured waters like this also but mostly 1-2 lb dinks.

If you go back and look at alot of Texas top 50 bass and alot of early SAL's, you will  see a spinnerbait has nailed some giants.

   I like to fish 1-2oz oldham spinnerbaits cast about 40-50 yards allowed to sink to the bottom and slow roll big spinners in creek bend and tank dams on bottom.

In June on Fork, if you worked the bridges, any of the 4 major bridges with this technique, your gonna get close to an over.    Parallel each pilings and cast 20 past them, allow it to sink and work it back.

I stay 20 away, and cast under and past and work the other sides and move to the next, swim baits and cranks cover the upper water columns.

In August, alot of those bass setup deep on Fork, a good spoon takes alot of bass in 30 ft of water in August.    Most throw the spoon in cold months, that spoon works well in the deep late summer.

  On Fork, the yellow bass or what the locals cal bar fish hit those spoons and go nuts, thats when big bass go nuts and hit the yellow bass, often resulting in big ole bass.

OK. Let's say you like minnow baits like Rapala Minnows, Lucky Craft Pointers, etc. Before you tie on your lure, slide on a bobber stop about three feet and tighten it down good and then put on a small glass bead, followed by a clevis and #00 or 1 spinner blade of you choice of color.Follow that with another bead and then another bobber stop. You now have a little spinner blade on your line. Tie on you lure. The bobber stops allow you to adjust the spinner blade distance in front of the lure. Now, there a lot of ways to do this, putting a spinner out in front. This is just one. On a steady retrieve it is very nice and twitched, it's a killer. Two points...your lure looks as if it is in pursuit of food, just like a real little fishy, and not just swimming around aimlessly in a non-fishy manner, and it is something different the bass haven't seen. Just try it sometime. Just throw it out there and try to make it look like your lure is going after that little spinner. Do it this spring. I dare you.

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OK. Let's say you like minnow baits like Rapala Minnows, Lucky Craft Pointers, etc. Before you tie on your lure, slide on a bobber stop about three feet and tighten it down good and then put on a small glass bead, followed by a clevis and #00 or 1 spinner blade of you choice of color.Follow that with another bead and then another bobber stop. You now have a little spinner blade on your line. Tie on you lure. The bobber stops allow you to adjust the spinner blade distance in front of the lure. Now, there a lot of ways to do this, putting a spinner out in front. This is just one. On a steady retrieve it is very nice and twitched, it's a killer. Two points...your lure looks as if it is in pursuit of food, just like a real little fishy, and not just swimming around aimlessly in a non-fishy manner, and it is something different the bass haven't seen. Just try it sometime. Just throw it out there and try to make it look like your lure is going after that little spinner. Do it this spring. I dare you.

Wow, interesting, I'll keep it in mind!

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Fish a Ribbit under the water.

In what situation would you prefer to do this?

Usually in more open water, like down a weed line or a flat. Above submerged vegetation too. I'll cast out and let is sink instead of starting the retrieve right away. Sometimes I'll even jig it in that spot for a while. If there's no taker, I'll start swimming it like a swim bait. You can't really do it the whole way back though, but I've gotten a good number of hits right after the toad re-surfaces and begins to buzz again.

Sometimes I'll let it sink, reel it fast to the surface, buzz it for a bit, let it sink again, swim it and buzz it again. I get a lot of hits this way too.

Sounds like a similar technique used in trolling for trout or kokanee.  I believe they are call cowbells.

Trip down memory lane for you Tony.  How about dragging a sammy behind the boat, twitching it just enough to make it walk while your fishing partner trolls back up a certain slough for another pass. 

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Sounds like a similar technique used in trolling for trout or kokanee. I believe they are call cowbells.

Trip down memory lane for you Tony. How about dragging a sammy behind the boat, twitching it just enough to make it walk while your fishing partner trolls back up a certain slough for another pass.

Yes Sir, that was a nice day.  I think about it and that slough often.  Should produce better all the time.

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Fish a Ribbit under the water.

In what situation would you prefer to do this?

Usually in more open water, like down a weed line or a flat. Above submerged vegetation too. I'll cast out and let is sink instead of starting the retrieve right away. Sometimes I'll even jig it in that spot for a while. If there's no taker, I'll start swimming it like a swim bait. You can't really do it the whole way back though, but I've gotten a good number of hits right after the toad re-surfaces and begins to buzz again.

Sometimes I'll let it sink, reel it fast to the surface, buzz it for a bit, let it sink again, swim it and buzz it again. I get a lot of hits this way too.

Thanks, sounds like a real good way to do it!

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