Tips for a
Speed Retrieve
- In mid-August
when the fish are capable of feeding easily on a wealth of forage
just putting a bait in front of them won’t always elicit a strike.
Sometimes the best way to get a fish to react is to use a lure and a
speed retrieve. You’re after a reaction bite.
- One of my favorite
speed retrieves for shallow northern pike is to cast out an inline
spinner - commonly referred to as a bucktail - and reel it back fast.
You want the lure to run just below the surface of the water, right
above the tops of the weeds or rocks.
- A good speed
retrieve for bass incorporates a deep-diving crankbait. You set the
boat about five feet inside the weedline and cast into deeper water.
Your goal is to reel the lure quickly down to the bottom and as it
gets to the weedline the crankbait turns up as it’s coming back to
you. Bass lying on that weedline grab the bait as it begins to move
upward.
- For walleyes I like
a heavy sinker with a spinner rig. The key here is to use a number
three or four spinner blade and move the boat a couple of miles and
hour. You need the heavy weight to keep the bait just a few feet off
the bottom. You don’t want to drag the sinker across the bottom
when fast-trolling structure with a spinner rig.
- For bass, walleyes
and pike you can’t beat a crankbait trolled fast. The best lakes
for this have a well-defined deep weedline where you can find all of
these species. Fish will suspend on a weedline so try lures that
vary in depth to discover where the fish are in the water column.