Bass Fishing Techniques

A soft-plastic rig designed to glide backward as it falls, allowing the lure to reach underneath overhanging cover and other difficult targets.

Big-bait fishing targets larger-than-average bass with oversized swimbaits and glide baits, presenting a big, realistic profile with a wide side-to-side glide or a jointed swimming action.

A moving-bait technique using a jig with a metal blade that creates strong vibration and erratic action during the retrieve.

A finesse rig with the weight positioned below the hook, allowing a soft plastic to be presented above the bottom while maintaining precise depth and subtle movement.

Hover strolling is a slow, near-weightless finesse presentation in which a small soft bait is kept hovering almost in place in the upper water column with tiny shakes, popularized in Japan around 2020.

The I-method is a dead-straight, slow retrieve of a minimal-action lure just under the surface, so it tracks in a perfectly straight line — an "I" shape seen from above.

Jerkbaiting is fishing a slender suspending minnow with sharp downward rod strokes and pauses; the Japanese approach emphasises varied cadence, long pauses, and finesse rod work in cold, clear water.

A technique that repeatedly lifts a sinking lure through the water and then allows it to fall, creating alternating periods of active movement and downward motion.

A finesse reaction technique that uses short rod movements to make a small soft plastic dart sharply from side to side on a specially shaped jighead.

Mid strolling is a Japanese finesse technique in which a soft swimbait or minnow on a light jig head is swum through the middle of the water column while the rod tip is shaken continuously to make the bait roll and flash.

A soft-plastic rig that uses a small nail-shaped weight inserted directly into the bait to adjust its fall rate, balance, posture, and action without adding an external sinker.

The neko rig is a finesse worm rig with a nail weight pushed into the head of a straight worm and a hook set through the body, so the worm stands up and shakes off the bottom.

A fundamental retrieve technique where the lure is reeled at a controlled, relatively consistent speed, allowing the lure's built-in action to work with minimal additional rod movement.

A topwater technique that uses rhythmic rod-tip twitches and controlled slack line to make a floating lure glide alternately from side to side across the surface.

A soft-plastic rig with no added sinker, allowing the lure's own weight and shape to create a natural, slow fall.