11/26/04

"The deepest I have ever been able to catch fish on a spinner bait is 20 to 25 feet.  Slow rolling, like it's name sake is a painfully slow technique, and as a result is not a technique that will catch you twenty or thirty fish.  It is also not a very good search technique because it takes so long, if you are doing it correctly."

"Where slow rolling is effective is the situation where you all ready have fish located.  Maybe you have been catching two pound fish in an area in water that is 10 feet deep.  Up grading the size of the fish you are catching is where slow rolling can be used.  Within a population of fish, this technique will always produce the better bites, but you must already have the fish located."

"Slow rolling a spinner bait works best in areas where you might normally fish a Carolina Rig.  Deeper cover, like stumps and rocks, places where you would drag that Carolina rig.  By slowly reeling a heavy spinner bait, 3/4 to 1 ounce, and bumping that blade into rocks or stumps, or ripping it out of grass when it gets hung up can be deadly on big fish."

"I prefer a double willow blade combination, using a number 7 and a number 5, nickel and gold blades.  I always use white with chartreuse skirts.  It's simply the two colors that I think bass see the best.  I think it is important to use a slow reel in the 5:1 gear ratio range.  The slower reel is an advantage because it forces you to fish much slower, and that is the key."

"I will typically make the longest cast I can make with either a 3/4 or 1 ounce spinner bait, allow it to sink into the cover and then I will slowly start turning the handle.  When there is hydrilla grass, or other aquatic vegetation, I want the bait to "tick" the top of the grass.  I when I feel the grass on the bait, I will use the rod tip to rip the blade out of the grass.  This is often when the bites occur."

"Rock piles, stump fields, bluff walls and fishing up hill off of points are places where this technique really shines."