The Mindset of
Finesse
Finesse fishing is not
just a weightless 4 inch plastic worm on a size 4 hook or even a weightless
salmon egg impaled on a size 14 hook, fished on 2 pound test line. It’s a state
of mind not limited to freshwater, even though traditionally we think of heavy
sinkers and big hooks in the brine.
How equipment is
handled, cast placement, retrieve and hook set all involve subtle intricacies
that define the word finesse. Among anglers, it has come to be associated with
light tackle and light lures, but live lining a weightless blue crab for tarpon,
for example, involves using big game tackle, yet it’s all about the light
touch: giving line when the crab wants it, carefully retrieving slack. The last
thing you want happening is to be caught unawares while picking up slack if a
hundred pound tarpon hits.
I don’t think of all
the fishing I do as quite being finesse. On occasion, I rip a crankbait to
provoke reaction strikes from smallmouth and largemouth bass. I love to fish a
Gotcha jigger off a pier for Spanish mackerel, which involves fast, snappy
retrieves. And I like to soak bunker or clams in the Jersey surf, weighted by heavy
pyramid sinkers. I fish other ways not so subtly. Yet, if you take the classic
author Izaak Walton at his word—who was not averse to bait fishing—and agree that
fishing is a contemplative recreation, any way we approach it involves finesse
as a state of mind.
Why Mood and Attitude are Everything
Before I get into
details on how to fish with a light touch, even an extremely light touch, I
want to point out that mood and attitude encompasses everything you do on an
outing. Mood may change, and if you begin in a bad one, it’s good if you end in
high spirits, but preparation, getting psyched, can put you on the spot from
the start. I know of no better way to get in the mood than simply organizing
gear and tackle before I go and I usually do this immediately before leaving.
If I get up at 3:00 a.m., the last thing I do before sleep is prepare. We have
our favorite lures and memories attached to rods and reels, etc., and by
sorting these things out by hand, awaken the mood before we get on the water.
It’s important because
the background of the mind that searches for fish, chooses which lures or bait
and what techniques to try, measures casts and retrieves, has a deep role in
the efficacy at which the game will be played. A positive mood and attitude are
not just about having good time regardless of catch and don’t distract from
fishing unless the mood happens to be about something else. Positive mood makes
possible ideas about how to go about fishing on a particular outing, ideas that
arise more and less spontaneously because you are attuned to what you’re doing.
A lot has been said
about confidence being key, and we become confident by having a store of
successful results. It’s always hardest for the beginner, although all he needs
is determination, quality tackle, and some pointers and he will become
confident in due time. Deeper than confidence is this quality of mood
associational in character, since it begins with the value you have for lures
and other tackle you own, other memories and special success. Ideas about the
outing you face already begin to form before you do a lot of the conscious
thinking about just how you will fish faced with the conditions. You shouldn’t
have to think much about the mood; the mood is
about the outing ahead of you and sustains you while you are on the water. But
being aware that the background of your mind is in your favor, which is not the
same as conscious thinking, can certainly increase the ease of thinking and the
odds that you will have a good, successful outing.
Mood is finesse. It is
subtler than thought and can at times reveal itself as amazingly intricate as
the substrate for ideas that present themselves complete and lead to a catch.
More than once I have been certain that casting to the right side of a
brushpile, for example, would result in a catch. I made the cast perfectly
almost without effort and set the hook. The highest moods are spirited; agency
beyond ordinary control guides action.
How to Respond Instead of React
Too often I see anglers
either stuck on complicated choices, not really knowing what to do and fretting
about it, or rushing ahead of themselves to try to catch what they don’t
reflect about first. Fish are marked on the graph under the boat. Trout rise.
Bass leap for damselflies. Stripers blitz against a jetty. What do you feel? Is
it a gut reaction that clouds the mind, a great urge to make a catch as if you
could grab the fish? That’s better than indifference, but using a little
finesse will organize an approach rather than defeat the purpose.
The ability to think
coolly when confronted by a bonanza of opportunity is difficult and it hurts when
you screw up. But most outings are mundane by comparison and many cast with
uncertainty, flogging away at a general sense of reward’s lack. If they just
enjoy being out, this may suffice. But fishing is about catching fish; if they
say, “It’s fishing, not catching,” this describes a blithe salve to lack of
success, but everyone who fishes wants to catch, not that any of us do every
time.
Simplifying choices of
lures and presentation depends on your response to the water you fish, rather
than reactions to descriptions of three dozen techniques or 50 lures in a
catalogue. If it doesn’t distract you from tending to the water with interest
and purpose, all that is fine, and every cast should be meant, not thrown away.
That’s difficult sometimes and thinking about what might work instead can draw
interest on knowing those dozens of techniques. But try them out patiently. In
the end, that’s how they are really learned.
Light Lures and Bait, Light touch, Stance
No lure is subtler than
a size 32 dry fly, but a single salmon egg fished on a size 14 snelled hook,
with a size 18 snap, no more weight, and casted halfway across North Branch
Raritan River on spinning tackle may impress for the effectiveness implied.
Weightless plastics and tiny jigs, plugs, and spinners all have uses especially
when fishing is slow. I used to catch largemouth bass in 40 degree water just
after ice out by retrieving an eighth ounce Johnson Beetle spin on the bottom
so slowly that the little Colorado blade barely turned. My preferred method for
catching fluke in the surf is with my 5 ½ foot St. Croix medium power spinning,
six pound test, and size 6 plain shank hooks tied to 8 pound test fluorocarbon
for assurance against those teeth. I use medium split shot, wade, get wet, and
fish close with live killies when fluke are there, loving the feel of live bait.
The possibilities for
light spinning tackle, as well as fly tackle or even big game, are up to you.
Marty Roberts catches oodles of hybrid stripers on Lake Hopatcong by using
light spinning, 4 to 6 pound test, a size 6 hook, and a medium to large split
shot, even 30 feet down or more. He once caught a musky fishing this way.
Since I don’t use
circle hooks unless I’m soaking clams or bunker, part of my game involves
setting the hook before a fluke or smallmouth bass swallows the bait. And I
miss hits, but like it this way. I’ve used the same light Mustads since 1975.
Setting the hook, when you think about it, is an entire angling domain.
Different species take bait, soft plastics, and so on differently. The first
hit I got from a sheepshead, using a mole crab, was a moment I still remember.
I was perplexed: “What do I do?” It was a series of very quick taps as if the
fish was chewing off bits of the crustacean’s shell. And sheepshead proved
difficult. But by tuning in to the feel, I learned quickly and got results. The
moment I felt a distinct jab, I set the hook.
Stance can make a
difference. My son, Matt, discovered that by leaning over a pier rail, pointing
his rod downward, and using the tip to direct his weighted shrimp bait beside
pilings, he got unwilling pompano to take. On another occasion, he had to stand
on the gunnel “to feel I’m part of
the action,” not advisable if the water is cold.
In general, the more
composed your stance, the more willing you are; you’re going after the fish and
able to interpret the tell-tale signs that lead to catches.
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