Does nerves or excitement cause you to fish too fast at times?
You're not alone.
Whether it be nerves, excitement or habit, a common tendency among many anglers when dragging a lure across the bottom has to do with working the lure too fast.
Most of us tend to use our rod to work a bottom-fished lure and only use our reel to retrieve slack line.
Despite the "rod lift and reel" being a great retrieval method, this approach can sometimes lead to you being unaware of how fast your are actually working a lure.
In doing this you risk pulling your lure out of a fishes strike zone before giving the fish an honest chance to take your lure.
Secondly, you could be compromising your overall lure presentation.
Take worms for example, would you find it natural to see a worm hopping around on the bottom or moving 5 to 6ft every second?
Probably not.
An easy fix to this is proper use of your reel, instead of rod lift, to slow things down, maintain good bottom contact, and control the pace in which you work your lure.
Below we'll dive into some math that explains rod movement and overall lure movement, the gear ratio of your reel, and why dragging a lure using your reel can help control the pace of your retrieve.
Understanding Rod Lift and Lure Movement
It's not uncommon when dragging a lure to start with your fishing rod out in front of you, parallel to the water and lifting up to somewhere close to 60° before dropping your rod tip back down to retrieve slack line.
If you're fishing with something close to a 7ft rod that means between where your hand is and where the rod tip is you have roughly 6ft of rod to assist with the movement of the lure (the other 1ft being your rod handle).
The below diagram helps make sense of this and shows how easy it is to overlook how much distance is covered when doing this.
So from being parallel with the water, which indicates the start of you working the lure, to 60° which is where you would stop working you lure, you're lure has traveled at least 6.28ft.
This number could be even more when considering the effects of wind and current.
If you're someone who is doing this movement in one long motion or a few quick hops you very well could have moved in and out of the strike zone rather quickly with only one lift of the rod and not even realize it.
As an angler it can be very hard to stop and implement little pauses when dragging a lure with your rod.
Our nature is to continuously impart action on the lure which never really allows for those much needed pauses.
If this sounds like you, consider using a simple reel retrieve liked described below to control pace and slowly creep your lure across the bottom.
But first, a little bit about fishing reels...
Reel Gear Ratio and Line Recovery Rate
Each fishing reel has a gear ratio that is recorded somewhere on the reel.
Common gear ratios range between 5:1 and 8:1.
A 7:1, or 7-to-1, gear ratio means that for every complete turn of the reel handle the spool of the reel does seven revolutions.
So for a 7:1 reel with a full spool of line, that means your reel is picking up 7 revolutions worth of line for every crank of the reel handle.
This rate at which line is retrieved per turn of the reel handle is called the line recovery rate.
Below are common line recovery rates, in inches, for different gear ratios:
5:1 = 20-24"
6:1 = 24-29"
7:1 = 29-33"
8:1 = 33-36"
Worth noting, spool diameter is another factor that goes into these numbers which is why the line recovery rates are expressed using a range.
All-in-all, the point being made here is how much line is being picked up with each turn of your reel.
Now, compare these numbers which range around 2-3ft with the 6.28ft seen above that a standard lift of the rod would be.
It's a staggering difference!
Slowing The Pace By Using Your Reel
Remember, the goal is to slow your lure down, keep good bottom contact, and give it more time in the strike zone.
By using your reel, you can achieve all of these in an accurate and measurable manner.
As an example, let's say you're fishing with a 7:1 gear ratio reel.
Instead of using your rod tip and potentially moving your lure 6ft or more over a short period of time without realizing it, you can reel one full turn of your reel and only move your lure 2 1/2-3ft.
To really slow things down you can do a half turn in between pauses and only move your lure a foot or so.
This is a common tactic among anglers fishing Texas rigged worms who want to slow down their retrieve and provide a natural, slow-moving worm presentation.
One might ask "Well, can't I just slow down my rod tip movement?" and the answer to that is, "Of course you can".
But what's easier - trying to figure out how much you just moved your rod tip or simply turning your reel handle a half turn?
By dragging a lure with your reel you have an easy and reliable way of knowing how much your lure is moving.
TIP: Need a free hand to eat a sandwich or take a phone call? Because of the placement of star drag systems, an angler using a baitcaster can work a lure and retrieve line with one hand by reaching underneath the rod and "reeling" with the arms of the star drag instead of the reel handle. Give it a shot!
In Conclusion
If you tend to fish bottom lures too fast give this a try the next time you're on the water.
After making a cast, compare the time it normally takes you to retrieve a lure fished using your rod vs one fished using your reel.
You may realize that slowing things down, keeping good bottom contact, and controlling the pace of your lure is exactly what the fish want.
Time to go catch em'!
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