Top 3 Finesse fishing tips

“Finesse” is a bit of a buzz word around the fishing traps at the moment, but in essence just means making some changes to your tackle and technique which will be a bit more subtle and hopefully help your catch rates for some of those more finicky species. So here is our 3 best tips to help you bring a bit more finesse to your fishing.

Finesse is not always needed when fishing, but more often than not it will definitely help your catch rates. Good times to employ some finesse to your fishing would be in super clear water, highly pressured fishing locations, chasing super finicky species like bream, and on those calm glassed out days on the water.

Keep these 3 tips in mind next time your on the water.

Use lighter and longer leaders

Leader is what connects us to our lures, and is generally the only bit of line a fish might see. Thinner is going to be less visible, so if its possible to go thinner without the chance of losing too many fish, do it! An good example of this is a lot of bream comp guys running 3lb fluorocarbon when fishing flats. These flats are generally super clear and shallow, but with no structure to get busted off on. 3lb versus 6lb leader in this situation will most likely get you a lot more bites.

Fish slower

As anglers we sometimes have a tendency to get bored or frustrated when the fishing is tough, we lose concentration and can tend to wind the lure back to fast, or work our lures out of the zone to fast. Try and make a conscious effort to slow down your retrieve, give some longer than normal pauses, and try keep the lure in the zone where the fish will be for longer. So that may be close to structure, or at a certain depth, or on the bottom etc.

Downsize you lures/jigheads

Some days fish just decide to be stubborn and tight lipped, and sometimes the lures you normally use can also scare or spook the fish.  Downsizing your lure size and or jighead size will give your offering a smaller presence in the water and may be enough to entice them into biting. Lighter lures and jigheads will also give different sink rates and action to your lures which may also help your cause. It can be these little changes in size and sink rate which can make a difference on those tough days, and is definitely worth a shot.

A few other “finesse” things to think about when trying to improve your catch rates for tougher species could be:
–    The use of natural colours
–    Keeping your casts nice and long.
–    No boat noise.

With these tips in mind and you will be well on your way to increasing your catch rates, and having fun doing it. They can be applied to any of the species you target, but you will most likely benefit from those more finicky species, or when the fishing is quite tough going.