Thursday Tips: Hands-On Approach

When the B'n'M Poles pro team of Kevin Jones and Billy Don Surface slow troll, they always hold their hands so that at least one finger is touching every rod.

"I'll feel a lot of strikes that I would never see," Jones said. "And I usually feel the strike before I see the rod tip move."

If either angler feels anything, he sets the hook. Sometimes that means coming up empty, but with slow trolling, you simply drop the bait back into place so nothing is lost, and they catch a lot of fish that they otherwise would have missed simply by staying in touch with their rods.

If you watch the hands of top anglers, you'll notice similarities in casting and jigging approaches. It might be a fingertip on the rod blank or on the line or something about their hand positioning that aids sensitivity. For some, it's highly intentional. For others it's more intuitive. Either way, it's something worth considering and imitating in many situations and something that can help you catch more fish.

Unrelated to this specific tip, I sort of forgot about Thursday Tips and intend to regain consistency with posting a specific fishing tip once a week.