New 2021 techniques for me

[Williep99]

I’m looking at some free rigging this year and from what limited stuff I can find, bluegill profiles work well. I’m looking at the deps bull flat and the geecrack bellows baits to start. I fish mostly highland reservoir types up here and was looking for some insight from folks here.

Thanks, Bill

[DrewFlu33]

I've fished the Bull Flat and didn't like it, though I was trying to drop shot it. The Geecrack Bellows Gill is a great bait, but man are they fragile. You usually get one fish and it gets slung off fighting them in. Tough pill to swallow for $1.76 a bait for the 3.8". A screwlock style hook may get you two fish...

If you're on the right fish, I think it's probably worth it. But if you're just learning a technique or fishing for fun, maybe something like a Missile D-bomb would be an effective, more economical option if you're going for bluegill eaters. Past that, I think any soft plastic would work and you'd be best served to just try whatever bait you usually fish or whatever you think mimics the primary forage of your fish. I feel like the reason you see mostly bluegill imitations on it now is that it's a technique that's just coming from Japan and the Lake Biwa fish are often feeding on stuff that generally has a bluegill profile. As more US anglers start putting it to work I bet you see more variation.

For what it's worth, I did fish the free rig a little this past year. From the limited time I did fish it, I think there's somewhat of an art to it and suspect that you'll need to be really patient and a good line watcher. I often caught myself fishing it like a Texas rig where when the line stopped going down I wanted to lift up and start working it. I think that's probably a mistake with the free rig as that takes away that final "flutter" that makes it different since you're instead just pulling the bait straight down to the sinker. What usually made me put it down the times I tried it was, when I concentrated on letting it do it's thing, I felt like I was wasting a lot of time.

Needless to say, I didn't do much with it. Like most techniques I think I need to have a good day with it to get the confidence to throw it more. I'm going to make more of an effort to get bit with it this spring so I can get some confidence going headed into the summer with it. If nothing else, I think it will have its place in triggering bites in an area where you know there's a population of fish.

[Williep99]

Thanks for your well though out reply Drew. I ordered some Bull Flats but not the GeeCraks for the very reasons you mentioned. I’m looking forward to Carolina rigging them as well. I get what you say about line watching and am trying to narrow down applications. Seeing a bite is going to be tough and I can’t see using it in windy or wavy conditions. I don’t dock flip up here much so that’s out as well. It looks as if I’ll start out in using it as a shallow water approach in coves.

Thanks, Bill