“Finesse Fishing?”

Ron McDonald

Southern Fishing News

 

An article about finesse fishing, especially about the early beginning, naturally points at Crazy Head Lures—or what is now known as Slider Lures. Here’s a little introductory finesse history.

 

Charlie Brewer Sr. is widely known as the inventor, developer, or pioneer of finesse fishing. Charlie worked with several designs of a hook and differently shaped lead heads back in the 70s that resulted in a lure he dubbed “Crazy Head Lure”. He originally rigged the Crazy Head with a four-inch worm and called it “Do Nothing Fishing—all he did was just cast and slowly crank the lure back.

 

The lure name was changed to “Slider” a while after the final head design was developed. The name “Slider” was chosen because of the way Brewer designed the lure to be fished by “sliding” it through the water column. Son Charlie, Jr. later took over operations and continued to develop the Slider. Daughter Caroline has now assumed leadership of Slider Lures. 

 

I was introduced to Slider Fishing by the man himself, Charlie Brewer, Sr., in an episode of my television fishing show “Southern Fishing” on Smith Lake, a North Alabama Lake. This leads to one of the major principles of real finesse fishing—the light line. On that show, Charlie introduced me to fishing with 4lb. line and his Slider four-inch worm. I said what—4lb. line! I was sure you could not hook and boat a fish with a line that small. But we did, a load of Smith Lake Kentucky bass. OK, that’s some history. Now on to the specifics of finesse fishing.

 

Before that trip, I was doing only power fishing with big lures and 17lb. line! I was hooked on Charlie’s finesse fishing from that show through today. However, I have since upgraded to a small diameter of 6lb. line but no higher. And, my wife and I have developed a few more ways to fish the Slider Head in addition to Charlie’s Do Nothing method. He even added a few more ways to fish it himself.

 

    Lightest weight possible

    Primarily plastic lures (from 4 inches to 6 inches)

    Light Line (4 to 6 lb.)

    5’ to 5-9” rod (most control) to 6’6” (most distance)

    Light, Medium/Light Rod

    And most importantly—FISH SLOW

 

 

If you were fishing with me you would see I finesse fish 90% of the time except on special occasions. For you bass anglers that approach fishing differently, I have a list of when you might want to change your game plan to finesse fishing.

    High fishing pressure on the lake

    High-pressure weather systems present

    Clearwater

    The bite is slow all around

    When power baits aren’t working

    Catch a fast keeper limit

    Pre-spawn & spawn

    Fall schooling

    For smallmouth

 

I may have missed a couple but these are a good start.

 

Bassmaster Elite Pro Seth Feider has said, “Finesse fishing is such an important part of my game today that I sometimes feel I rely on it too much.” And Bassmaster Elite Series Pro Brandon Lester noted, “But if you are ever struggling and need bites, finesse is the way to do it. No doubt about it!” (From Bassmaster Magazine September/October 2019 “Digging Deeper Into Finesse Essentials” By Mike Pehanich)

 

There are a variety of finesse fishing rigs today. I use several of these at different times.

    Drop Shot

    Wacky Worm/Neko Rig

    Slider Rigs

    Finesse Carolina Rig

    Finesse Jig & Grub

    Small Swimbait

    Ned Rig

    Shaky Head

    1/8 oz. Buzzbait

Use your imagination!

 

Some bass fishermen think this style of bass fishing is only for small, i.e. 12” fish and shorter. That is not the case. Yes, you will catch some small fish. But you can also tie into some really big bass and 6lb. line will bring them into the boat. My wife and I have boated bass going from 3 pounds to 7 pounds using 6lb. line. The moral of the story is, to change your thinking about finesse fishing!

 

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