Heavy or light?

say you are fishing a laydown or stump in a moderate current area- do you a)fish light plastic lures/jigs, light line and let the lure drift past the cover in a natural fashion or b)fish a heavy soft plastic lure/jig, drop it on the spot and hope for a reaction bite c) fish a spinnerbait, swim jig or crankbait and run it into the cover.

I know this is a general question and all of the above may work, but say you were pre-fishing under stable weather and water conditions and trying to see if there was fish, what way do you think would give you the most accurate/consistent idea of if there are fish there?

B or C

question is to broad….it all depends on river conditions, and what not, I cannot answer the question…..too vague…

c) fish a spinnerbait, swim jig or crankbait and run it into the cover

I would choose C. I think stumps & knocking things off of them go hand in hand. My first choice would be a spinnerbait or a jig but only cause I tend to get hung less then when I fire a trebled crankbait into a laydown. Square billed crank would be a good choice as they tend to have a different action when defelecting off things. C is also a “natural” presentation of wounded baitfish or shad nailing their confused skull off of cover. Choice A & B are things I might use if weather or water conditions are or have recently changed. My own comfort level & fishing style is C.

Also, great question !

There is an interesting article in this months Bassmaster Magazine on approaching laydowns. Six or so different touring pro’s give their different strategies on how to approach laydown fishing. Here is the on-line article.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/members/insider/technique/story?page=b_ency_FBCSp64_laydown

You may have to register for BASS insider to get the whole article.
I hope this helps

Danny

B and C

If I am pre fishing for a tournament i don’t want to sit there and wait around, i want to cover a lot of water to find active fish and get reaction strikes… Plus i have confidences in it!!! Just my .02

bass?

C first, then B.

Depending on the weather I guess I would try a swim jig or buzz bait first. Then go back and deadstick a fluke, followed up by a jig.

If there is current, I feel that actually a moving bait would get them just as easy because they will position themselves on the structure ready to attack.