I’m working on a feature about speed-fishing tricks for an upcoming issue, and it got me wondering why finesse fishing has become so popular in recent years. The general notion suggests that heavily pressured bass don’t bite fast-moving, aggressive lures. But a slowly fished finesse worm will get them to bite. I suppose that is true in many cases, but I wonder if a guy couldn’t still be successful fishing only power lures, and more specifically, fast-moving power lures.

The opponent to finesse fishing, or “little worm fishing,”as one might say, suggests there are always aggressive fish to be caught, and by covering a bunch of water with fast-moving lures, they will be caught eventually. It’s the “fishing for five bites”method. This seems logical as well.

And looking at the results for the 2008 Walmart FLWTour season, I think there were quite a few quality finishes by guys fishing aggressive lures. However, few of those anglers went out without a single finesse lure, whether it was a shaky head, finesse jig, small texas rig or whatever else people deemed to be “finesse enough.”

So this brings me to my point. I say don’t head to the lake looking to fish slowly with finesse lures or fast with power lures. Practice them both. Don’t be afraid to pick up a spinning rod, but don’t neglect to burn that reel handle a few times even if it seems the lake is getting pounded with angling pressure. Versatility wins in the long run.