Popping and stickbait retrieves

[Ben Furness]

Can anyone point me in the direction of some good instructional videos for different retrieves? I have seem one Japanese video for working stickbaits along the surface with the rod tip down but have heard of many other methods.

Videos are best for my learning but diagrams and descriptions would be helpful as well.

[Mark Harris]

There is one Matsutani video which was especially good for stickbait techniques. I cannot remember which one,  but will try to dig it out.

There are so many techniques for surface sticks Ben (and many more qualified than me to talk about them!).

A lot of these do involve a low rod tip as you say, with for example, sweeping movements, twitches etc. I taught myself most of this just by experimenting and I still get some mixed results. Learning all the time though. The speed of retrieve is also critical in getting the right action.   

This video at Plat is a cracker. Whether you can find any Gammas is another matter altogether!

http://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/product_info/language/en/products_id/3779/cPath/31_444_648_727/fishing-lure/live-bait-gt-gamma-140-240-01.htmlGamma

[Kasey Leong]

You can try the Carpenter Instructional Video. There is also some small bits about retrieves for pencils and chuggers in Legend 5 with Kozo Okubo.

Best is still to try to get someone to do a demo! Diagrams and descriptions would be very difficult.

Mark, I am very suprised that you mention Matsutani in that light. When I saw him on his DVD where his Stella flew off the handle and he was casting a rubber wind-up duck, I almost fell out of my chair laughing! His stickbaits, like the Atomic Pile, are controversial to say the least.

[Mark Harris]

There is one Matsutani video, an old one from SevenSeas days, where he is quite brilliant Kasey.  I will try to find it!

[Chuen Fan]

I second the carpenter instructional video.. Nothing beats practice, all lures work differently in different sea conditions. Best bet would be spending a day with someone who knows what theyre doing, I think I learned more on working different lures in a day fishing with Brandon than I have watching dvd's! Watching him work gammas is truly amazing! There's a real fine art to stickbaiting.

[Brandon Khoo]

Sunny, that was the day the three of us died and that was before I had that 40 minute fight on PE3 with that stupid GT that ate my Tailwalk! What a great day that one was. The Spaniard alley we found was amazing.

Surface stickbaits are really no more than a matter of understanding the lure you're using and the action that is required with the rod to make the lure dance and then lots of practice. Gammas work best with the sweep as you see in the video segment from Plat above. On the other hand, try this with an Orion Hotdog and it won't swim at all. Hotdogs work best with a walk the dog action. You just need to experiment with different retrieval methods. You won't find two more different approaches to retrieving stickbaits than you will watching Eric Le Guyader and Kenji Konishi but they're both masters with their own stickbaits.