Q: What is finesse fishing?
A: Finesse fishing is a technique where an angler uses ultralight gear to throw ultralight artificial baits to entice fish to bite. Ultralight baits generally weigh 1-5 grams and can sometimes be less than 1 gram. To be able to fish these weights, anglers need to have rods, reels, and line designed for finesse.
Q: Why finesse fishing?
A: In short, because it's fun! There's something about carrying a light pack with a minimal amount of effective baits for specific waters to target and catch fish. Finesse fishing is especially effective in high pressured waters. The smaller profile of finesse baits becomes more enticing to get fish to bite.
Q: What kind of fish can I catch with this finesse technique?
A: Any! Trout, crappie, panfish, bass, and more will bite when the right finesse bait is presented well.
Q: How do I get started in finesse fishing?
A: It's very possible you may have already done it. If you've fished with 4lbs test line for trout, thrown a crappie jig, or fished for bluegill with a spinning or spincast reel, chances are you were doing some level of finesse fishing. Finesse fishing is really starting to become popular in the US with more companies making gear specifically designed for finesse presentations. You have have heard people throw around terms like "BFS" or "SFS" as these are the official terms for finesse techniques.
Q: What is SFS?
A: SFS stands for Spinning Finesse System. While this has been around for a while, it's officially getting a label as more companies start to offer more products. This is your traditional 500 or 1000 size spinning reels, spooled with 2-4lbs test line, on a 5-8ft ultralight (UL) or super ultralight (SUL) rod.
Q: What is BFS?
A: BFS stands for Bait Finesse System. This is a technique originating in Japan because of the highly pressured waters in Japan. The easiest way to think about BFS is it's an ultralight baitcasting setup. This is by far, the fastest growing segment in fishing. If you watch professional bass anglers, they usually have at least 1 spinning rod in a swarm of baitcasting rods. They use the spinning rod for finesse presentations (lightweight or ultralight baits) that traditional baitcasting reels can't throw. Anglers can now put their spinning gear aside for BFS.
Q: Why baitcasting reels?
A: Because it's fun! It's also more efficient than spinning setups when frequently casting and retrieving. Spinning setups are 100% fine for finesse presentations. However, if you want to try something new, definitely give a BFS baitcaster a try.