Often, it’s attention to detail in presentation that separates anglers who enjoy consistent success with those whose productive days only occur when fish are extra-aggressive.

Nothing replaces experience as the means to acquire the knowledge necessary to realize these details.

Take for instance, my friend and frequent fishing companion, Sid Brown. While he’s adept at a variety of tactics, I think he’d agree that trolling is his specialty, particularly when it comes to walleyes. He’s spent a lot of time doing it, is good at it, and catches a lot of ‘eyes on trolled lines.

Anyone who thinks trolling is a lazy man’s method would be well-served by observing Sid practicing his craft.

Trolling crankbaits with leadcore line is one of his tactics. As I’ve described in past columns, leadcore line can place the lure precisely in the strike zone. In the case of structure trolling, that zone is within a foot or two of the bottom.

When we’re trolling with leadcore, Sid is constantly observing any changes in depth. If the depth increases a foot, he compensates by letting out three to five of leadcore line (depending on boat speed), rather than adopting a “that’s close enough” attitude.

Some days it is close enough, but he catches the walleyes unwilling to move that extra foot, which is most days.

The same deal happens when the depth decreases. Rather than waiting for the crankbait to start dredging the bottom, where it can snag or pick up weeds or other bottom debris, he brings the necessary line to allow for the decrease in depth.

Sid’s also a tip watcher, an expert at reading the tips of trolling rods for the presence of an action-killing weed that would preclude a walleye bite. This is vital when fishing around submerged weedbeds, where summer walleyes often collect, fish that can respond well to slow trolled ‘crawler harnesses.

Not only does Sid watch for weed pickups, but for panfish bites that can rob the harness of bait. Whether it be a crankbait on leadcore line or a ‘crawler harness behind a bottom bouncer sinker, his lure/bait spends a high percentage of time fishing for fish.

Over the past year, I’ve come to know Roger Ramer, a bass angler who regularly plies the local waters like Crooked Creek Lake and Keystone Lake. One of Ramer’s favorite tactics, particularly during the spring and again in the fall, is to present squarebill crankbaits in the shallows, particularly shallow wood cover.

“There’s an art to working a squarebill,” Ramer told me when we happened into each other recently when on the water. “It’s a sense of touch, of making contact with wood cover, but backing off when necessary to keep it from hanging up.”

The side-to-side action and swimming attitude of a squarebill tends to help prevent the lure from hanging up, but it’s not nearly as snag-resistant as, say, a spinnerbait. But experience has provided Ramer with the feel to efficiently work the lure around cover.

Sure, someone randomly casting such a plug along the shallows will occasionally catch a bass, but not nearly as many as the angler who has learned the details of its proper presentation.

On both free-flowing rivers like the Allegheny and inland bass lakes, fluke-style soft jerkbaits are often a mainstay of summer bass fishing. Flukes are versatile baits that can be fished a variety of ways, but one of the best is via a slack-line technique.

Flukes are commonly fished by imparting a subtle jerk, followed by a pause. They are often rigged weedless on a 2/0 or 3/0 worm hook without any additional weight.

The jerk/pause cadence seems simple enough, but a small detail can mean a big difference in the number of bites. When the bait is twitched forward, slack line develops.

Rather than winding in all the line before the next twitch, a small amount of slack is allowed to remain. This keeps the bait subsurface, rather than being pulled up to the top. Also, the bait has more freedom to rise and fall, which is much of what makes a bass eat it.

The next time you’re fishing next to someone using the same technique, but you’re being out-fished, look for any details in presentation the other guy or gal might be using.

Chances are, there’s a difference.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle