Big Fish, Small Baits

Throughout almost all of my fishing career, I have always leaned toward smaller baits over larger baits. The logic was simple, any fish will eat a small bait, but a small fish may not eat a large bait.

This seems simple but there are a lot of factors that I have learned and put into my arsenal over the years. The average fisherman goes through similar stages throughout their career. 1) Catch a fish

2) Consistently catch fish

3) Catch a large fish

4) Catch a limit of fish

5) Catch a limit of the largest fish you can.

Most of us have gone through this without even noticing it. I currently am at a new stage, I want to catch a lot of fish but also want to catch the best species representative in any water system. With this being said, I still lean toward the smaller baits to accomplish this. The below list of species with bait used represents this theory:

Carp - single piece of corn

Catfish - ultra light Little Cleo spoon

Chinook Salmon - 3" walleye stick bait

Crappie - 1" Mister Twister

Largemouth Bass - Ultra Light Beetle Spin

Musky - walleye jig

Northern Pike - Ned Rig

Steelhead - single salmon egg

Rock Bass - live 1" gold fish

Smallmouth Bass - ultra light square bill crank bait

Sheepshead - #0 Mepps spinner

Sucker - ultra light sassy shad

Walleye - 7 1/2" culprit worm (this was an exception in dirty water)

White Bass - 1" white Mister Twister

Yellow Perch - 1/16 oz ice fishing jig in open water

As you can see, small baits are prevalent on this list and most likely due to the fact that I have high confidence in them. Do you get bit off occasionally? Yes, but usually a small bait will end up in the corner of the mouth of most species.

The next time you are out fishing, tie on at least one rod with a bait that seems exceptionally small for what species you are targeting and let me know what results you get.

Always fishing, even if its in my mind - Kevin

*****The best time to fish is when it is raining and when it is not******

#gethooked #louslures

Using Google Maps to catch bass...

If you are like me then you most likely you have a few rods and some gear in your vehicle at all times. On Sunday my daughters had a horseback lesson at a college. Since it was a good hike from home I decided I was going to wait for them to finish the tour and lesson of the equestrian center. As I was sitting there I pulled up Google maps and decided to see what was around. I knew there had to be some type of pond or creek near by. Low and behold one shows up about 5 minutes from my location. After locating the target I headed over to see if I could #gethooked. I down sized to a 3" paddle tail minnow cause it was pretty cold and I thought sloooooow retrieve. Took a few casts and felt around on the bottom to see what was up. Grabbed some grass and a few leaves after a couple casts. And then the snag! I thought man this has got to be the bottom or a log. Then she swirled and I knew it was a nice fish. My first bass of the 2020 season! Caught on a 1/4oz crappie jig head and 6lb test. It was awesome. So if you do not use google maps you may want to look into it for your next recon mission. You never know what you will find. Tight lines everyone. #gethooked #louslures #fishingfiends

Winter Perch Fishing...

We been having an awesome time smashing big perch during our winter here as the bass slow down. It has been pretty easy to find them and when you do it will be a 100 fish day. 1/4 oz jig head with a 3" paddle tail shad and some 6lb test. Forget about it! We have been slaying them. These little pigs where weighing in at 1-2 lbs. It has bee an awesome winter of fishing so far. #gethooked #louslures #fishingfiends