By Capt. Jim Hirt
For years I investigated through trial and error to find bait for all species of fish in all conditions. Twenty plus years of tournament and charter fishing has led me to one conclusion. There is no one bait that will take you through the year with all variables of weather and mood of the fish. In this quest I found it would take a variety of lure actions to be successful. Allow me to help you approach each season of the year and weather conditions with the optimum tool for productive fishing. I fish salmon and trout more than any other species, however, these techniques and variables apply to all fish that go through continuous environmental changes.
Let's start with spring or directly after ice goes out, if that happens in your area of the world. The problem with this time of the year is water temperature. Fish become lethargic and inactive. Cold water means temps well below the active range of your target. Apply this method whenever a more aggressive approach fails. The answer to cold water is a slow methodical approach. Small spoons are the answer. They offer more flash and visibility than live bait or combinations of jigs and live bait. This deadly presentation is most effective when slow trolled, jigged or offered in a stop and go action. Small spoons allow better lure action at slower speeds. Matching the size of the forage is the key. When you don't know the best size to use, start with spoons under two inches. This should offer some fish catching action on all size game fish. Bigger spoons will rule out the small fish and the larger game fish may not be active. Bright colored spoons of chartreuse, orange and red in combination with silver or gold has always worked for me. As action on small fish picks up try a bigger spoon to test the water for larger quarry.
As spring water warms up closer to your favorite game fish preferred temperature, that is when the real fun gets into gear. Action will pick up for all anglers. Don't hold back!
Get out the bigger spoons and more aggressive tackle. Pick up the speed of your presentation for more strikes. The color of your spoon at this time of year is dependant more on water color, amount of light and the depth of your target. This is a good time to talk about color as it relates to the amount of light. You may or may not remember learning the colors of the rainbow in school. The colors are remembered by this acronym "ROY G BIV". These letters mean red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Most of the time I run lure colors of red, orange, or yellow when that lure is presented in the portion of the water column with the most light. The other end of the rainbow blue, indigo and violet are used in darker or low light situations. You may ask what about silver and white? I consider these as neutral or they will work in any type of light. All the other colors fall into either bright or dark. Bright lures are used in bright light conditions dark lures in low light. In most cases larger spoons will net the more aggressive feeders.
Specifics on the exact spoon for your location are and always will be a difficult task. Please allow me to tell you of a product I developed over the last five years. It added 40% more fish to our catch based on 1950 miles of motor trolling during the last season. I am on the water from early April to late October and I needed a
go to spoon to meet the ever changing conditions. Daunting as this may seem three spoons evolved. For early spring the small size Nestor Wobbler is productive. Now you can have crank bait action in a spoon. Unique wobble action is the key to catching finicky fish. No other spoon offers this vibrating action. With genuine silver plate fish scale finish, this spoon reflects more light to attract fish from greater distances. With multiple holes in the lip you may select a wobble from fast to slow. It's perfect for trolling, casting or jigging. The bigger size works well for large game fish and faster presentation. You may find this lure at http://www.badgertackle.com I will continue with the rest of the year in the next article. Good Luck let's go fishing!! Come back to this Website often to read all my articles. Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094. Summer I will be out on the lake fighting fish, however, I would appreciate a call over winter to chat about whatever questions you may have or just call and say hello. You may also visit my web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright© 2007, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.
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