NWPA Outdoors

The other week I was out fishing with a buddy of mine. He caught two small bass, like 10in, and a crappie on a size 7 Rapala. One would think that hefty lure would land bigger fish. It didn't. This wasn't the first time I've seen small fish hitting big lures. This same buddy and I have both caught hand-sized bluegills on large bass poppers. I never could figure out why such a small fish would hit a lure that big. But I must admit that it has happened on many occasions. Perhaps the strangest occurrence of a small fish hitting a big lure happened a few years ago on a fishing trip up north. The lake we were fishing contained a good population of pickerel and we were catching them practically every other cast. I tied on a 2/5oz yellow and red Daredevel hoping to land a big fish. This fish I caught on my first cast was only 4in. To catch big fish I have found I need to use small lures. I have caught decent sized bass and pike on 1in tubes. Often times when I'm fishing for panfish I wind up hooking into bigger fish. I think there is a lot to be said about downsizing your lures. I have heard of many people landing big fish on small presentations. Every now and then I'll read fishing reports of bass fishermen hooking into musky and musky fishermen not catching anything. A co-working of mine first turned me on to this idea. His favorite lure is a mini-foo, just a small hair jig. He gets pike bass and other large fish on this micro-lure. I’ve tried it and it does work. So I guess the lesson here is- if you not catching fish use a smaller lure. Good Luck- JR