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Posts: 724
Location: Southern W.Va. | With all the talk of small baits in the spring , my question is this, When do you put the small stuff away and go to the more common sized and mag. baits??
Mauser  |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | i'll start with big baits day one! ... it's more a speed thing than a size thing to me ... still don't understand where this rule came from ... i'm not arguing small bait success as a tactic early, but it is not an end-all rule by any stretch of the imagination. cold water fish like an easy target .... and anything that moves is food.
i'll be throwing 8" baits like any other year but moving them with lots of stalls, pauses and slow movement ... and we'll catch fish like all the other years i would expect too.
and to the counter, i'm sure there are people who are successful with small baits late in the year ... just ask steve about creatures and carolina rigs for later fall ...
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Posts: 1243
Location: Musky Tackle Online, MN | I'm with Sled on this one. It's more about speed than size for me when it comes to early season muskies. About the only time I go small is when the bigger baits just aren't getting the job done. High fishing pressure isn't a bad time to go small either. Small and speed can be a great trigger.
Aaron |
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Location: Sun Prairie, WI | To answer your question, it would be difficult to pinpoint a specific time, but it's not unlike fishing Walleyes when the time comes (and this is not a hard & fast rule either) to switch from jig/minnow to nightcrawler. The fish will let you know like any other time. You have to experiment, then when you have success (or not have success) you have to try to figure out why it happened. You can't obviously say you will fish small from May X thru June X, then from June x to August X it's this bait, then from....you get the picture. It's more about what's working for you, then sticking with that until it doesn't work, and figuring out the why and why not of each.
It's also important to understand the small bait/big bait thing is a GUIDELINE to consider when making your selection and not a strict rule to be adhered to. It's just another tool to consider to help your success ratio, just like considering where to fish, when to fish, etc. They are guidelines to help people be better fisherman. To me, the important thing is to try to figure out WHY things work or don't work. Knowing why things DON'T work is sometimes just as important as why they DO work. There is an article in a past Musky Hunter about how NOT to catch muskies that is as important to know as knowing how TO catch them.
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Posts: 724
Location: Southern W.Va. | I understand what your saying, I thought some had a temp. that they switched , like the rattle trap bite on the Cave. I've heard that it kinda dies after the water gets warmer. Thought that maybe some had a temp that they started using bigger baits.
Mauser |
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Posts: 8865
| Mauser,
if you need a number, go with 64.
Why? Hell, I don't know! |
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| Start big and work your way down if necessary. Twitching Crane Baits works best early for me |
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Posts: 376
Location: Lake Vermilion Tower, MN | Here is a guideline that you can live by.
"There are no such things as always or never, when it comes to fishing".
It also applies to women! 
"Ace"
Edited by guideman 4/3/2007 5:26 PM
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When to change?????