Wanaque river Crappie
"Below is a sample of what I call a cricket spin…my belief is that the rubber legs a
ways…"
Cold Fronts
Tight Lipped
Tough bite
These last couple of cold fronts that have blown through our area seems to have shut the fishing down…well seems is the key word. Actually you can still have a pretty good day at catching your target species.
Typically when I see a cold front my first thought is to down size my bait. The second thing I’ll do is slow down my presentation.
These two options in creating that hot pattern will work most often.
Here is an example…last weekend there was a cold front that came through. This area I had been hitting crappies was on fire. I had received word from a few sources that the area was now void of slabs. They were gone as no fish were being caught.
Actually I did not get word until after the fact, you see we went there the day after these guys had fished that area and I heard a day after that. It was still very cold. So cold that we had to dress like it was an early May outing. Long johns and heavier jackets were needed and I heard many times that day…my hands are cold. I even wished I still had my beard to help keep my face a bit warmer.
Well upon hitting that area we preceded with the bigger baits that had been working really well for the last few weeks only on this day no bites. It took 30 minutes or so for me to figure out what was happening. The locator was showing me that the fish were there.
Stepping down in the bait sizing was the ticket. I could tell the fish were finicky. Most every fish we caught would just barely pick up the bait. With very neutral bobbers we would barely see that tell tale tick. Setting the hook and finding that the fish was on came almost as a surprise.
Having found what it took to catch these fish was no surprise however. Dropping back to what worked just after ice out became the hot pattern. Then it became lights out action.
We started to double up and the fun set in!
Size of baits and the speed at which these baits are presented made all of the difference.
I should mention that we had very light line and small bobbers made by Northland Tackle…Light Bites. Had we not been set up with the correct gear catching these cold front slabs may not have been possible.
Having the light line aided us in presenting these super small baits in a very life like way.
No minnows were used only artificial baits like the hair jigs I tie or Northland’s Mimic Minnow Fry and their counter part which is a Northland Firefly feather jig.
There is always one good thing about a hot bite in cold conditions…you forget about how cold you really are. LOL
When it comes to walleyes well that can be a whole other conversation, but to put it simply. Go smaller with your bait and slow down the bait’s movement and I believe you will see the action heat up!
Oh…do not forget to have your gear match the line and bait size. There’s nothing that is more frustrating when you can’t work the bait the way you need too.
Summer time patterns are approaching…be careful to not fish memories and if you’re in fish, do not move to find more.
Have fun on the water folks!
CK
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