Catching big fish is more than just luck. Whether you're fishing bass, pike, walleye, or some other sport fish, going after the big ones requires concentrating on the conditions that attract larger than average specimens. Here are a few of my guidelines for catching the brutes.
Fish the Right Water
Not all waters have the capabilities to consistently produce big fish. Fishing pressure, forage availability, water quality, and structural make-up are all factors that can make or break a water's trophy potential.
Largemouth bass will grow to lunker proportions in a higher percentage of waters they inhabit than any other warm-water game fish species. Here are a few ballpark figures of what can be expected for different species:
Largemouth bass may consistently reach big-fish status (five to six pounds in the north, seven to eight pounds in the south) in 70-80 percent of the waters they occupy. Smallmouth may consistently hit the wall-hanging potential of five to six pounds or more in 30-40 percent of their range, while large walleye (eight pounds or more) could conceivably be found in numbers in 10-15 percent of their range. Big northern pike, those 15 pounds and over, exist in less than 10 percent of the lakes they inhabit, and the figure is probably closer to 5 percent.
There are many good lakes that are loaded with weed-oriented walleyes, but 8-10 pound fish are usually rare. Many lakes have super populations of large, fat bass, but in these same lakes thin, lighter-than-normal-weight muskies are the rule rather than the exception.
A 50-inch musky out of many Ohio and Pennsylvania lakes would almost always be 30-40 pounds or more, while the same fish out of the Trent River system just north of Toronto would commonly weigh 22-27 pounds. Yet the watersheds that generally offer thin muskies produce some of the largest bass I've ever seen, with six- to eight-pound fish being relatively common.
Picking the right waters is a key to catching trophies. I keep quite an extensive file of waters that consistently produce big fish. I listen when fishermen talk, save results of fishing contests--both local and national, keep articles or reports on big fish waters, and mentally file lakes, reservoirs, and rivers based on their potential for big fish.
A favorite big-fish tactic of mine is to go after a lesser or secondary population of game fish in a lake that is noted for another type of fish. Often these secondary species have plenty of forage available to them in their niche, but the waters lack enough suitable spawning grounds or stocking programs that allow them to thrive. You end up with a marginal population of bigger-than-average fish in a lake that receives little or no intelligent fishing pressure on that species.
Key Times And Conditions
Big fish are more vulnerable under certain weather, seasonal, and water conditions; you should learn to recognize the keys to the most big-fish potential. If you're a chaser of "hot fishing reports," you're probably a very frustrated angler. Usually by the time the report filters back to you and assault plans are formulated--it's all over; the favorable weather condition has ended, the seasonal peak has passed, or the lake has been attacked by an armada of boats. Following the action isn't the name on the game--making the action is!
What may be a good condition at one time of the year may be a bad one at another time. Sunny, calm, warm days may be terrific for triggering the first action of early spring, but during the warm months, this weather can drastically reduce your chances of catching larger fish during daylight hours, especially in clearer lakes.
As a rule, unseasonable warm trends in spring or fall, when the air temperature gets considerably warmer than the water temperature, are a prime time for big fish. Be sure to check the shallows where the warmer water can attract fish from deeper areas.
Low percentage days for big fish are the ones with bright, cloudless skies, often accompanied by strong winds, that generally follow a major weather change. As haze, moisture, and heat begin to build up in the sky, fishing will continually improve until the next front passes through. The heavy, dark skies that precede the front can produce top-flight action. Even after a major shift in wind direction or speed, or after a storm or heavy rainfall, big fish can still be caught as long as the light-stopping cloud cover remains. But once the storm blows through and bluebird skies appear, it's time to cut the lawn. If you must fish, stick with darker waters, current, heavy cover, or combinations of those factors.
Besides weather conditions, there are numerous other situations where big fish become more vulnerable. The pre-spawn season with its 50-60 degree water temperature is a particularly good time for largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass. They will generally move shallower around cover tied in with warmer water and will aggressively pop your lures. Tack three to five degrees more on that temperature range and the bass become less aggressive and more concerned with spawning.
The first sustained warm blast of early summer often produces some spectacular fishing. In addition to providing consistent weather, the warmth promotes the blooming of the weed beds, triggers many insect hatches, and helps push game fish out of scattered post-spawn patterns into more predictable summer situations.
The first cool nights of late summer/early fall that often end weeks of blistering hot summer weather is the start of many peak big-fish situations. On windy early-fall days I've had some outstanding largemouth and smallmouth bass fishing by skipping good-sized crankbaits over shallower, rock capped humps and points that were pounded by the early fall winds. This is one of the few times that thicker line diameter doesn't seem to hurt your smallmouth success. Actually it helps, since it allows you to toss and bump 1/2- to 5/8-ounce crankbaits over the rocks using 10- to 14-pound-test lines, whereas your conventional 1/4- to 3/8-ounce smallmouth lures and lighter lines generally produce smaller fish.
Cooler weather seems to bunch forage fish and the big ones sense this concentration of easy-to-obtain food. During the early to mid-fall period in reservoirs, shad often move into the coves and creek arms, with the bass and stripers (rock fish) in hot pursuit.
In these same waters later in the fall, sharp cold snaps will knock the shad for a loop, killing or stunning them by the hundreds. As the shocked shad flutter downward, you know what's waiting for them--big bass and stripers.
In waters that harbor musky and pike, the early fall period will trigger a movement of these brutes into the widest weed flats that border the deeper waters. This big-fish movement precedes the fall turnover period and really peaks at about the low-60 to high-50 degree water temperature range. Warm trends after the fall turnover will also trigger similar, but short-lived, shallow-water movements.
Other conditions that drastically increase your chances of catching big fish include sun-drenched rocky banks that draw forage fish in cooler weather, concentrations of spawning baitfish, and the movement of large numbers of scattered summer bass from hard-to-fish, weed-choked flats into the deep edges after the weeds die off in the fall.
Other good conditions are sport fish such as largemouth, pike, muskies, crappies, bluegills, and even walleyes bunching up in wind- or current-sheltered shallow, dark, soft-bottom bays in lakes and rivers during the first warm weeks of early spring; the fall frog migration when frogs vacate shallower, marshy areas and move by the thousands to the main lake bays; small areas of off-colored waters on clearer bodies of water caused by fertile shorelines riled by wind, incoming dingy water, or even heavy boat traffic.
Big fish can be shallower and more susceptible along shores where light reducing cover such as bogs, floating weed masses, remaining late-summer algae bloom, spring pollen, pods and seeds, or other cover have bunched up.
Forage Means Fish
Generally the more forage produced, funneled through, collected, or drawn to a specific area, the better it will be for bigger fish.
Expanses of weed, wood, or grass-coated shallows may hold thousands of forage fish from inch-long minnows to suckers or shad that weigh several pounds or more. Rock or sandgrass-coated flats may be alive with crawfish or small perch or, at certain times, massive insect hatches. These are what we call food shelves--areas in a lake where forage is spawned, hatched, and grown.
If extensive shallows exist, so much the better, but often only a small portion of a large structure has the right ingredients to hold big fish. But if that small stump-riddled flat is on a big, clean shallow structure that interferes with shad movements, it could be a haven for big bass. Or if that small, deep, out-of-the-way cabbage bed on the side of a long peninsula doesn't seem big enough to harbor large musky, think about the schools of roaming perch, walleyes, suckers, or other fish swimming around this land projection that will duck into or hover around this small weed bed for momentary "safety."
Lakes are full of microscopic plankton that small fish feed on. Heavy concentrations of plankton funnel through "necked down" areas which in turn draw bigger fish, which draw bigger fish. Areas of current also draw game fish.
Big Baits for More Big Fish
Just about any experienced angler can look back to an occasional big fish he or she caught on a "too small" lure, but day in day out bigger lures and baits produce more wall-hangers than small or medium-sized baits and lures.
I can recall dozens of occasions where the big-bait/big-fish theory paid off. On several Florida safari's for big bass we were stuck with small- to-medium-sized shiners; and with them we caught small- to-medium sized bass. Grabbing the one or two big shiners in the bait well, or buy some bigger shiners later in the day, resulted in catching bigger bass.
Big pike are also very size-conscious about what they eat. Use normal-sized pike fare (three to six inches long) on good waters and four to 12 pound fish should be pretty common. Increase the size of your lures to seven- to 10-inch range and you'll catch bigger pike off the same spots.
A favorite big-pike lure is a musky-size wooden jerk bait such as the Suick, Bagley B-Flat Shiner, Smitty Bait, or my latest--a big, black, homemade jerk bait favored on New York's Lake Chautauga.
A fish's attitude will help me determine what bait or lure size to employ. If walleyes are wolfing down three- to four-inch minnows, I'll often switch to a five or six incher. If I'm hooking them deep on a live crawler, even with fairly quick hook-sets, I'll nose-hook two crawlers instead of one.
If bass are active on plastic lures, increase the length and/or bulk of the lure. If spinnerbaits are tearing them up, go with a bigger blade or add bulk to your presentation by putting on a pork or plastic trailer.
The time not to go the bigger bait route is when the fishing is tough. Consider the three C's--clear, cold, and calm--to be poorer conditions.
Judge the aggressiveness of the fish: how hard are they hitting? How deep are they taking the bait or lure?
When the fish show you they mean business, show them you mean business, too, and you'll catch more of the big ones.
Copyright (c) 1996 Spence Petros. All rights reserved.
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