Often Imitated, but Ever Duplicated?

Charlie Chaplin

According to lore, silver screen star, Charlie Chaplin, once entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest in Monte Carlo only to come in a distant third.  


Flash forward a few years to food industry giants. Commercials featuring mouth watering slow sweeping shots of steaming hot juicy burgers, pop splash landing into a frosty mug, and towering shots looking up at Mt.Ice cream, complete with molten topped fudge lava flow.  The fake food depicted in commercials, although the best looking representation of all things scrumptious, are not as tasty as they might seem.  Marketing agencies use chemicals, shellac, waxes and compounds to maintain the aesthetic qualities of a plate of fresh deliciousness that is going to stand up to the heat of the stage lighting, and the 100's of takes needed to achieve the perfect look.  As good as that burger and fries may look, have no doubt that even a nibble would leave you less than satisfied.


As strange an idea as it may seem to the conscious mind, to the subconscious, fake is often more appealing than the real deal.  


Like the airbrushed models splashed across magazines everywhere.  The human form in its idealized form has too been drooled over, little did the drooling know that the beautiful form  was anything but natural.



In fishing, artificial baits too have had a home, tied to the ends of our lines, for quite some time, Even when the genuine article is also available, pulls more than its share of fish into the boat.


After all it only stands to reason that the idealized form of a big delicious mouth watering rice grub would be too much to keep from taking a taste for most any hungry bluegill.  Soft plastics can push the attraction level to new heights, taking all the colors, scents, and movements which fish associate with a belly full of satisfaction, and amp up the message.  Essentially begging a fish to take notice and indulge in the most delicious looking meal they have ever wrapped their bony little lips around.

Steelhead are often regarded as the most distinguishing of all freshwater game.  With underwater eyesight capable of testing the presentation of fly and gear fisherman alike, steelies have been guilty of lusting after the supple allure of soft plastic as well.  Floating a jig and any pink plastic through the current seams of a known steelhead waterway will likely result in an aquatic tug of war.


Similarly, drop a Black and Chartreuse crappie jig, fitted with a Fuzz-E-Grub, up next to a willow stump and you'll likely feel the successful thump of hook meeting paper-mouth.





Plastics are great for doing a few things.  Like most fishing lures, they are not the catch all.  Plastics are the star of the show when the bite is hot.  Keeping a plastic on the hook assures that you'll keep the action stoked.  


Tough days,when all else fails, live bait is certain to be the top producer.  When it takes a free sample, to convince a passive walleye to finally commit to the entire offering there is no substitute for a slip bobber or Lindy rig live bait setup.  


Keeping in mind that both soft plastic and live bait have a home under the water is key. If you can understand when and where each of the two presentations shine, you'll assure that you're bait du jour will find its way firmly inside the mouth of your targeted species


-mc

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fall rate Fall slabs

The Author with a pair of nice dock dwelling crappie

Twitching and slowly falling, swimming one second, then suddenly sinking the next.  The last dying kicks of a fish seem to be just the ticket for triggering the strike of most any aquatic predator, and finicky fall crappie are no exemption to the rule.  With its great success rate in all species of fresh water game, this presentation must be the fish version of a neon sign signaling free cheeseburgers at the next exit.  Hard to pass up.

In late summer and fall, crappies have the advantage of holding tightly in weedy cover to ambush their prey as they pass by.

Clear water fish, with ample weed growth, will hang tight to their leafy homes until the bitter end, when they eventually depart for the company of fellow speckled slabs suspended over deep water. But in stained waters where the weeds only grow as deep as the sun's penetrating light.  The darker the stain, the tighter to shallow water you'll find the outer edge of weed growth.  In many stained lakes that weed line only extends out into two or three feet of water.  and quickly wilt away at the first hint of fall.  These lakes, usually left unharmed by most crappie anglers, are my favorite for those very reasons.  

Crappie will use whatever cover they can find in these situations, such as docks, boat lifts, and swimming rafts. Southern crappie anglers like to go along submerged timber, bridge pilings, or other vertical structure in search of active fish, as universally effective as the method may be, the circumstances are not.  To the dismay of northern crappie anglers, most lakes in Minnesota or Wisconsin lack the large amounts of submerged timber.  

Without the genuine article, the next best thing for the fish are docks.   Not all docks are created equal.  The ones that hold a pile of thick-shouldered crappies have several things in common. 

Though the structure may be able to support the fish, a dock that is in too shallow is not going to be able to support the type of fish that you're looking for.  Too deep and it will certainly not hold the weeds they need to support their appetite for the baitfish that feed on the microorganisms living amongst the weeds.  The perfect depth all depends on the the stain of the water.  If the submergent vegetation extends to almost ¾ of the way out the dock it will hold fish.  In clearer water, those ideal crappie holding docks will be situated over deeper of water, often as deep as 10-15 feet of water.  Ideal stained water docks could be in as little as three to four feet of water at the deepest. 

            

Proximity to deep water is another vital key to having a crappie holding dock. Deep water is a crappie's comfort zone.  Crappies are not always going to be found on the weed line.  They eat and then head elsewhere, often to deeper water, to lay low and stay away from the stresses of being in a feeding area.  So if you want to find a dock that is most likely to hold crappie at any one time, it is your best bet to find these basin resting areas and begin your search for slabs in the same neighborhood.

Size is the final requirement in good habitat for crappie. Though there are exceptions to every rule, generally you are not going to see as many fish holding on to smaller docks.  The more submergent structure provided by a dock simply means more opportunity for a fish to call one of those niches home.  Shy away from the single lane slip and spend the better part of your time searching the massive triple decked double boat lift monstrosity.

            

While crappies hiding under docks is nothing new to a lot of anglers, the idea of casting aside the fixed bobber and crappie minnow for such a foreign tactic as shooting docks with a jig and plastic is alarming to many northern anglers who put more trust in the live bait's ability to lure in lunkers that borrowing a page out of the bass fishing manual usually seems like a little too crazy to work.

You can catch fish all day around dock edges, catching the occasional 10-12" crappie, but mostly watching your bait well disappear into the pea sized mouths of the micro 'gills that crowd the outer edge of the dock. You could spend the whole day fighting the odds, and hoping a for a well timed strike by a good fish in between the stunted mass of bluegill and bass. Or take a shot at tossing a plastic.  My favorite dock shooting combo is pairing a 2” Watsit Grub with a 1/32 or 1/16 oz jighead depending on how much you want to slow down the fall of the jig. Day-to-day situations are going to call for different fall rates and color preferences, as any fisherman knows, are susceptible to change anywhere from hour to hour to seasonally, but usually change as soon as you have a pattern on the fish.

            

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Fall Pike prefer Snack-sized Suckers

Very few fish offer more bang for your buck, so to speak, than big fall pike.  Invigorated by the water's cooling trend have big pike hot after anything and everything that resemble calories.  The cool Fall months make it easier than ever for you to go out and target big pike.

The chilly nights of fall do a few things that really mix things up under the water.   The thick summer weed base, which has spent the past several months providing both shelter to small bait fish, as well as ambush to predators is winding down.  The onset of fall means that the weed line buffet is grinding to a halt.  The green vegetation that supported so much life during the summer is starting to wither away in the onset of the shorter days and longer colder nights of Fall. 

Certainly there will be green weeds in most waterways, even throughout winter months, but the sudden reduction in daylight has the green weeds changing just as rapidly as the fall foliage above water.  The bait fish that had once found safety in the back corners of the weed choked bays, now have to seek out food and oxygen elsewhere. 

"Mid October is usually the right time frame, but its all based off water temperature, and it's best when the water reaches 50 degrees and below and you can catch fish all the way up until first ice" -Steve Everetts

 Steve Everetts, of Finseekers Guide Service, guides year round for all sorts of Lake Michigan and western Wisconsin bounty.  Salmon, trout, perch, bass, and pike to name a few all are targeted at one point or another during Steve's calendar year but like most Esox anglers, Everetts has October circled on his calendar, but Steve takes a little different approach to the pike promised land than most.  

Opting to imitate the forage size that these pike are fixated on, the young of the year bait fish migrating to the shallows, Everetts prefers a little smaller live bait than most fall big fish anglers.  Usually found fighting for the biggest decoy suckers that money can buy, Steve strays from the book and opts for the other end of the spectrum.  It just seems like smaller 4-6" suckers work better", siting increased hook ups and a more likely match of the seasonal forage.  Not only does the smaller profile better match the bait fish that the pike are feeding on, but it allows for smaller, less visible, hooks to be used.

Doing away with the usual slip bobber method of live bait pike presentation, Steve chooses to use a traditional walleye tactic for targeting these feeding fall fish.  "I like to use a Lindy rig setup with a 20# fluorocarbon leader, ahead of a 14# braid. The lighter setup along with a 8’-10’ medium action steelhead rod really lets you have the best of both worlds".  

The length of the rod and the sensitivity of the combination of no stretch line and the Lindy rig lets you fish in the heavy rocks with the same sensitivity that allows you to distinguish the difference between the lifeless thud of a rock a fishy thump.  Yet at the same time you have enough backbone in the rod and strength in the line that you can still hold up to spirited runs that big pike often make once in eye shot of the boat.

A nice fall fish caught on Steve's boat

"No-Snagg slip sinkers are always a must have when you're fishing in heavy rocks", Everetts explained. The curved profile and feeler foot let you have the sensitivity needed to keep relation to the bottom, but allow it to steer clear of most snaggy situations.

Being as they are, the crossroads of fish activity for most any time of the year, would lead anyone to poke around rocky points for worthy takers.  Though always present in any fisherman's milk run, its the fall feedbag where these deep water transitions shine. 

Two such pike holding deep water points

Deep water rocky transitions offer a resting spot for homeless bait fish, which also means that these rocky points and piles just happen to be the most convenient ambush points for pike as well.  

"I like to search for the fall fish in main lake points and deep rock humps or piles in the 16-30" range.  The pike seem to like the rock and main lake points".  Whatever the reason may be, whether it's the holding temperature of the sun warmed rocks or simply the fact that they are a fish oasis, the rocky locations always seem to produce in the fall, but finding the right type of rock is key.  "Usually basketball to beach ball size rock is going to hold the kind of fish that were looking for". 

Got any good fishin' stories? Share them below in the comments section, or if you want to be featured in the next post, or just want to talk fishing... Email me!

-mc

 

Nets to You…

You’ve seen that tired old “fisherman’s prayer” on way too many plaques and coffee mugs. You know the one about catching a fish so big that you won’t have to lie.

         

The real fisherman’s prayer is uttered every time one of us hooks a truly big fish: “Don’t let me screw up the net job!” 

         

Lack of experience landing big fish is one reason we often fail to close the deal, but it’s also because we’re not as prepared as we might be.

         

One of the best and easiest things you can do to up the odds of success when you’re toe to toe with a biggie is to have the right net.

Choosing the right net for the occasion is easy to do but often is left to the chance of clearance sales at the local tackle shop. Picking up a net that’s convenient or cheap is a sure way to lose Mr. Big when it comes time to introduce him to your livewell.

         

Beckman has a line of nets that makes picking out the right one fairly easy, so all is not lost.

           

There are four things you need to consider when choosing a net. The most important is estimating the 

largest fish you’re hoping to catch. Once that is defined, then the other choices fall into place:  How big a hoop, how deep the net bag, and how long the handle.

         

“Really,” says Lindy pro Ted Takasaki, “you need to figure that you’ll be catching the fish of a lifetime, and how big a net do you need to land it?”

        

Takasaki figures that the one time you don’t want to have a net that is too small is when it is the one big fish you have on the line.

         

“That’s the one you really need to plan for; every other fish is going to be smaller.”

         

The width of the hoop doesn’t need to be the length of the fish that you hope to catch.  As a rule of thumb, one half to two-thirds the length of the trophy fish is about right. 

         

“For a generic net, one that covers most fishing situations,” says Takasaki, “I like a hoop of 20 inches with a four-foot handle.  That works for crappies, bass and a lot of walleye fishing. And if you get one of the Pen coated nets, you’ve got the best of all combinations.

         

“However, when I’m walleye fishing in the Great Lakes where the average walleye is a big fish, then I’d choose a net with a 26-inch hoop, and select a handle based on whether I was trolling or not. 

         

“A four-foot handle with a sliding, three-foot extension is about right, although on a larger boat, I think the six-plus-three handle would be even better.”

         

The idea is that longer handles give you a better shot at scooping a fish before it gets close to the boat and makes that last-minute lunge that always seems to involve other lines.

         

Selecting the right hoop size should come with a warning: the larger the hoop, the more difficult it becomes to move, something that becomes a factor when you’re trying to intercept a fish that has made a last-second bat turn.

         

Choosing the right size net is a balancing act between hoop size (and attendant maneuverability) and bag depth. You can have a smaller hoop for big fish if the bag is big (long) enough to capture it. 

         

A good example of the balance hoop and bag can be seen every year on Alaska’s Kenai River. The guides there (most of whom use Beckman nets it should be noted) routinely net salmon 50, 60, even 70 inches long. However, the hoop size they select is the largest Beckman makes: 36 inches. They balance this with a bag that is 65 inches deep.

         

This combination lets the guides net chinook salmon in the 60-pounds-plus size with no problems. If you had a net with a much larger hoop diameter, you’d find it difficult to maneuver, harder to store on the boat, and requiring arms like Arnold to use.

         

How does a net with a relatively small hoop capture large fish, fish that may be twice as long as the hoop is wide?

         

It’s simple, once you think about it. Fish aren’t sticks, and they are extremely flexible. Once you get the bulk of the fish’s mass inside the hoop, say half or two-thirds its length, then a simple lift of the net results in the rest of the fish sliding in, bending in the sinuous way fish have. In other words, get the fish in the net, and the fish simply folds up, conforming to the shape of the bag.

         

And that is why bag size (read that depth) is so important: the depth of the bag is what captures large fish. Beckman’s offers bags from 28 to 65 inches in its original line and 18 to 40 inches in its Pen and Pen Fin Saver nets.

         

The last consideration in regards to size is handle length. As a rule of thumb, you should choose the longest handle you will likely need for the type of fishing you’re doing.  For walleye fishing that doesn’t involve trolling, a four-foot handle is fine in most situations. A six-foot handle often is better, though, especially with larger fish and in rougher weather when it’s difficult to pull the fish toward the boat. 

         

The downside of a six-footer is that this handle does take up a lot of room in the boat; that is, it does if it’s fixed. However, Beckman has two options: a four-foot handle that extends another three feet to seven feet total, and a six-foot handle that also extends three feet.

         

When you’re dealing with really big fish—muskies or salmon, stripers or steelhead, a fixed, six-foot handle is the best option.  Big fish will see the boat, and hit the ejection button immediately. Too many big fish have been lost because the net-handle challenged didn’t have the ability to make their scoop before the fish left the scene.

         

Why have fixed handle lengths in this situation? When you’ve got a really big fish on the line, you don’t want to be messing around extending a handle. You want to be ready.

         

Another thing you need to think about is whether the net should have coated mesh or not. The original Beckman nets have a dark mesh (less alarming to fish) that is uncoated. The Pen and Pen Fin Saver nets come with black, coated mesh. Choosing one over the other is a personal thing depending upon the kind of fishing you do. 

Some fishermen feel the coated nets are too stiff, while others like the fact that the coated nets tend to shed hooks, making the unhooking process a whole lot easier.

“I like the coated mesh because it is so much easier, especially when I’m fishing with crankbaits,” says Takasaki. “And the Fin Saver nets are much better if you’re releasing fish—an important point for tournament anglers.”

Whether you fish for tournaments or for the pan, one thing is sure: your prayers will be answered when you reach for a Beckman net.  All right, maybe that’s too strong.  But what will be true is you’ll have the best landing net for the situation, and that’s no exaggeration.

Hey....Are you still Reading this? 

Here is a coupon code for 10% off of any Beckman net purchase at LindyFishingTackle. com: 

coupon code: beckmanfb

Just copy and paste that into the coupon code field after you've selected your net and proceeded to checkout.

Got any good fishin' stories? Share them below in the comments section, or if you want to be featured in the next post, or just want to talk fishing... Email me!