Fried Lemons

Most of the lakes around here have been frozen for a few weeks, they have been slowly thawing out. With the rain and the high of 61 tomorrow there should be open water on most of the lakes.

Tomorrow hopefully

When you say big, how big are we talking? I fish swimbaits a lot and one thing I've noticed is nothern guys tend to want to throw the 6-7" baits because they think their fish aren't big enough to tackle the true big baits. I've had the most success with baits in the 8-10" range. My most productive glide bait is a Deps 250. This may be counterintuitive but when the fish are really eating big baits you get more bites by upsizing instead of downsizing.

Little winter project. Learning how to paint and foil baits.

One thing that rarely gets talked about is that it takes careful management via selective harvest to keep a small pond producing big fish year after year. A good pond left to its own devices will eventually become overcrowded with stunted fish.

I fish places ranging from 20-1600 acres that all have fish over 8lbs. I prefer to fish the smaller >100 acre spots because they usually don't have boat ramp access and thus don't get tournament pressure. As far as I'm concerned there are things more important than lake geography in determining trophy potential. Forage is one thing I look at. I tend to catch bigger fish on lakes with gizzard shad or stocked trout. In fact all of the fish over 8lbs I have seen or heard of being caught came from lakes with one or both of those forage fish. Another thing to consider is competing species. I prefer to avoid lakes with too many competing predator species like walleye, pike, striped bass, etc. Fishbrain is a good resource. I despise that app but it is useful for looking at the leaderboards to see if any big fish have been caught in the past. There are places that go under the radar but for the most part this is a pretty quick way to determine if a lake can produce a trophy fish, especially places that don't keep records. Once you have narrowed down some places pay close attention to the fish you are catching. My pb would have been a 6lb fish on another lake. On that same lake I caught a 19" fish that weighed 5.5lbs. A fish needs good growing conditions to reach maximum size. Once you have determined a good lake just grind at that lake exclusively. Bite windows are small so the more often you are on that lake the better your odds. Some of the lakes with trophy potential have sucky overall fishing.

Small lake definitely increases the odds. However I do have some anecdotal evidence that big fish are creatures of habit. The first fish came from the same water inflow pipe during a high water period both times. The third fish came off the same tree both times. I know of a 9lber from a nearby lake that was caught three times in the last 2 years off the same spot as well.

Now that winter has truly set in and I’m suffering from cabin fever I find myself looking back at old photos. One thing that fascinates me is repeat catches. One- because they show the fluctuation in size of the fish and two- because they suggest that there aren’t as many big fish in some of the lakes as we think there are. Fish #1 First catch was October 29 2021. She weighed 5lb 4oz. Second catch December 3 2023 weighing 4lb 15oz. No improvement in weight probably meaning the pond can’t really support a bigger fish. Fish #2 First caught April 2024 weighing 6lb 7oz. Caught again later in the same year July 2024 at 5lb 11oz. Typical summer weight loss. Fish #3 Caught March 2023 at 7lb 10oz. And again March 2024 at 8lb 4oz. Pictures are a bit misleading, fish measured 22.5” the second time. Didn’t get a precise measurement the first time but I don’t think it changed much. This one has by far the most potential I’ve seen in a fish. Notice the relatively small head and lack of any blemishes compared to the second fish. That and the relative weight lead me to believe this is a relatively young, fast growing fish which could one day reach dd status. These fish were from the same lake as well so there is probably a genetic component.

I used to joke that jig fishing is more expensive than swimbait fishing. I don’t throw them from the bank anymore unless it’s an area I have fished before and know is relatively safe.

Biggest of the year and pb at 22.5” 8lb 4oz. Bad picture, she slid forward a bit on the board. Another very memorable catch, my first double up with a combined weight of 9lb 2oz.

Pair of smalls on the last day of 2024. Caught on the shade line of a bluff. Bite died once the sun got too high in the sky.

A few of the lakes I fish produce trophies but most anglers don’t like these lakes because catch rates are low. Those big fish don’t bite often and those small fish that provide the bulk of the action anglers want are not that plentiful. I even get sick of these lakes sometimes because I can go weeks without a single bite. If widespread harvest became the norm again I would expect more of our lakes to fish this way.

I had an excellent Spring, a mid Summer, and an abysmal fall. Highlight of the season was a new pb at 8lbs 4oz, my first and only fish on an 8” Huddleston deluxe. Caught decent numbers of 5-6lb fish with the most memorable being this double up with the bigger one being 6lb 7oz. Caught numerous fish in the 4lb class that I didn’t really keep track of. From March through May I caught them exclusively on big swimbaits with a Deps 250 accounting for the majority of them. Once summer rolled around I leaned more on big ribbon tail worms and jigs. Kinda struggled with size, caught more 4s than I cared to count with the only bigger fish coming in at 5lb 10oz on a wobble head jig. Got two decent ones in September then the fishing fell off a cliff. These last two were notable for coming from a lake I’ve been to in the past and never had success at. These are the only two fish I’ve ever caught at this lake. Overall the best year I’ve had so far. It is really tough to crack 8 where I’m at so honestly the rest of the season was just a victory lap.

Topwater and finesse. Topwater I find is rarely the optimal choice even when I see them busting on top. Finesse because I’m not a tournament guy and don’t care about catching limits of keepers.

IMO taking a hobby and making it about money is the quickest way to suck all the fun out of it.

I like to think my best days are still ahead of me. My knowledge and physical fitness is the best it has been but there are things I lack which hold me back from really dialing things in like a watercraft I can take out on the larger lakes, electronics etc. Not saying these things are necessary to catch fish but the difference between what can be accomplished with vs without is undeniable.

I've seen this happen mostly with baits that have a loud/unique signature in the water like a whopper plopper/MS slammer/crawler. These baits were like magic for me when I first picked them up; I could go to almost any lake in my area and catch fish on them. I think it's the novelty of these baits that gets a lot of attention from the fish which eventually wears off. After the first year or two the fish responded far less to these baits. On the other hand I've never seen them stop eating a worm or to a lesser extent a jig.

It is a thing in new england where there are a few hardcore guys catching giants at night in freezing temperatures on big wakebaits. From what I hear they fish the baits extremely slow.

It's normal for me especially this time of year. I fished multiple days in a row this new moon period during the hurricane and got one fish out of it.

I have a specific spot where my go to technique is to stitch a big worm. I've caught plenty of fish doing it but I've never had the patience to fully commit and sit on the spot for hours. Usually I'll give it an hour then leave and do something else. I use copolymer for this because the bait sits for so long on the bottom fluorocarbon will sink down into rocks and get snagged. For the same reason it's best to use as light a weight as you can get away with. Spinning is probably better for this purpose.

Got this one deadsticking a big gill bait in a windblown pocket. I picked up this technique last year specifically for pressured fish. I cast it out and let it sit without any input, letting any ambient wind or current provide all the action. After about 10 seconds this fish slurped it off the surface. This type of bite is always very subtle and the fish is usually lightly hooked.

Smile and nod

Last salt trip of the year for me. Conditions were different, we got a lot of rain that raised the water about 2’. Grass was also starting to die back. Fish were not in the areas I found them previously so I had to do some exploring. I found a lot of fish concentrated in a small area sheltered from the wind. Every 30 seconds or so I would see a fish boil or a back or tail sticking out of the water. However they were not biting very well. I must have cast at 30 different fish before one finally hit. Fortunately it was a nice one(didn’t have my measuring board on me but I believe it was somewhere in the 28-30” range. Overslot!). I stuck around for a while trying to get the breaking fish to bite. I ended up with one slot fish and 4 undersized. Pretty surprised at how tough it was despite seeing fish all around the area.

Two trips here. First was a short bank beater session. They were ignoring the usual 10” so figuring I had nothing to lose I put on a 13” and it got picked up before hitting bottom by this 4lb 4oz fish. Last worm fish of the year for me. That bite is pretty much done. Caught a lot of 4s on them this year but nothing I would consider big. Second trip I found two different groups of fish. First group I caught in tree tops dropping a jig through the branches. Second group was hunting gizzards on a flat adjacent to a ledge. I was fishing a heavy saltwater jig with a 7” fluke trailer, giving it 6’ rips off the bottom. Got 4 cookie cutter fish in about 10 minutes doing this before I had a guide ring fall out which made it difficult to land any fish. I dumped 3 more then they moved off.

It’s very niche but I’ve gotten some decent fish throwing big wakebaits at shallow cover in the sun. When they’re on this pattern the middle of the day is best because the sun is directly overhead and the shadows are smaller. Never had much luck fishing open water in the bright sun with topwater.