Knowing What To Fish

[ShawnMull103]

Hey guys,

I'm looking for some tips on knowing what to fish and when to fish. I've been soaking in as much info as I can but I'm a little confused on knowing which tackle to use in what situations.

I know there are certain baits... top water, crank baits, soft plastics, jerk baits, spinner baits etc. etc. etc. but I'm unsure how to approach each one. I'm assuming it's based on the diets of the fish you're going for but certain seasons and water color also play a roll.

Do you guys have a rule of thumb for each one? Or situations where one is clearly better?

Any good resource to check out?

I find myself going to soft plastics year round currently switching from a couple different rigs. I'd like to try some other baits for other situations.

Thanks for the help!

[smalljaw67]

I choose what to use based on season and water temp first, those two things determine what kind of lure whether it is a fast moving reaction bait or a slow moving finesse bait. Then when you know what you are going to use, that is when forage and water color along with the basic weather which is either sunny or cloudy or raining. So for example I'm fishing a lake in the Northeast and it is July and the water temps are 84 degrees and it is sunny with no wind and the water is stained, about 2' to 3' visibility. Based on that I can use fast or slow lures but experience tells me to fish deeper water with a shaky head or maybe before the finesse kicks in I'll fish points using a football jig and drag it along the bottom from 10' to 20' deep. The important thing is to keep options open, I may try a couple points and secondary points with the football jig before moving onto a diggerent presentation but the trick is knowing when to stop using one in favor of the other.