Simple Strategies For Maximizing The Flash Factor Of Your Spread

Transcription

1 November 2016 Simple Strategies For Maximizing The Flash Factor Of Your Spread With many anglers nowadays employing advanced electronics, line counter reels, and any number of depth control devices, precisely presenting lures in the strike zone is a fairly simple task for open water trollers. Presenting each individual lure precisely is a good way to boat a lot of fish... sometimes. Many times, however, it is how your lures work together that makes all the difference. For open water fish especially (i.e. trout, salmon, walleye), anglers can optimize the visual and audible appeal of their spread by strategically implementing Mack s attractors, more specifically Flash Lite Trolls. Flash Lite trolls are a modern improvement upon traditional cowbells as they provide substantial flash with very lightweight, counter-rotating blades. This will allow you to run Flash Lite Trolls with lighter tackle, experience lower drag, and reduce line twist. Drawing Them In On one noteworthy day last August, I was trolling for steelhead on the Central Basin of Lake Erie alongside my brother, Nick, and Captain Dean Cushman of Hard CORE Charters. Our trolling rig was nothing out of the ordinary; a couple of downriggers, a pair of diving planers, and a pair By John Littlefield of segmented leadcores (5 to 7 colors) running wide on inline planer boards. The business end of these rigs was a diverse array of spoons, ranging in sizes from 2.5- to 4-inches. This may seem fairly elementary, but one simple piece of our trolling spread made all the difference in how many fish went in the cooler. Use 4-Bladed Flash Lite Trolls to enhance your spread and imitate schooling baitfish. Our portside downrigger was HOT that day, taking most of our steelhead and sticking enough walleye to choke a horse. This rod was rigged with a 4-Bladed Flash Lite Troll, Mack s Lure s newage cowbell-style attractor that has proven to be absolutely deadly for Great Lakes trout, salmon, and walleyes. These Flash Lite Trolls put off a TON of flash, which imitates schooling baitfish perfectly. I find success by fishing the Flash Lite Troll toward the center of my trolling spreads to draw fish in from a distance. Open water fish are always on the move and searching for their next meal, so make it easy for cruising fish to locate your trolling spread. Even if the Flash Lite Trolls aren t taking fish (which is rarely the case), their flashiness is often enough to draw fish into view of the other naked lures (no attractors) behind your boat. It is a very, very rare day that a Flash Lite or two isn t integrated into my Great Lakes trolling spread. Flash Lite Trolls are arguably the most versatile attractor rig on the market, and the reason is because they can effectively be fished in front of any lure. Highdrag offerings (i.e. crankbaits), which would deduct from the action of a dodger, can be fished behind a Flash Lite without losing any of its action. Spoons, crawler harnesses, plugs, crankbaits, and hoochies are just a few options that will benefit from a set of Flash Lite Trolls. Tighten It Up To have repeatable success in trolling for open water gamefish, you need to be conscious of how your entire spread appears, feels, and sounds to the fish. Setting each individual lure to fish by itself often does not produce as well as setting each lure to work as a part of the team. To emphasize this point, I Continued on Page 2 Page 1

2 Continued from Page 1 once again look back to that August day on Lake Erie. Not only did we employ Flash Lite Trolls for visual enhancement of our spread, but we were employing strategic lead lengths to create a schooling effect. By manipulating the lead lengths and weighting methods within your trolling spread, you can place all of your lures -- both vertically and horizontally -- to fish more effectively alongside each other. Let s approach this from another angle: If you were to view your trolling spread from the fish s perspective, would it look like a single baitfish swimming by or would you see a school of baitfish? Mack s Lure offers multiple ways to give the illusion of a larger-thanreality baitfish school. Regardless of what you use, the idea is still the same -- fool the fish into thinking there is a school of minnows swimming by, not just an individual. This will draw more gamefish into your spread. Nick Littlefield with one of many Lake Michigan lake trout to fall victim to a Flash Lite Troll and spinner combo. Putting It All Into Action Embrace the technology. Credit for this advice goes to my BUS1100 teacher during my senior year at Michigan Tech. This phrase was repeated so often that I graduated with it forever etched into my mind. This advice will not only help you stay on top in the modern business world, but also in the world of fishing (catching, actually). If you are not taking advantage of modern fishing technology, then you are behind the 8-ball. Advanced sonar, GPS, line counter reels, depth probes; you name it. If you can afford it, USE IT! Nowadays you can even view accurate dive curves for all your favorite crankbaits. There is an app for that Fool them into thinking it s something it s not. Show the fish what they want to see. They want to see a school of baitfish, and they want to see an easy meal struggling to keep up with their buddies. Give it to em! Mack s Lure offers many options to create the schooling illusion behind your boat. Something to consider. Try lagging a spoon or plug behind the rest of the spread. Do this to create the illusion of a struggling or wounded baitfish, an easy meal for any self-respecting gamefish. This can be done in a variety of ways, but leadcore is always very easy and usually effective. Be cognizant of your lures vertical and horizontal positions. It sounds fancy, but all this means is keeping your school looking as lifelike as possible. If the schooling effect is what you re after, then knowing the 3D position of your lures is critical. Note the common denominator when you catch fish. This is generally common sense, BUT if you remove a lure from the water and you stop catching fish, put it back in the water. Even if it didn t catch any fish, if it appealed to the auditory, vibratory, or visual sense of your quarry, it may have been the dinner bell. Put the dinner bell back in the mix and see if you go back to catching fish. Even if it does not catch the fish, isn t it worth the sacrifice? Gary s Fishing Corner Fall Trout Fishing In Northern California By Gary Miralles Often I m asked, What are your favorite lakes to fish throughout different seasons? Of course, Shasta Lake often comes up as my favorite; I guess that s why I lived there for 40 years of my life. That being said, I do also enjoy many other great fisheries located throughout Northern California. With November now upon us, Eagle Lake is a great fishery for this time of year. This 22,000 acre lake sits at 5,000 feet of elevation and about 20 miles north of Suasanville, Calif., in Lassen County. Eagle Lake is relatively shallow, reaching maybe 60-feet at its deepest point. The fish hold in the south end of the lake in the summer months but migrate north into the shallow water bays when the color temperatures set in. November is my favorite month to fish this beautiful and peaceful lake. I primarily fish north of the little town of Spalding in areas called Halfmoon Bay, Bucks Bay, Troxel Bay and the North Basin during the fall months. The shoreline in most of these areas are covered with cattails or tules, which provide good cover for hungry trout as they feed on the abundant population of tui chub, the primary food source on Eagle Lake. Continued on Page 3 Page 2

3 Continued from Page 2 It s important to keep in mind, however, that the water in these areas is no more than 12-feet deep, so toplining is the only method used. The Cripplure, Hum Dinger and Pee Wee Wiggle Hoochie are the best lures for these areas, as you re able to fish them right on, or just below, the surface. Typically, I will spread out four rods out the back: a 1/4 oz Cripplure about 100-feet behind the boat, another Cripplure at 150- feet, a Hum Dinger at 200-feet, and a Pee Wee Wiggle Hoochie with a small split shot 3-feet in front of the lure out the back. Another good setup is a set of Flash Lite Trolls or Troll-Lite Flashers and a Wedding Ring spinner tipped with a night crawler. For best results, I usually troll just off the edge of the tules. I have even stopped the boat just off the tules and casted a Cripplure into open areas inside the vegetation with great success. The trout in this lake often weight 2- to 4-pounds with an occasional catch over 6-pounds. My favorite Hum Dinger and Cripplure colors to use on Eagle Lake include: Brass Crushed Fire, Brass Prism, Brass Red Prism, Brass Crushed Midnight, Red Gold Sand, Brass Red and Black Red Sand. When using the Pee Wee Wiggle Hoochie look for the Pink Flamingo or Flame Orange and gold Flash Lite or Troll Lite blades. At such a high elevation, the weather is cold this time of year, so be prepared and always check road conditions. For current conditions and fishing reports for Eagle Lake, contact Mack s Lure pro staffer Ed Fisk of Fish Tales Guide Service at Stan s Space You Can Bend The Odds In Your Favor By Hall-of-Fame Angler Stan Fagerstrom Part 2 Ever catch yourself wondering just how big those elusive fish we call walleyes can get? I can answer that question. The all time size record for walleye is 22 pounds, 11-ounces. A guy named Al Nelson caught that whopper at Greer s Ferry Lake down in Arkansas. When was that fish caught? Nelson put it in the boat on March 14, I find the date that all time record was established of special interest because it ties right in with what I mentioned in my previous column. If you read that column you know Bob Schmidt, the general manager of Mack s Lure, has reminded us that this is the time of year when the Columbia River most often kicks out its own share of whoppers. February and March are the months that provide an odds bending chance for you to boat a really big walleye from the Columbia. March is also the month when the world record walleye was caught. It s a time when the big female fish are loaded with eggs. In that last column I promised to share what Schmidt had to say about the lures most likely to get the job done. If anybody has a right to make a meaningful comment in that regard he s the guy who can do it. Why? Well, for starters it was one of the lures Bob s company markets that took the largest walleye the Columbia River has ever produced in Washington State. Mike Hepper, the man who caught that 19.3-pound hog, did it by using a Mack s Lure Smile Blade ahead of his nightcrawler bait. Hepper caught his monstrous fish in February. Mack s Lure s history of providing baits that take big walleyes doesn t end with Hepper s record. Since that fish was taken I ve had occasion to detail how some of the other lures Schmidt s company produces have also nailed other rod bending Columbia River monsters. An example of what I m talking about is the 18-pound, 6-ounce beauty an angler named Denis Fillion nailed a couple of seasons ago in the same general area of the Columbia where Mike Hepper s record fish came from. That also took place in February. Fillion s beautiful big walleye made the mistake of latching onto a Mack s Lure called a Wally Pop. Those lures, now growing increasingly popular all over the country, also feature a Smile Blade up front. Fillion will tell you that the day he put his big one in the boat he also caught four other walleyes on the very same lure. You re looking at a sure fire lure for big walleyes. These Mack s Lure Wally Pops have taken Columbia River fish in excess of 18-pounds. And it was thistime of year when they did it. Continued on Page 4 Page 3

4 Continued from Page 3 It s easy to recall what Fillion had to say when I asked him how he felt about the Mack s Lure Wally Pop. I m sold on em, he replied. I ve heard that kind of comment from walleye anglers in other parts of the country as well. Despite his confidence in the Wally Pop, Denis Fillion doesn t hesitate to use the various components Mack s Lure markets to fashion other set ups he uses for Columbia River walleyes. These rigs of his own design will almost invariably have a Smile Blade up front to provide the action the fish he s after can t leave alone. Both Fillion and walleye record holder Mike Hepper have similar things to say when they talk about Smile Blades and the other Mack s Lure components available to us all. If you ve examined a Smile Blade you know it s made from a light and tough plastic. Its lightness and the way it s made account for its action. The Smile Blade, Hepper says, lets me troll at really slow speeds. I find the Smile Blade keeps turning even when I am trolling at 1.3 to 1.5 miles per hour. One of those old fashioned heavy metal spinner set ups is likely to flop down to the bottom or hang up in the cover when a boat is moving that slow. The rigs you make up for yourself with Smile Blades, or one of the ready to go complete lures like a Wally Pop won t do that. Incidentally, if you re one of those skeptics who reads this and thinks Mike Hepper s catch was just another lucky day thing that can happen to anybody--- hang with me for a minute. You see, my friends, in addition to that 19.3-pound record fish he caught, Hepper has also boated a second fish that weighed pounds and a third that tipped the scales 17.7-pounds. How lucky can one man get? Columbia out there in Wenatchee, Washington. Going out with the right lures is the first step. Getting out there to the right place on the Columbia is the second and doing it now when those big female fish are the heaviest they ever will be is the third. I ve covered all three steps in these last two columns. That pretty well wraps it up. Thanks to Bob Schmidt s reminder, I ve provided you with a guide to improving your chances for a Columbia River wall hanger. All I ask is that you let Bob and I both know about it when it happens! The Sonic BaitFish (SBF) Tips & Techniques Lower Water Levels In Reservoirs, Rivers & Lakes By Captain Pete Rosko Some of the anglers who have taken whopper walleyes out of the Columbia have done so using a variety of Mack s Lure components like those shown here. They set these rigs up to gain the attention of the fish. The action a Mack s Lure Smile Blade imparts to the bait trailing along behind it almost has to be seen to be believed. The lightweight Smile Blade can be fished extremely slow. Chances are Mike Hepper, the Washington State walleye record holder, will bring this up if you ever have opportunity to visit with him about catching Columbia River walleyes. Once you have the components of your choice the next step is to head for your workroom and start putting things together. Some anglers say they get a special kick out of catching walleyes that they ve used Mack s Lure components to create. Hepper isn t just lucky and neither is Denis Fillion or the others who ve taken those fish of a lifetime. They ve bent the odds in their favor before they ever climbed in the boat. They ve done that by using the oddsbending products that come from the company called Mack s Lure---a company that s nestled almost on the shore of the Late fall, in many areas, is an excellent time to scout the bottom structure of reservoirs, rivers and lakes when the water levels are at their lowest. This was a common practice of mine in my younger days that paid huge dividends during the following year of higher spring and summer water levels. This also was invaluable if you located structure that would attract fish during the next ice-fishing season. I referred to fish attracting structure as break lines. Basically, most anything that could be added to a flat, featureless bottom could constitute a break line. That could include any vertical object, such as a stump, boulder, gravel bar or ledge. Even during high water, I have Continued on Page 5 Page 4

5 Continued from Page 4 placed a singular concrete block on a bare bottom in four feet of water to find it holding at least one fish the following day. Unless you are fortunate enough to own the water that will hold fish, marking it with a float will invite others to share your treasured spot. If you are a boater, that s as easy as recording that location with a handheld GPS device after discovering it by walking over that exposed area. It becomes more difficult if you are a bank angler or a wader. However, if you use a range-finding method, the odds of pinpointing your submerged target the following season becomes easier. Here s how I do it: For directional accuracy, both as a bank angler and wader, I ll line up two permanent objects behind me as I walk out to my target spot, then stand over it. I ll record it with a drawing that will be my directional reference as a bank angler. Now, as a wader, I have the advantage of adding a distance reference by sighting in right and left visual point of reference -- a form of triangulation. I would draw this triangulation position short of the actual target and within easy casting distance to it. This may sound like a lot of effort, but it s quite simple and pays big dividends. However, it must be recorded as memory is no match for a good drawing! As a wader, my favorite fishattracting structure was a pair of two-foot high pile of rocks, spaced about 8-10 feet apart, where I could slow-retrieve a 1/4 or 1/3 oz Sonic BaitFish between them. (The line/ snap was attached to the nose with a single tail hook to minimize weed fouling.) This has been so effective when casting to walleyes, bass and crappies, especially in the evening, as the sun dips below the tree line. Best time to fish. Most fish are extremely light-sensitive and want a stable and clean environment near good cover. Personally, I love fishing during cloudy weather with a stable barometer, minimal breeze, and in clean water. About two hours before sunset is hard to beat! Poor fishing conditions include shifting wind directions, fluctuating barometer, bright, high-in-the-sky sun, dead tides (salt water), and dirty, muddy or contaminated water. T E C H N I Q U E S : a) Slow, continuous retrieve as soon as the Sonic BaitFish (SBF) hits water. This retrieve technique catches about 75 percent of my freshwater fish. The 1/10 and 1/6 oz SBF swim with a side-to-side vibrating of its tail. The 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 3/4 oz SBF also swim in the same manner, in addition to a highly effective side-to-side darting action of the lure. The larger the SBF, the greater the strike-triggering darting vibration. b) Slow, jigging retrieve as soon as the SBF hits water. At times, mimicking the backward flutter of an injured bait fish will trigger strikes when nothing else works. c) Fast, continuous retrieve as soon as the SBF hits water. Make the SBF gurgle on the water surface like an Abrogast Jitterbug. Try to only keep the SBF in the water with your line out of the water, especially in clear water and for spooky fish. It s absolutely deadly for any active fresh- or saltwater fish feeding near surface. Note: 1/0, 1/6 and 1/4 oz SBF are especially effective for bass, crappie and walleye in 1- to 10-feet of freshwater on a slow, continuous retrieve over weed beds and other structure. The SBF has the action to out-fish any other type of lure! Use larger SBF for longer casts, deeper water and larger fish. The longer the length of the SBF, the greater sideways darting and fishattracting vibration. Missed strikes. Be in the habit of checking your hook on your fingernail, not your skin, as it always feels sharp on your skin. If the hook slides, and does not dig in on your nail, lightly file it until sharpness is restored. A dull hook is a major cause of missed strikes and lost fish with metal jigs. Finishes. My personal favorites are silver/blue (for sunny days) and glow/chartreuse or glow/white (any time, cloudy or sunny days). All painted finishes contain high quality fluorescent, phosphorescent, and ultraviolet pigments to enhance appearance and maximize attraction. The basic, natural appearance of most bait fish is a blue/green back with a silver/white belly. It is my sincere hope that this series of Tips & Techniques will be instrumental in increasing you, my fellow anglers future enjoyment and success on the water. Thank you for your support and confidence in Mack s Lure products. - Capt Pete - Page 5

6 HOT DEAL OF THE MONTH Flash Lite Trolls Flash Lite Trolls are the industry s only full-size ultra light troll that features 80% less drag than a metal blade of the same size. During the month of November, enter promo code FLS004 at checkout to receive 10% off all 4-Bladed Flash Lite Trolls. FLS004 Question of the Month Have a question? We d love to answer it! Contact us at MacksLure@MacksLure.com if you have a question you would like to see featured! Q: If I wanted to fish for almost every kind of fish on one lure, what s the best Mack s Lure product for doing so? A: This is a pretty loaded question because everything in the Mack s Lure arsenal is good for some type of fishing, but if we had to pick only one lure to proficiently catch anything that swims, from west coast to east coast, it would have to be either a jigging spoon or a bucktail jig. Mack s Lure has two excellent options for these types of lures in the Sonic BaitFish and Rock Dancer. Each of these lures is available in a number of sizes and colors to accommodate any type of fishery or emulate any type of forage base. Photo of the Month For all of your predatory fish, emulating a forage base is paramount. When you create a presentation that imitates what the fish are actually feeding on, they have a tendency to eat it a lot quicker than if you did not have those correct colors, sizes, etc. Reactionary biting fish, on the other hand, are striking at something that is irritating them, so having a jig or a jigging spoon in a correct size and color will help enhance that reaction type bite. There are various ways to entice fish with a Rock Dancer or Sonic BaitFish including casting and retrieving at different speeds, allowing the lure to sink further or simply jigging it off the bottom. In order to get fish to want to bite, you ll need to find the correct combination of color, size and technique, but using one of these two types of lures it the best method of attack. As stated, there really is no one perfect way to entice fish to want to bite, and it is really regulated by where you are fishing (lakes, rivers, streams, ice or ocean), the type of fish you are fishing and the time of year that you are fishing, which all determine how and what you use. Rest assured, though, that using one of these two lures can immediately make a difference between fishing and catching for nearly all types of gamefish. Video of the Month Mack s Lure guide staffer Jeff Witkowski shows off one of 227 cutthroats he and a friend caught over a four-day period last week. The Scorpion Salmon Spinner (pictured) and a combination of Smile Blade, Cha Cha Pill Float and Wedding Ring Super Series put em in the boat. Winter is just around the corner. Click here to view how the Sonic BaitFish is used to jig for Lake and Rainbow Trout through the ice. Other videos can be viewed as well, Click Here. If you have video s to share, we d love to see them!! Send your video links to: MacksLure@MacksLure. com. Send your photo s to media@mackslure.com for consideration to be included in a future Mack Attack edition or on Facebook. See more pictures by clicking here: Mack s Photo Gallery Page 6