pattern fishing keys in on location and lure size

[SPOONMINNOW]

Caught 79 fish yesterday which included many pan fish, 2 bass and 2 pickerel. Key was finding where fish were hanging out in numbers, in what depth, what size lure and jig head to use and apply type(s) of retrieve necessary to get bit. When I fish, I fish for numbers regardless the species. I'm hooked on the initial strike and the excitement of wondering how big the fish I just hooked. Ball head jigs and soft plastics accomplish this by being able to cover water efficiently in order to find what's biting, the average depth of strikes depending on areas fished and manipulating a lure the right way to draw a fish out of its slumber to attack.

As everyone has read in my previous posts, I like to experiment with different lures and soft plastic designs. I hadn't used a suspending-minnow crankbait in years nor a Beetle Spin so I rigged each on 2 of three rods I take fishing. I got a pickerel and sunfish on the same lure:


suspending minnow cb pickerel:


Beetle Spin pick:


The lake is tannin stained and visibility is less than a few feet. Pre-spawn fish are invading the shallows probably to feed, but the concentrations are the largest I've ever seen in this lake. The location pattern I mentioned turned out to be near a long line of wetland brush and trees but only certain areas held fish:
water with small pads growing from the bottom and on either side of fallen trees. There was also a shaded cove near shore that held hundreds of fish.

As far as lures being part of the pattern, early on when I started fishing (10:30am), heavier jig heads weren't getting it done as far as retrieve speed. 1/16 oz jigs were too heavy; 1/24 and 1/32 oz were better for the slowest retrieve possible from the time the lure entered the water until it was ready for another cast.
Best retrieve of light lures was a twitch followed by the glide of the lure and then another twitch. Straight body & tail lures benefit from this stop & go retrieve whereas curl tail grubs and spinners use a steady retrieve which is okay for fish willing to chase them. In fact multiple hits on the same retrieve by the same fish or group attacking slow-twitched lures happened many times. What's cool was seeing four yellow perch watching my lure bounce off bottom with me watching them at my feet. They didn't take it but at least I know where the multiple hits came from.

As the day proceeded into afternoon and the clouds moved in, lure size (not jig weight) could be increased. I increased size from an iddy-biddy grub to those with more body and tail.

From these,


to these.





In fact many sunfish at times had the ENTIRE LURE in their mouths !!!

Did sun vs cloud cover have much to do with the changes? Not in my opinion.
The day went from this until 12pm:


To this in the pm:


..and still, once the pattern was found (location/lure/presentation), FISH ON!

Frank

[RoadrashPaul]

Very nice write up. Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing.

[SPOONMINNOW]

My pleasure. Hopefully successes like that will keep on com'n.