I ask this question for all of us. What areas do I need to improve in to increase my average fish size.
My wife tells me I have to start thinking outside the box more often. So here goes . For me I need to improve my abilities using the Bulldawg. I have caught a few fish in predictable situations but this lure still eludes me as far as being in my front line as a tool.
I cant do any better with double 10's (big bucktails ) because my wrists just dont allow me to put that kind of strain on them anymore. Even with the low geared 7000 reels and longer rods I am still reduced to using them only in specific situations.
Night fishing, now here is where Michelle and I are looking pretty hard at learning. We have had some success casting after dark in the upper peninsula and have been reading a lot of articles regarding night fishing both casting and trolling. Matt Firestien (Catfish) and his buddy Jeff Hanson did a number back in 2006 on St. Clair trolling at night. The numbers of bigger fish were staggering and with the use of double 10 bucktails trolling there the combination of them and trolling at night is calling me 
.
Michelle and I are trying to learn some new tricks this year. We feel we have the trolling thing pretty much down pat but have a lot to learn about certain casting lures and more so the why to use more than the how to use certain lures.
So where do you need to improve and can anyone here help you with that quest? Mike and Michelle
"Kingfisher" said:
So where do you need to improve and can anyone here help you with that quest? Mike and Michelle
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Seriously though, whether it is to catch fish or to catch bigger fish one of the most important thing someone can do is learn to walk away. This might mean from a lake, a lure or a technique. Maybe it is something that isn't working or something that has worked and you're trying to force a fish to eat it.
Example… on a lake that I've spent some time on this spring I have a couple lures that will show you 10+ fish a day but they're mostly under 40" and about one in 20 are going to eat. On this same lake there's another lure that isn't going to show you many fish at all but when it does they're eating it and these fish are 42-48". This can be a tough situation to deal with though. It can be hard to have the confidence to throw a bait that might only show you one fish every couple hours when you know you have one that will show you fish every 15-20 minutes.
"Will Schultz" said:
Seriously though, whether it is to catch fish or to catch bigger fish one of the most important thing someone can do is learn to walk away.
How true that is. Sometimes it's tough not seeing a fish every 20 minutes. But when you do see that big one and get her to eat…. Wow! But then you lose her 3 times in 3 consecutive days… 👿
Bull Dawgs are #1 priority for me. I own 30 of them and have only caught 4 fish with them. That has to change. Will is absolutely correct in my case as I cant put down my confidence lures. Michelle will tell you the same thing. The good part is Bulldawgs dont work us as hard as double 10 buck tails do so we have stepped up our use of them. Hamlin should be real good water to practice with Dawgs of all sizes this season. Deep Cabbage beds with gin clear water are srceaming for us to toss dawgs.
Question , what are your most productive colors in the Bull Dawg. Mike
id say matchin the hatch is always a good choice, but i also caught or had a lot of action on bright colors as well. I think a lot of it also has to do more so with how you work the bulldawgs, and bend them. Such as counting dawgs down to a certain depth and working them from there. Just depending where you are throwing them
"Kingfisher" said:
Question , what are your most productive colors in the Bull Dawg. Mike
Favorite colors:
Walleye, Walleye white tail, Walleye orange tail, Sucker, Gold tail sucker, Black, Black orange, Black glow, Silver black back, Silver blue back, Cisco, Cisco blue back, Firetiger, Yellow, Sherbert, Cremesicle, Motoroil orange, Superman, Purple, Holo walleye, Holo shad… there are a bunch that I've owned that I don't have any longer because I didn't like them.
I've seen where color wasn't a huge factor as long as it was close and I've see where they want a very specific color, like all black over black org or Black glow. Like any lure, color can be very lake specific and that color can change dramatically with water color.
I find myself usually trying to eliminate "dead water" and find prime structure when learning a newer lake. As time goes on I find myself fishing the same spots or the same "milk run" with all of my attention focused on these spots because I have either seen or caught fish in these areas. This is fairly typical of most. What I find myself doing sometimes is fishing the same spots time and time again and getting in kind of a rut while ignoring the so called dead water. I've started to revisit some of these hardly fished spots annd have at times been pleasantly suprised by either seeing or catching bigger fish where I never had before. Now factors like time of season, water temp. and water clarity play a role but I now try and make myself revisit atleast one spot that I normally don't fish.
I really want to improve on triggering more of the curious/neutral fish in to eaters that may be following. My fiqure 8 numbers have gone up in the last few years and I think this is due to fishing some clearer water and being able to read the fish's mood while watching it follow. You don't get quite the visual learning in stained water. The vast majority of my fish are caught in either the first 2 cranks of the reel or on the 8.
A huge thing I work on every year is trigger more fish to eat. Learning how each lure can be worked and the differences between individual lures can make a big difference. I always ask myself when fishing a certain lure, 'why would a musky eat this bait?'. What am I going to do to get a musky to strike without just getting lucky on a suicide fish? Anyone can go out and straight reel in a bait at a medium speed but that is probably going to lead to a lot of follows and very few eaters.
I also try to work on changing the game plan to find the fish. If I haven't been seeing fish doing a certain presentation then I have to change it up to find the fish. It might be as simple as just changing from a bucktail to a twichbait or it might be something a lot more difficult like changing from throwing bucktails over the weeds to dawgs/superds over open water for suspended fish.
So far no one has mentioned one item I think is critical – make sure your boat is totally set for night fishing. (Don't be the guy who sits on the Suick he forgot he placed on his seat as he was in process of releaseing a big fish.)
No loose baits sitting around anywhere, rods out of the way, release tools in place, camera ready including how you'll shoot the pic if you're out solo, Knipex cutters must be immediatly available in case you happen to get hooked up with the fish, cat's eye's lights on your hat bill, a mini-mag hanging around your neck, extra bulbs and batteries for everytihng including your front and rear boat lights. Wear your life jacket after dark. A decent quality hand held compus in addition to all your technology. I have a 3 million candle Q-beam plugged to my big battery but I usually also have a mini 12-volt battery along as back up in case my single main boat battery fails. Cell phone, plus people who know where you are and when you expect to return. Have a plan on how you'll find shelter in the wind comes up – solo surfing 4' rollers in the dark for a mile back to the landing in the dark in a 14' boat is a scary (terrifying) experience, but I bet your boat is much larger and safer.
Them's my ideas.
"Kingfisher" said:
I ask this question for all of us. What areas do I need to improve in to increase my average fish size.
There are lakes that I've fished quite often in the past just to catch lots of fish but if I want to catch only fish over 42 I'm not going to fish some of those lakes. This is probably going to sound too simple but you can't catch big fish if there aren't any big fish. We have many stocked lakes that you can't catch 50 fish for the year that average 43-45", the lakes simply don't have the number of big fish to allow this unless you catch the same one ten times. If I wanted to average 43-45" for the year my list of lakes would be pretty short.
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