By Mike Frisch and the Fishing the Midwest Team
With age and experience, I would like to think I have gotten to be a better angler. Some of my recent fishing seasons have, in fact, been some of my most successful. I do recognize that many of the waters I fish are as healthy as they have ever been regarding fish populations and the fishing equipment we use has certainly gotten better. Another thing that has helped is that the increased experience of every fishing season has helped me be more in tune to the conditions I experience on the water and how to best react to changes in those conditions. Here’s what I mean.
A few summers back I was on Kabetogama Lake in northern Minnesota with local fishing guide Tim Snyder. First, “KAB” is great place to visit, with its undeveloped shorelines and beautiful Northwoods scenery. It’s also a world class multi-species fishery with abundant walleyes, lots of bass, big crappies and more!
On this day, Tim and I were chasing walleyes. It was early June and the water temperatures in the lake were still on the rise from spring. Conventional walleye wisdom says that when fishing live bait during the cooler water periods of spring and fall the fish often prefer minnows, while the warm water months of summer see better action on leeches and nightcrawlers. Snyder and I had very productive fishing the day before using minnows fished on jigs and slip-sinker live bait rigs. The morning of this day had been good as well; we had caught a bunch of walleyes of various sizes, including several “overs,” fish in the lake’s protected 18- to 26-inch size slot.
Late morning, however, the breeze of early morning ceased, and the sun poked out. With that, the fishing slowed. Noting the changing conditions, Tim switched to a leech and I baited my rig with a crawler. It wasn’t long and he had a chunky walleye and then another. I quickly switched to a leech and got in on the action. What changed? The water temperature from the morning’s low quickly rose with the increased sun exposure and the walleyes’ preference in live baits changed with it. A simple bait change saved the day.
Later that fall a partner and I were on one of our favorite bass lakes near our homes. We had good fishing for largemouth bass on this sunny, calm day by throwing a couple of our favorite plastics, Rage Craws and Rage Scounbugs, on Texas rigs.
Mid-afternoon, however, a weather front moved in bringing clouds and wind and our action slowed. Largemouth bass under bright, calm conditions often tuck tight to vegetation and pitching soft plastics to good vegetation often yields good fishing. When the winds blow and clouds set in, those same bass often get a bit higher in the water and roam more. Sensing this change, my partner and I changed to “moving baits” – he to a bladed swim jig and me to a squarebill crankbait. It wasn’t long and I caught several chunky largemouth throwing a KVD 4.0 squarebill over the same weeds we had fished our plastics through earlier. My partner changed to the same bait and quickly got in on the action. Again, a simple change that paid good results.
As you can see, staying in tune to changing conditions and reacting can help save a day on the water. Good luck this coming season and as always remember to include a youngster in your next outdoors adventure!
Mike Frisch hosts the popular Fishing the Midwest TV series. Visit www.fishingthemidwest.com to learn more.
**For anglers wishing more information regarding Lake Kabetogama, please visit https://kabetogama.com/
PHOTO – Mike Frisch lands a chunky largemouth bass. Staying in tune to changing conditions on the water is important to fishing success, regardless the species pursued.
