Fish For The Biters

by Bob Jensen

Fishing is fun!  It’s important that we keep that in mind whenever we have the opportunity to go fishing.  Fishing is even more fun when we catch a few or a bunch of fish.  Or a big one.  We’ll increase our chances of catching a few, a bunch, or a truly big one if we remember to fish for the “biters”.  Here’s what that means.  

Some of us consider ourselves to be “walleye fishermen”, some are “bass fishermen”, others narrow it down even more and proclaim themselves to be a “jig fisherman”. However, there is a growing number of fishermen who consider themselves to be just that.   A “fisherman.”  It seems that most people who consider themselves to be a “fisherman” have more fun and, at the end of the day, will have caught more fish and probably will have had more fun.  That sounds like a good deal.  Here’s how you can be a fisherman.

When we begin our fishing outing, we need to have a plan.  On this day, our plan is to chase walleyes, and we’re going to start with jigs.  After an hour or so with minimal action, we switch to crankbaits.  Crankbaits aren’t working either.  At this point, a “walleye fisherman” would try live-bait rigs or slip-bobbers or some other proven walleye tactic.  But the walleyes are uncooperative on this day. Here’s where the “a fisherman” concept kicks in.  Instead of beating ourselves up trying to catch walleyes, let’s just try to catch something.  Most people who are “a fisherman” prefer to catch a bunch of crappies, bass, northern pike or whatever instead of not catching walleyes.

Different species of fish behave differently.  Often, when one species isn’t willing to bite, another species will.  Maybe a weather front has gone through and the air temperatures have dropped.  The sky is clear and the walleyes might go into a bit of a funk and not be interested in eating.  That’s when northern pike become the target.  They seem to like those conditions for eating, or at least they seem much more willing to play along than walleyes do.  

Some fish don’t seem to like to bite when the sun is shining, but smallmouth bass do.  If you’re on a lake that has a good smallmouth and walleye population, consider chasing walleyes early and later in the day and smallmouth at mid-day.  Chances are you’ll catch a lot more fish, and for most of us, that means a lot more fun.

Crappies are another species of fish that like low-light most of the year.  Get after the crappies early and late in the day, and if they don’t want to bite at mid-day, chase something else.

Along those same lines, don’t get hung up on one technique.  Sometimes fish of any species prefer a slow moving bait, other times they like something going faster.  If you know you’re on or around fish, but they won’t eat what you’re using, use something else.  Then again, this is one of those times where, if they’re being too picky, you’ll probably be ahead if you just switch to a different species of fish.

If you’re in a fishing tournament, you’re usually limited to fishing for one species of fish. When they’re not competing, tournament anglers oftentimes chase the species of fish that they chase when they are competing.  But if you’re like most of us, you go fishing just to feel something tug on your line.  If you focus your efforts on the fish that want to bite, you’ll feel those tugs a lot more often. 

Photo Caption—In some places, white bass will bite when nothing else wants to.

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