Leeches, Night Crawlers, Minnows or Artificial?

Day 202

I just saw a picture of an angler who caught a 24" walleye, using leeches, on Houghton Lake. It wasn't me. I'm rather squeamish concerning leeches. My brother uses them but complains their hard to put on the hook.

Many people swear by leeches. I can't see the difference in shape and color from a nightcrawler. I must assume the leech moves differently in the water. Fish are attracted by motion.

Nightcrawlers come from earth but will wiggle around in water for a short time. Leeches are water dwellers and will "swim" if put on the hook properly, for a longer time.

My father always swore by small minnows. His favorite fish was perch. I've never had much success with minnows. It seems no matter how I put a minnow on the hook, the hook ends up bare and I don't have a fish. I've hooked them through the lips. I've hooked them through the middle. I've never hooked a minnow through the tail, maybe that would work.

Other than my lack of success with minnows, they just don't last. With an aerator they last a couple of days. Without an aerator they only last hours.

I have great success with nightcrawlers. When bottom fishing with a panfish rig, I use a small piece of worm, thereby I stretch out a dozen crawlers over several fishing trips. I've kept nightcrawlers in my fridge for over a month. If you try this I suggest taking them outside before opening the container to check them, Once dead they decompose quickly and stink something awful.

Here are some other ways to put the bait on the hook.

Artificial bait.

My dad never used artificial bait when fishing with me. He may have when fishing with my brothers, but by the time he got me out there, it was just panfish rigs with two separate hooks and live bait, fished off the bottom. I accidentally discovered bottom bouncing because I was always lifting and dropping my pole to feel the sinker hit the bottom. I usually caught the most fish. Of course, my dad sleeping didn't help his catch numbers.

Now I like to troll with a 2 hook spinner rig. Often, as I troll along, I can feel small fish tugging at the end of the bait. If I was to use a live bait, it would be gone a piece at a time.

Instead, I use an artificial bait that resembles a fat nightcrawler called a shimmy stick. It wiggles as it moves through the water and unlike plastic it has a real feel to it. This causes the fish to keep the bait in it's mouth longer.

Once the fish decides your bait isn't food, it will spit it out. This can take just a few seconds. So you want to use an artificial bait that looks and "feels" like the real thing, so the fish will keep the bait in it's mouth long enough for you to set the hook. I have caught a lot of big fish with this rig.

Another of my favorite artificial bait rigs for trolling is a combination jighead set inside a white shad with a swim tail. I know I wrote I don't have success with minnows, but that's live minnows on a panfish rig. This is trolling while on a shallow lake with an artificial. It works well for bass and northern pike.

I haven't been out yet on either of the two smaller lakes that I like to fish in my two man Bass Raider boat. But I will soon. The winter was mild so the winter kill should be low. That means fewer fish have died during the winter months due to lack of oxygen caused by thick ice.

It's going to be great year for fishing.

Until tomorrow,

Ken