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

Backus Lake Ice Will Be Off Soon

Day 128

My two man Bass Raider at Backus Lake summer 2012.

I drove to Backus Lake today. Surprisingly the road was in good shape. I assume there wasn't much traffic during the short winter and with the lower than normal snowfall the runoff did minor damage. There was plenty of dead fall across the road from the high winds, but they have already been cut back.

The ice is gone from the flooding area and the ice is half off the lake. No surprise there as Backus is a shallow lake, only about five feet at its deepest. With the lack off snowfall I can only hope there will be plenty of spring rain to fill the lake or at least maintain a decent level.

The mild winter should result in a low number of winter kill (the number of fish that die due to the lack of oxygen producing vegetation in winter). Some near record fish were being pulled out of both Houghton and Higgins lakes over the winter and I believe this trend will continue through the summer.

I can hardly wait to drop my small two man Bass Raider in at Backus Lake or Reedsburg Dam flooding. I don't expect to catch much until late May but it just feels good to be on the lake puttering around in my boat.

Once a sailor, always a sailor.

Until tomorrow,

Ken