How To Increase The Number of Bass You Catch

By: RON KRUGER

It's a little known secret: mostly ignored because of the quest for quality.

Everyone waants to catch big fish, so they use big baits. Lure manufacturers produce them and tournament winners promote them, so most everyone not only buys into the "big bait equals big fish" mentality, it is the standard by which fishing is measured.

The standard jig 'n' pig combination is the size of a lobster, not the crawfish they are supposed to represent. The standard spinnerbait presents a silhouette only matched by the largest shad in our lakes, plastic worms are the size of snakes and on and on. All of the widely used lures of today are big baits, and they seem to get bigger every year.

A few seasoned fishermen often revert to smaller baits and lighter line when the fishing gets tough, but most fishermen keep on lobbing monster meals throughout a fishless day, doing everything they can to figure out why the fish aren't biting - except trying to offer them a more manageable meal that resembles the size of a bass' standard fare.

If you're fishing in a tournament, where only big fish count, insisting upon using only baits that more than double the size of natural foods available makes some sense, I suppose, but the vast majority of fishing is for fun, and the cast majority of fishermen just like to catch fish, considering big fish a bonus.

I realized this years ago when I was guiding full time. Downsizing to smaller baits often saved the day with some action. Even a few little fish is much better tahn no fish, and for the last decade or so of fishing for the fun of it, I've found myself gradually downsizing from the standard hardware because I just like to catch fish.

The irony is, I still catch a good share of big fish. I also realized from fishing every day as a business, that big fish don't only eat big meals. They like snacks too. Bass of over five pound often ate our tiny baits during crappie season, and occasionally we lost some really huge bass that proved too strong for our tackle.

So most of my baits and tackle today is a compromise between the high-end, heavy-duty tournament tackle and the low-end ultra-light crappie equipment.

I use spinning gear more than baitcasting tackle these days, because it handles 10-pound-test line and smaller baits better, and even when I use baitcasting, I rarely cast jigs over one-quarter ounce or use worms over six-inches long.

I went from one-quarter ounce bullet weights with plastic worms, to one-eight ounce because I found the lighter presentation and slower fall interested far more bass, and for the last few years, I have greatly increased my catch by using no weight at all with Mann's Hard Nose plastic baits whenever bass are shallow. I prefer smaller crankbaits and spinnerbaits over the magnum stuff and even have come to prefer smaller topwater lures.

The reason is simple: I catch a lot more fish this way.

I might not fish this way so often if I was still fishing tournaments, and I don't expect the run-and-gun crowd to take my downsizing advice seriously. I'm writing about this for the majority of fishermen who are in it for the fun and jost don't realize that the publicized and common baits filling the tackle shelves are not designed to catch the most fish - just the biggest.

I start out with relatively light stuff and if the fishing is tough, I go even lighter, with six-ound-test line and miniature versions of worms, jigs, crankbits, spinnerbaits and topwater lures.

My favorites among the miniature are Sliders, Tiny Traps, Road Runners and small spinners, such as Mepps and Beetle Spins.

This is what really catches the most fish. On the light tackle needed to handle these thin lines and tiny baits, every fish is rod throbbing fun, and all bass over 15-inches long (more common than you might think) are a handful.