Courtesy of www.rat-l-trap.com
Down sizing or up-sizing your lure can
make a big difference in your success any given
day.
One
of the most obvious reasons to change the size
of a lure is to “match the
hatch”.
Pay close attention to the size of the prey
the bass are feeding on. Shad come in all
sizes and
bass will gorge on them. If the shad are
large, go to a lure close to that size, and
vice versa.
Another
situation, when size matters, is
when weather conditions change. I’ve
seen times where a 1/2 oz Trap was working
great
early in
the morning, and a cold front passed through
and shut things down fast. The bite went
sluggish, as they say.
By going
to a larger Trap I was able to slow the lure
down and
give the fish a
bigger
target. The fish also moved into a little
deeper water
and the larger lure naturally dropped quicker.
It’s the perfect scenario for big
baits.
Now
on the opposite note, going to a smaller lure
can also improve your
catch.
I was
fishing a tournament a few years back and
the fish
were bunched up on a rock jetty - feeding
on small
shad. I first tied on a 3/4 oz Trap but
quickly found out there was rock all the
way down—keeping
me in the rocks instead of in the fish.
I
also noticed that they busted the shad
as the current pushed them along the jetty.
The bass weren’t really feeding on top; they
were gorging on them just underneath the
surface along the rocks. I tied on a 1/4 oz Chrome Rat-L-Trap
and by keeping my rod tip up, I was able
to rip the lure along the surface—dropping the
lure into the frenzy with my rod tip.
So
remember, the next time you’re out and
they get off a lure that was catching fish,
don’t
be so quick to change the type of lure.
Instead go to a different size and you just may be
surprised by the results. |
