Go Small for that Big Bite – Sometimes!!

By Jim Hudson

Well, if you know me well, the title to this article is an oxymoron. When targeting behemoth Trout on huge water systems like the Great Lakes who would think small? Small, what’s that? Yup, 99 percent of the time when you hear me talk or see me write about fishing, I talk about upsizing and power fishing for those big fish you are looking for out here, be it the open water or through the ice. But, through years of power fishing my way to the “hook-up”, there have been countless days when I scratched my head after the day was done, thinking to myself, should have I gone smaller? What if we downsized from ••• ounce spoons to 1/16 ounce hair jigs and stayed in one area and concentrated on the neutral fish instead of cutting hole after hole after hole, looking for the aggressive bite. It’s that age old’ question, should I leave or should I stay? And the conclusion I have come to: it’s a day to day decision when dealing with the top of the food chain predators, and it’s a decision we will learn from what the fish are telling us.

So what exactly are the fish telling us when they say “come on – show me something different and I will eat” or “get out of here and find my cousin”? Well, here is what I hypothesize. When fishing a particular good piece of structure, I already have it in my head that the fish will be there. I gather this information by first and foremost, having previous experience on the particular body of water I am fishing that day, or at times, just by having that “sixth” sense about a particular spot we drive up on. So, after drilling out a particular hole grid, I should see some sort of life from a fish or two as I put the graph down and drop a search bait to see what’s cooking after a few holes. Now, what these fish do and how they react to your bait is the key to unlocking the puzzle. Did you see multiple fish come in? Just a few sniffing around? Were those fish coming up to the bait quickly or checking it out twice or three times before leave? Were the fish slowly rising and turning away even before they got close to the bait? Big water Trout are notorious for doing all of these things mentioned, so how do we decipher the code?

In my experience, when the fish are moving semi-aggressive, coming in two or three times, and you are seeing this from multiple fish – it’s time to hunker down and downsize a bit. Now, for most folks I guide or fish with, it’s the opposite. Their thoughts? “Well, there will be hungry one, look at how these fish are moving, so let’s keep cutting and dropping to find that one that wants to eat”. And on the other spectrum; “Oh, these fish are moving slow, they must want something smaller or maybe even live bait”. But, through time on the water, it has been evident that we should just move on to find a more active school when they are slow risers or just show themselves without even moving on a bait. But, for those fish that do show a bit of activity, it’s time to flip over the Fish Trap and get to business.

On the business end, the lures we select for our downsize approach is key as well. For the most part, what works best to get bit by these big water cruisers is to go from one extreme to the other. We are talking of using a Pan Fish approach to Trout fishing. Wow, big leap in tactics, but it’s what we have to do to get it done. So, this means having another rod rigged to handle stuff we would be using when typically targeting Perch or larger Crappies through the ice, but having enough oomph to land tackle breaking fish. Beyond the custom rod craze, that a lot of folks use for this type of duty, look at the 26” Perch rod from the Jason Mitchell Elite Series, it is a great rod, and one that I use a lot for these tactics to land monster fish. But, for those that want a bit beefier stick, go with the 28” Walleye model from Jason Mitchell. For line, I exclusively use a superline for these downsizing approaches, as I want as much strength per the line diameter as I can. With the advent of Berkley’s new NanoFil, I can use 10lb test but still have a very thin diameter line for stealth purposes. Team this with a reel that balances well with the rod along with a reel that has a super clean drag. The smooth drag is a must, as we all know how Trout love to peel drag – well this will be even more prevalent now with a lighter rig in hand.

So, onto our lure selection. Remember, I said Pan Fish. But, we are not talking 100 ounce jigs or the miniature stuff we use when downsizing for ‘gills, more so the 1/16 ounce stuff and a bit bigger. Northland Tackle makes a bunch of great stuff for our miniature trout lure escapades. Small spoons like the Forage Minnow, Buckshot or Macho Minnow are the no brainers. The tiniest sizes though, and colors should match the same that are getting you chased around by the fish from those lures bigger counterparts. Also, the smallest Slurpies Fry Tails is a great downsize bait. A tube jig, but Pan Fish sized at 1.5 and 2 inches. Whistler Jigs and Thumper Jigs are awesome as well, and even with the small variety of these types of jigs, they have a stout hook that is needed to land trout up and over 20lbs. Plus they have a little bit of flair with the flash they send off with their added jewelry attached. Same goes with a couple of sleeper baits for this type of fishing, the Buck-A-Roo and Bug-A-Boo jigs. Combine the slow fall from the marabou of the Bug-a-Boo and the downsized approach with the 1/16 ounce variety – KILLER. Same goes with the flash and flow from the bucktail of a quivering Buck-A-Roo in the same size or a bit beefier in the 1/8 ouncer. All stellar baits for our downsizing missions and all types of baits that can handle the abuse a big trout will throw at you, due to their hook sizes and toughness. Something you always have to take into consideration when looking for downsized Trout bait.

Again, as we leave this article, the downsize approach is all relative to the day to day cues we see from our fishy friends. And is relative to the depth of water we fish for the species of Trout we are after. Here we discussed tactics to get you bit on big Trout that roam depths of 50 FOW or shallower, typically Brown Trout, Steelhead and Splake of the Great Lakes along with big Lake Trout of the inland water variety. But, downsizing is something we do just as well for the big Lake Trout we fish in depths over 50FOW to well over 200 FOW. But now, our lures downsize from 2 ounces to ••• ounce, and now we are fishing a medium action rod instead of a heavy action bait-caster set-up. But, either way, you get the picture, and for whatever Trout you are pursuing, when ya see them coming at ya fast and hard, but just won’t seal the deal on our bigger offerings, it’s time to downsize and throw ‘em a curve from our Pan Fish playbook and go small for that BIG BITE!

Editors Note: Author, Jim Hudson, is a member of our elite Clam Pro Staff, where he owns and operates the premier guide service on Lake Superior, Hudson’s On the Spot Guide Service. Also, Jim along with a host of other Clam Pro Staff educate new and experienced anglers through his Ice Roads on Ice Clinics. To learn more you can find Jim at: http://www.fishchequamegonbay.com or http://lrn2fish.com