By Mike Frisch
The sport of fishing seems to be in a sort of continuous technological revolution as boats/motors, electronics, and all the other gear we use to find and catch fish just keep getting better and better. Certainly all this “gadgetry” often makes finding and catching fish more efficient, but it is still important to remember that fishing can still be a simple sport.
Bob Jensen, longtime host of Fishing the Midwest television and a top-notch multi-species angler, and I were on a fishing outing several summers ago with Bob’s nephew that I will never forget because it served as such a good reminder to how keeping it simple can still lead to good fishing and good times spent on the water. Bob, his nephew, Sam, and I were moving down a weed line throwing “search baits” for bass. Our search baits consisted of spinnerbaits and crankbaits. These lures did a good job of allowing us to quickly cover water and pick off aggressive largemouth bass relating to the weed line. When a school of fish was found, we would catch several fish on those lures and then, when the bite tapered, we would slow up and pitch jigs tipped with various soft baits to tempt a few additional bites from each school. A simple jig head tipped with a small worm usually resulted in several more largemouth.
When that bite slowed, we would simply move up the weed line. A comment made during that fishing day further reinforced the simplicity of this fishing approach. Upon finding one active group of fish I made the comment, “I wonder why these fish are here?”
To which, Bob simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “they gotta be somewhere!”
It’s important to remember that while formulating “on-the-water strategies” and “adjusting to varying conditions” and the like is important, there are times when simplicity rules as well and that day was a good reminder.
Last summer I was on the water with Shane Gesell, an expert angler from Alexandria (MN). The plan was to use Forward Facing Sonar to find and catch walleyes. Three hours into our day, we had one walleye to show for our efforts. Shane said, “let’s go across the bay and see if the crappies that were there last week are still there.”
We made the move, rebaited our rods with small Shoo Shiner feather jigs and added a slip-bobber to our lines – a simple presentation. Shane’s first cast resulted in “bobber down” and the action stayed fast for a couple hours as the crappies really liked the Shoo Shiners.
On the way home I commented to Shane, “all the fancy electronics and other equipment and we resort to a simple feather jig under a slip-bobber.”
“Yep, and it still works,” was Shane’s comment.
Simple still works! Keep that in mind this summer and your catches will probably go up!
Mike Frisch hosts the popular Fishing the Midwest TV series on Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, and FanDuel Sports. Visit fishingthemidwest.com to see TV schedules and all things Fishing the Midwest!
PHOTO -Wally Marshall, Mr. Crappie, with a crappie caught on the Shoo Shiner Jig mentioned in this blog.
