Size Matters?

[Hawnjigs]

At a CO reservoir, was tossing my crappie go-to 1/16 #4 Sickle ball head prop jigs off the deepest part of the dam & got 3 nice ones 11-12" + some dinks but that required around 2 hours of search casting. A pair of local guys who obviously knew what they were doing trotted straight out to the spot I was at and proceeded to hammer the slabs on what they called "minners" which appeared to be tiny stick baits on 1/32 heads. They actually felt sorry for me not getting any & offered a spot between them to cast, but I just called it a day.

Observing that the 1/16 jigs(all I had) I used had to be retrieved much quicker than their 1/32s to keep from getting fouled with green bottom slime, I went back a coupla days later with my smallest trout jigs, black bou 1/32 ball and pink rabbit 1/32 tube head. The black ball didn't get any, but the slow twitched pink skinny got bit steady & about a dozen nice ones were C&Red in a short time.

Have others of you experienced this type of selective bite?

 

[CrappieHappy]

yep, i always have some 1/64, 1/32, etc. etc. and see what they want, sometimes they want a large profile bait, and sometimes they want a small profile bait.....

 

[toadfrog]

Early on a summer morning I started fishing 1/32 using a slip bobber by evening I had gone to an 1/8 oz on a beetle spin . Then the bite started to go for smaller stuff again. Sure was a peculiar day for me .

 

[hunter7711]

I use a 1/8 oz all the time. Spring, winter and fall. I'm single pole'un anywhere from 5 - 25 feet deep. I'll outfish all the guys that fish with me that use light jigs, because I can feel better with the heavier jig. Also, it gets me to the fish faster.

 

[jschmidt]

I can't speak from jig experience. But I run into this alot in all colorado lakes and rivers. I have heard many people say there is no magic lure, but boy do colorado fish get selective. In other parts of the country I have seen pike hit a beer can. I have had many days here I had to go down to a size 1 Rapala Countdown. not a common selection for pike fishing.

 

[Lost Pole]

"I use a 1/8 oz all the time. Spring, winter and fall. I'm single pole'un anywhere from 5 - 25 feet deep. I can feel better with the heavier jig. "

Me too. But imma see if jig rig can convert me this weekend.

 

[quivira kid]

Oh definitely.... There are definitely times where I think fall rate is more important than having a particular color on.

 

[Hawnjigs]

OK, I guess a slower fall and retrieve rate was critical for those crappie I mentioned, & maybe a smaller less agressive appearance profile.

But, here's the other end: throwing 1/16 #4 prop jigs over a several hundred yard stretch of CO mountain reservoir shoreline I caught 2 - 10" trout. Switching to a larger 1/12 #2 prop jig walking back thru the same area got 5 much larger trout up to 20". And, 1/8 jigs can apparently outfish smaller jigs for crappie(?) in the right hands.

 

[StumpHunter]

I use all the size jig heads. I like the 1/8 in the spring when the fish are holing tight to the bottom but as the water warms I will go to the 1/16 and then 1/32. I like the 1/24 for fishing docks and the 1/64 for the slow fall rate. I know some that will only fish with small heads and some that only fish the 1/8.

 

[Fatman]

Sure have, it's simply amazing how a simple change and they start hitting