Rain, rain, go away

I am sure we heard the song, it was probably written by someone that didn’t go fishing. The truth of the matter is, when the rain comes out the fish start biting. This was proven to a fishing buddy of mine when we were at Stirling Lodge in Canada this past fall.

The days all started out with bluebird skies with a few clouds, by the end of the day the clouds rolled in and it started to rain. When this happened I abandoned the jig and worm patterns and tied on some faster moving lures. The lures of choice for me were a Cavitron buzzbait, jerkbait, crankbait and spinnerbait. These covered the water column from top to about 15 feet. Most of the baits were in a natural color appearance this was due to the extremely clear waters we had. During the sunny skies in clear water the bass usually bury themselves into cover weather it is rocks, weeds or wood (docks included). Once the skies darken up and the rain starts to break up the water surface and the barometric pressure stars to drop, bass will start to move out to the edges of their cover. Usually bass will move out to the ledges and outside edges of weed and wood areas. Bass’s strike zone will also enlarge and be more apt to chase and look at a bait do to the fact that the lure is sort of disguised by the low/broken light conditions. You can use moving lures and not have to worry about placing the jigs, tubes and worms right in front of the faces to get them to bite.

Another factor is the time of year/season we were fishing and the size/color of the baitfish in the area. You want to try and match the size of bait with the size of the bait, smaller bait in spring time, larger bait in the fall. If the bass are feeding on bluegills and perch; you want to try blues, oranges, and yellows. If shad is the case; whites, silvers, with a bluish/black backs. If you’re in an area that has riprap or rocks don’t forget your crawfish colors, and try to bounce these baits more often on the cover to mimic the movement of crawfish. One trick I do to get more depth range out of my baits is to keep the tip of my rod in different angles, the higher you keep the rod top the shallower the bait will run, the lower the rod tip the deeper the bait runs. I use this technique if I only have 1 or 2 rods rigged up with crankbaits or spinnerbaits.

Some other equipment I will use is a pair of glasses usually with a brown tint, rain gear and I will also pack a set of dry clothes; you just never know.

So if you don’t mind getting wet. Go out on your favorite lake and try these tips and hopefully you’ll have a good day on the water. Remember fish don’t mind getting wet

Fishon Fishhard

Harold “Howie” Range