"Match the hatch"

[mhoffman]

So I have heard and read so many times to "match the hatch" when it comes to bait selection and color. I've always wondered and I'm looking to some of you with lots of experience to figure out what is the best way to know what "the hatch" is, as in what type of bait fish are dominant and fed on in your respective fishing water? I mostly fish for and target bass, and do so in a variety of waters. So, how do you really know what type of bait fish are there and are being fed on? Any feedback is appreciated.

[Yak Fish]

For stripers, the lures I use are a direct result of seeing what the baitfish are at the time of year, and from stomach contents when I do harvest one. That's the best way. If you have my book, look at page 78. That'll tell you a lot about why I use the lures I do.

[bunnielab]

I spoke with a guy this summer while bank fishing for bass. He used a small cast net to inspect what was in the river that day, then chose his lures accordingly. It seemed to work well for him and the advice he gave me was spot on. Dealing with the the wet net seems like it would be a pain if you were moving around a lot, but this guy said something to the effect of "at my age, I move so slow the net has plenty of time to dry".

One of my "projects" this winter is to finish a micro-fishing rig based around a $6 tankara pole I bought on a whim. In addition to being an ultralight weight hiking accessory I want to use it to catch small minnows and the like to see what my local waters hold.

[reddogge]

Since bass are so opportunistic they will hit anything when hungry whether it resembles a local baitfish or not. In the Potomac they will kill a Rayburn red One Knocker plug which doesn't resemble any baitfish in the river. They will also attack green pumkin Senkos. I think with bass it has more to do with visibility than matching a particular baitfish. I find rockfish a little more particular for color.

[Mark]

Many lures and flies I use look nothing like a living creature that a striper, white perch, bass, pickerel, etc. would eat. In fact, they look and feel like nothing that swims or crawls through the water. Some are made of lead and hair with metal swivels and blades attached. I’d say that knocks realism and taste out of the criteria our target fish use to select what they bite.

I believe most of the fish we chase with our kayaks are opportunistic feeders attracted by nearby motion. If something making a sound or vibration gets close they strike at it instinctually. That’s why casting to or trolling through fish is so important. It’s trite but it really helps to fish where the fish are! It’s much more important than matching the hatch in my opinion.

Odor is a factor given the popularity of Gulp. But I’ve never been a fan of Gulp (expensive and messy) and I catch plenty of fish with unscented plastics.

The fish I seek have often demonstrated a color preference but how do you explain chartreuse? Is anything chartreuse (and nutritional to a fish) living in the water? I think not. Yet we all know it is a very successful lure color.

So matching the hatch is not something I consider when I kayak fish. I use lures that I have experience with and confidence in. I experiment somewhat with color or other small modifications, especially when I make my own lures or flies. But I stay with the same proven forms for conventional tackle – jigs, spinners, plugs and for flies – mostly streamers and poppers. I don’t worry that they often look nothing like the creatures my target fish eat naturally.

However, I do believe the concept of matching the hatch can be helpful to catching when an overwhelmingly large hatch is underway. A white miller hatch on the upper Potomac will make small white poppers more attractive to smallmouth. And I’ve watched with great frustration as browns and rainbows rose to my elk hair caddis in the Yellow Breeches and didn’t strike because my imitation was not to their liking with so many real offerings present. I know a May worm hatch occurs in the Bay but I’ve never altered my lures to approximate it. Fortunately, stripers and white perch seem to be far less choosy than browns and rainbows and they have not forced me to seek a May worm imitation.

So I concentrate more on mastering the use of a few lure forms rather than trying to figure out what natural foods fish may be eating at the particular moment I am fishing for them.

[Yak Fish]

Many lures and flies I use look nothing like a living creature that a striper, white perch, bass, pickerel, etc. would eat. In fact, they look and feel like nothing that swims or crawls through the water. Some are made of lead and hair with metal swivels and blades attached. I’d say that knocks realism and taste out of the criteria our target fish use to select what they bite.

I believe most of the fish we chase with our kayaks are opportunistic feeders attracted by nearby motion. If something making a sound or vibration gets close they strike at it instinctually. That’s why casting to or trolling through fish is so important. It’s trite but it really helps to fish where the fish are! It’s much more important than matching the hatch in my opinion.

Odor is a factor given the popularity of Gulp. But I’ve never been a fan of Gulp (expensive and messy) and I catch plenty of fish with unscented plastics.

The fish I seek have often demonstrated a color preference but how do you explain chartreuse? Is anything chartreuse (and nutritional to a fish) living in the water? I think not. Yet we all know it is a very successful lure color.

So matching the hatch is not something I consider when I kayak fish. I use lures that I have experience with and confidence in. I experiment somewhat with color or other small modifications, especially when I make my own lures or flies. But I stay with the same proven forms for conventional tackle – jigs, spinners, plugs and for flies – mostly streamers and poppers. I don’t worry that they often look nothing like the creatures my target fish eat naturally.

However, I do believe the concept of matching the hatch can be helpful to catching when an overwhelmingly large hatch is underway. A white miller hatch on the upper Potomac will make small white poppers more attractive to smallmouth. And I’ve watched with great frustration as browns and rainbows rose to my elk hair caddis in the Yellow Breeches and didn’t strike because my imitation was not to their liking with so many real offerings present. I know a May worm hatch occurs in the Bay but I’ve never altered my lures to approximate it. Fortunately, stripers and white perch seem to be far less choosy than browns and rainbows and they have not forced me to seek a May worm imitation.

So I concentrate more on mastering the use of a few lure forms rather than trying to figure out what natural foods fish may be eating at the particular moment I am fishing for them.

I love ya Mark, but I actually respectfully disagree with about half of this and agree with the other. That's only based on my experience, you certainly have experience it seems to the contrary so that's all valuable insight.

I've found that your best chances are to appeal to strike triggers. A falling lure is one of those as it replicates a dying or wounded fish. If it's of similar size to the baitfish out there, you're in for a hit....even if by appearance it doesn't look like something they eat. It just has to trigger a response to something they recognize. If your lure is too small, it may not get hit at all. The same thing if it's too big. I find that size of the lure is extremely important, which is based on what they are eating. In the fall with massive amounts of baitfish, I use my rigs that look exactly like the schooling baitfish in size and form, and they out fish my other lures at that time of year. That's not true in other times of year however.

As far as color, I've never found it to make a difference, but you have so that's interesting. I generally stick to natural colors, but I will use a chartruse and it catches just fine. But yeah, it doesn't look like anything down there. Remember though, it's murky and dark so they only get a split second to make a decision on attacking a lure. If it's close enough, it usually gets the job done.

I don't use Gulp either, too darn messy!

There are other subtleties to matching the hatch. For example, when rockfish are chasing shad up river, they typically only hit a lure moving up river, and that is contrary to almost every other time they hit a bait.

What all this tells me is that they are certainly looking for something that fits a certain description. It doesn't have to be an exact match because they have to make a split second decision, but if it's close, I think that's when you really get it dialed in.

Since we both see it slightly different ways and neither one of us is a fish, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle :-)

[J.A. Veil]

Mark and Alan provided thoughtful replies to the question. I don't have much to add here, but will note that often I can get stubborn fish to bite by reducing the size of the lure I am throwing or trolling. I start out with a lure size range and profile in mind and see how it works. If the fish are not biting, I may try a different color, but eventually I often move down in size and start getting hits.

However, just yesterday I observed the opposite trend. I was fishing on grass flats near the mouth of Tampa Bay using a 3" paddletail and having a lackluster day. After 4 hours, I had caught 17 speckled trout, none larger than 15". At the last stop of the day, I switched over to a 5" slender lure (Slam R). I caught 7 more specs in the final 20 minutes, including the two largest of the day (16.5" and 18").

As Alan noted, none of us are fish -- all we can do is observe, draw conclusions, and try to predict. A good take away message is to start with a lure size/type plan and see how it works. Be prepared to change the length, color, and/or side profile if your original plan is not giving you the desired results. Some days we guess well, and others we guess poorly.

[Mark]

Great discussion.

I enjoy different perspectives respectfully addressed. Thanks for that.

That's an interesting note Allen about direction of the strike. I've found that direction is important true even in casting. Sometimes if I work one side of a pool or piece of structure and get no hits, I move to the other side and try from that angle on the supposition that fish are probably indeed hiding there. A simple change in the direction of the lure through the same area of water may entice a strike.

And I have downsized on occasion, John, to encourage a strike. A big lure does not always lead to a fish or a big fish.

But overall I am rarely cognizant of what my catches may be feeding on. I'm grateful that their predatory instincts often overcome my own shortcomings in observation!