While fishing Lake Gaston in mid to late March I had been throwing a red colored lipless crankbait. My fishing partner was throwing spinnerbaits. The water temp was 53 to 56 degrees, under partly cloudy conditions. We caught some smaller fish during the day on other presentations, such as jigs on boat docks.
The wind increased in velocity, so we started fishing flats, looking for active feeders while still throwing a red lipless crankbait. I received several short strikes where an old roadbed intersects a flat. The short strikes told me I was either reeling too fast or I was throwing the wrong color. I didn’t think I was reeling too fast for the water temp so I immediately switched to a gold lipless crankbait. The next 10 minutes, my partner and I caught a whole new limit of fish.
Paying attention to my lure speed, wind, and time of day, told me I was not reeling too fast. As an experiment, I changed colors and became more successful. I could of changed baits all together, but a lipless crankbait is such an efficient search tool, my confidence remained high in this lure. By listening to the fish, I didn’t have to change areas or baits, and maximized the use of my time.
-Stan Cobb