“ I could see quality fish in the brush piles ,” he said . “ But when I ’ d flip in a jig or Texas rig , they ’ d scatter . I ended up pitching a drop-shot and shaky head to catch a lot of my key fish .
“ It was all about that smaller profile that was less intrusive , and you ’ re only going to see it more and more with the better electronics and the pressure these fish get .”
What is “ small ?”
Size is always relative . A 7-year-old is gigantic next to a 2-year-old , but to an adult , a 7-year-old is tiny . The 7-year-old didn ’ t change , but the perspective did , and that ’ s what matters .
It ’ s easy to get caught up in only thinking about the physical size of a lure when talking about downsizing , but it can actually fall into multiple categories . Remember , we ’ re talking about how intrusive a presentation is to a bass .
FALL FISHING can be some of the toughest of the year for a simple reason : the size of the bait bass are chasing .
With the young-of-the-year shad flooding the system , bass have so much of the real stuff swimming around that it ’ s hard to get them to eat our fake stuff . Plus , those tiny shad are far smaller than most anglers ’ offerings . And even if you can find a tiny offering , casting it can be a royal pain .
Fortunately , there are ways to appear small without actually decreasing the size of your offering .
“ I remember when we had the TITLE on Wheeler in August ,” said MLF pro Jeremy Lawyer . “ There was a late shad spawn and there were tons of tiny 1-inch shad swimming around . Everyone was downsizing , because the smaller you went , the bigger the fish got . I was throwing hair jigs and a tiny homemade jigging spoon , but what I also did was switch to a 1 / 4-ounce spinnerbait with little double willows . Those tiny blade perfectly mimicked those tiny shad .”
Another trick is throwing a translucent color or adding a feathered treble hook . The see-through color doesn ’ t allow the bass to see much , which can make it appear smaller , and an added feathered treble is the perfect tiny target .
offerings . Which begs the question : Is that a fluke ? Not if you ask Sprague . In fact , he feels you ’ re only going to see a lot more of it in coming years .
“ With what I ’ m seeing every day on my Lowrance ActiveTarget , ( smaller presentations ) are definitely not going away ,” Sprague said . “ It ’ s the fishing pressure . These fish know what ’ s up .”
According to Sprague , what he ’ s seeing on his sonar are fish actually “ running for their lives ” when larger presentations come near them . And by larger , we ’ re not just talking size . We ’ re also talking vibration , profile and action . So , from this point on in this article , when referencing “ larger offerings ,” think loud and / or intrusive .
Sprague finished fifth at Stage One thanks in large part to him downsizing to catch bigger fish .
Physical size / profile : This can mean going from a 6- inch soft plastic stick bait to a 4-inch version , but it can also mean changing profiles . The slender body of a jerkbait is far less intrusive than a fatter crankbait . The same goes for a Texas rig compared to a jig , and a shaky head compared to the Texas rig , and a drop-shot compared to a shaky head .
“ Smaller-profile offerings are less intrusive and look more natural ,” Sprague said . “ The fish are not going to be as intimidated . Yeah , there are times of year they want to eat bigger baits , but a lot of times the smaller stuff will get a lot more looks .”
Vibration : Remember Howell ’ s 12-14 referenced earlier ? A big reason he caught that fish was that he was paying close attention to vibration . While he easily could ’ ve been flipping a Texas-rigged creature or craw to the brush he was fishing , the tough bite meant he opted for the more subtle Senko because it was less intrusive . And as we ’ ve stressed , less intrusive means more looks from fish , including giants .
Sprague has watched fish in grass scatter out of the way of a vibrating jig only to eat a swimbait the same size because it was less intrusive . The same thing went for Carolina rigs , where if everyone is throwing a creature or lizard , he ’ ll go with a ring fry because it ’ s the same size but far more subtle in action .
You don ’ t need to actually decrease the physical size of a bait sometimes to make an offering less intrusive . When Latimer won a Pro Circuit event at Lake Seminole , he spent the final day flipping a Z-Man Palmetto BugZ , which is only 3 1 / 2 inches long .
“ Don ’ t let it fool you because it ’ s short ,” Latimer said . “ It has a big vibration , which I needed as the water in my area got dirtier . But what never got on camera was me getting to Championship Sunday fishing a 6-inch weightless stick bait when the water was clear .”
Weight : This might seem like an odd one , but it ’ s actually the thing both Latimer and Sprague brought up first when it comes to downsizing .
64 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | APRIL-MAY 2022