Gary Engberg Outdoors

Try Other Species by Bob Jensen

gengberg June 19th, 2009

Try Other Species Many anglers have a specie of fish that they prefer to chase. Some folks focus all their fishing energies on bass, others like muskies. Across the Midwest a bunch of fishing people like to go mostly after walleyes. Having a fish that you really enjoy chasing is a good thing, but it can also be kind of limiting. There are days when, walleyes for example, just aren’t as aggressive as they are at other times. And, if they’re not aggressive, you’re not going to have as much action. That’s when you might want to try catching a different species of fish.

Fish get tough to catch for different reasons. It might be a weather thing, or they might be in the middle of the spawning season. For whatever reason, they just aren’t as willing to eat your bait or anything else. However, not all fish are as affected by weather as others, and not all fish are doing the same thing at the same time. Walleyes in some bodies of water can be put off the bite by an adverse weather system, while northern pike in the same body of water will continue to eat. That’s when you might want to consider focusing on catching northern pike.

Similarly, when the walleyes are spawning, they don’t eat as aggressively. However, largemouth bass spawn after walleyes. When the walleyes are not eating because they’re spawning, the bass will be willing to eat. That’s when you might want to consider focusing on catching largemouth bass.

The Midwest has a good number of what some folks might consider to be “secondary” species of fish. These are fish that are abundant in many areas, but don’t get fished for very much. Some would consider catfish, white bass, yellow bass, maybe even northern pike to be “secondary” species of fish. It doesn’t make them less fun to catch; it just means that they don’t get fished for as much as the more desired species like walleyes, bass, crappies, and perch.

I just returned from a trip to Lewis and Clark Lake near Yankton South Dakota. We were fishing for walleyes, and we were catching them pretty good. Nice ones too.

But every now and then a white bass would take our bait. A good number of them were those big white bass with blue fins. Really fun fish to catch. There are a good number of lakes across the Midwest that have big populations of white bass. If you live near one of those bodies of water, you should devote a day to white bass fishing. The white bass bite can be outstanding in mid-summer, a time when other species of fish can be more challenging. I promise you, it’s more fun to catch a bunch of white bass than not catch any walleyes.

If you just want to catch fish, it’s tough to beat a jig anytime of the year. A Fire-Ball jig with a minnow in the spring, or a Slurp Jig! with the appropriate Gulp! or PowerBait in the summer will appeal to a wide variety of fish.

This fishing season devote a day to chasing a specie of fish you don’t ordinarily chase. If you do that once, I bet you’ll do it again.

–Bob Jensen
Jensen is the host of Fishing the Midwest Television. You can catch all the 2009 episodes of Fishing the Midwest television on WalleyeCentral.com or MyOutdoorTv.com.