Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3807 Mar 15-29 2019 | Page 8

6 FRESHWATER March 15 - 29, 2019 VOL.38 • ISS. 7 Spring Tackle Prep! < Fish Sniffer editor Cal Kellogg does a lot of fast, aggressive trolling for trout. For this work 6-inch Sling Blade Dodgers, large Hum Dingers and Speedy Shiners will be staples. ^ When fishing lakes where the trout spend a lot of time feeding on insects or anytime the trout bite turns tough Cal likes to downsize his lures. When it’s time to go small and stealthy Cal will break out his collection of small and medium size Dick Nite Spoons like the ones shown here. > Yo-Zuri Hardcore Crankbaits in shallow and medium running models will be an important part of Cal’s black bass fishing gear. At big reservoirs that feature a lot of shad, Cal will be using shad pattern cranks. At smaller lakes with lots of bluegill and crawfish, Cal will adjust the finish of his crankbaits accordingly. ^ For stripers and trophy size black bass Cal will be working a variety of soft and hard body swimbaits. Savage Gear Glide Swimers like the one shown here will be part of Cal’s arsenal. Trout finish baits are a good bet, even in waters that don’t have any trout. presents Gearing Up For Spring! W ith snow flying outside, Lucy the Labrador and I have been spending time in the garage watching YouTube on the IPad and gearing up for the spring fishing season. My first objective was to go over my Hobie Pro Angler 14 kayak. I made sure our life jackets were in perfect condition, checked all the rod mounts and inspected the cable on the Scotty downrigger. In terms of the kayak, the most notable change was the addition of another GoPro Camera and a custom made mount that will allow me to continuously film down on the kayak from behind or from the bow, adding another dimension to my fishing videos. Right out of the box this spring I’m going to be targeting trout, black bass and stripers. I won’t bore you with the tried and true stuff I run every year. Instead, let’s chat about the new stuff I’m going to play with or the stuff that I’m especially excited about using. Here we go, I’m going to ramble… Trout My rods for leadcore and topline trolling will remain Vance’s tackle 7 foot spiral wrapped rods. They perform perfectly for me. All of those rods are topped with Abu Garcia 5500 line counter reels. They are bullet proof. Toss in a spinning rod mated with a 30 size Abu Cardinal spinning reel spooled with 8-pound fluorocarbon and we’ve got the rods covered. My basic philosophy of “go big, go fast” won’t change. I’ll be pounding the fish with Yo-Zuri Minnows, magnum Hum Dingers and Speedy Shiners. For dodgers, I’ll be running Sling Blades primarily in the 6-inch size. Chrome/blue, chrome/green and watermelon will be my primary colors. Last week I got a package I’ve been waiting for. Inside was a collection of small and medium size Dick Nite Spoons. Last year the second biggest wild rainbow I caught, a robust 23 incher, grabbed a tiny gold and red Dick Nite. When the going gets tough or when I’m fishing a lake such as Davis where the fish feed heavily on bugs, I like to go small and few offerings go small as well as a Dick Nite Spoon. I’ve got brass, chrome and copper models, some “red butt” models and a few pure black spoons. I’ve always done well on small black woolly buggers and I expect the same kind of perfor- mance from the “black Nites” … Beyond spoons, I’m going to spend time learning more about trolling with Arctic Fox Flies. I got a 7-pound wild rainbow on an Arctic Fox last year and a bunch of trout in the 16 to 20-inch class. I’ve just scratched the surface with these deadly effective flies and I’ve got a lot more to learn! Part of my trout fishing time this spring is going to be spent in search of a big bad mackinaw, not only do they look great in photos but they offer great eating too. Undoubtedly, I’ll be pulling Flatfish and other plugs off my downrigger, but I’m also going to do some vertical jigging with some 1 to 3-ounce P-Line Lazer Minnows. I’ve got a small selection of Lazer Minnows in baitfish and glow white colors. Finally, I’ve got a few Rapala Jigging Raps, basically a lead Rapala designed for vertical jigging. I think these lures will be effective on macks, rainbows, kings and even spotted bass. I’m really looking forward to playing with these interesting looking lures. If they are half as good as the standby Rapala Floating Minnows, they will put a lot of fish into the kayak! FISH SNIFFER HOW – TO by Cal Kellogg CONTINUED ON PG 21