Hungry or Curious? Does it Really Matter?

By Legendary Angler, Gary Roach - Mr. Walleye

angler There are only two reasons a fish doesn't bite. They're not hungry, or you haven't provided enough of a stimulus to get them to react. You see, there are two reasons a fish bites. They are either hungry, or they are reacting to a bait by striking it.

Fish don't have arms, so if they want to inspect something they have to grip it with their mouth. A fish might strike out of irritation, like when a lure is on their spawning bed, or they might perform a territorial strike if the lure is in their sanctuary. The result can be that fish getting hooked.

I recall a fishing trip on a muskie lake, where during a break a fishing buddy of mine pitched a crankbait out and let it sit while we were taking a sandwich break. The lure had only sat there for a couple of minutes when a muskie swam up to it and just sat there looking at it. Instead of a swirling crush that muskie just slowly opened its mouth and gently gripped the lure. This fish wasn't hungry, it was just curious.

I always set up my initial game plan with the assumption that the fish will be hungry when I get there. I've always figured that if you get a bait in front of a fish and keep it there long enough they will bite. It works for me most of the time.

Of course I have had a lot of practice with a live-bait rig. The Roach Rig is a live-bait rig that allows you to easily adjust the distance between the weight and the bait, which comes in handy when trying to find the right formula to generate a bite.

When rigging, your goal is to put a piece of meat, like a minnow, leech or nightcrawler right on the nose of whatever species you're after. If they're hungry they will eat it. The Roach Rig is the ultimate technique for presenting a bait to a hungry fish.

Jigs are also great lures to attract hungry fish. Tip a jig with live bait or a scented plastic trailer and get it into the zone where the fish are and if they're hungry they'll hit it.

Crankbaits now, they're duel-purpose lures. They will not only get hungry fish to react, but you can also generate those curiosity or reactionary strikes. That's the beauty of crankbaits. Fish will hit these lures, even when they're not hungry. With a slow presentation that is typical for live bait, if the fish is not going to eat, it's not going to take that bait.

Some anglers think that a crankbait has to be screaming past a fish to get it to react. That's not true. That lure just has to be moving. The key to getting a fish to hit a crankbait is to make sure you're getting that lure into the fish.

Speed is a factor. When trolling or casting a crankbait the speed that lure is moving is going to be one of the variables as to whether that fish will strike. Other variables are lure color, shape, action, and if the lure has rattles or not. You have to experiment with all these variables to find out what the right combination is to generate a strike. With a crankbait you never really know if the fish are hungry or if they are just reacting to the bait.

That is true with spoons as well. I have been in situation where a big pike would swim right past a sucker and hit a spoon. Spinnerbaits are reaction lures. So are in-line spinners and some topwater lures. You never know if a fish is taking a crack at these lures because they're hungry or they're curious or mad or just wanting to play with their food.

I would say that much of my fishing is done with the emphasis on targeting hungry fish. I use the Roach Rig often and I tie on plenty of jigs. But when those fish just don't seem to be hungry, it's time to tie on a lure that will get them to bite, even when they don't have eating on their mind.

When that muskie lipped that crankbait that was sitting on the surface, my buddy was pouring a cup of coffee and getting ready to finish his venison sandwich. I picked up the rod, set the hook and handed it to him. He spilled the coffee, choked on the sandwich and fell over to get to the rod. He finally just told me to land that "dang" muskie before he kills himself. It was a forty incher. A nice fish that got caught because he was curious. That curiosity didn't kill the cat, I mean muskie.. We took a picture and let it go.

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