In many cases when fish are “off their feed,” a change needs to be made—and not necessarily a drastic change. It can often be nothing more than keeping the same lure and color but going to a different lure size. This is especially true when there are light strikes, or a few fish being caught, but the action sort of slows.

The following is what I’ve found on the different species with which I have had experience using lure size change.

Improved productivity of sunfish/bluegill and ring perch results are nearly always due to the downsize side of things. Rarely does the production improve when increasing the size.

Crappies are somewhat the same way, but catching larger crappies often improves with an increase in lure size. I’ve found this occurrence when finger jigging a T-Shad or Phat Shad; and then moving to a Lil Killer, which is a different design, but still having the straight tail to offer about the same, but larger, profile and tail action provided by the finger jigging method.

The black bass and white bass families can definitely go both ways, with the white bass leaning more to hitting on whatever is being served up for them to attack. One of the best examples for size change is a Rat-L-Trap, where you can drop to a Tiny Trap or go all the way up to a Magnum Trap. In most of my experience, the change between using a 1/4-ounce Mini Trap or a 1/2-ounce Original Trap in either direction has been significant. I’ve seen days when, in either direction, I’ll start with catching a few fish, and once I switch to the other size in the same color, the fishing will improve to the point where it is the “lure of the day.”

There have been very similar results with billed crankbaits, Blitz Blades, spinnerbaits, plastic worms and jig combos, where the same lure and color are found in various sizes. But in most cases, you don’t need to switch to the extreme sizes up or down to see a difference. For example, if you’re fishing something in the 3/8-ounce range, which is a good “in-between” size, you shouldn’t have to go more than to the 1/2-ounce size above or 1/8-ounce size below.

The time of year is another factor. In winter, it is normally downsizing, other than when pursuing larger crappies or bass; yet many times, I’ll upsize two to three sizes, such as with a Custom Jigs and Spins Tutso, where I’ll go from a size 10 to 6, or with a Ratfinkee, from a 10 to a 4.

As spring hits, it is also normally a case of downsizing, because what prey is available is smaller. Summer is a time where it goes both ways, depending on the day. As fall rolls around, larger sizes can be the trick; but as it gets later towards winter, after their initial fall feeding, start looking at downsizing. Just remember, this has been the general rule, and on any given day, because of water or weather conditions, a switch one way or the other can make the difference between a productive day and a less productive one.

If you have a day when you know the fish should be hitting, or they are hitting slow, but you are getting aggressive strikes, then change the size of the lure, and see if the strikes don’t start picking up.

Looking for some new fishing techniques to try this season? You’ll find plenty of suggestions in every issue of MidWest Outdoors. Subscribe on our website.