How to land the big one as a power fisherman

If I could fish with only one presentation, it would be a soft plastic bait on a jig head.

I readily admit that my strength as an angler is finesse fishing. It is also how I prefer to fish. When finesse fishing, an angler attempts to make a subtle presentation to a fish in as lifelike a manner as possible in the hope that after examining the bait, whether real or artificial, the fish will bite it.

As a fisherman, I think about this as fooling the fish into making a “conscious” decision to bite.

There are many situations, however, when finesse fishing is not the most productive technique.

If the fish are scattered over a large area, it is difficult to cover enough water efficiently to locate “biting” fish. Other times you may have to compete with an abundance of bait, creating a situation where the fish don’t need to feed aggressively — and, at times the fish aren’t really feeding at all, such as during weather or seasonal changes.

These conditions are when “power fishing” really shines. Not only will you catch more fish but possibly the biggest fish of the season.

When power fishing, the idea is to cover water with fast-moving presentations. This puts your presentation in front of more fish in a shorter period of time. It also does not give the fish time to examine your bait or lure forcing them to make a quick decision. More often than not this elicits an instinctual predatory response anglers refer to as a “reaction” strike.

Fishing guide Will Dykstra loves power fishing this time of the year for giant pike and trout on waters like Spinney Mountain, Eleven Mile and Tarryall reservoirs. He uses buzz baits, spinner baits, spoons and swim baits to boat numbers of 20-inch trout and his largest pike of the season, including one that would have easily broken the current state record (more than 30 pounds).

Fishing guide Brad Petersen said he trolls crankbaits upward of 3 miles an hour to catch walleyes on lakes like Boyd and other Front Range and Eastern plains lakes. Just this past week he caught a number of walleyes up to 25 inches. He also casts lipless crankbaits such as a Rat-L-Trap or a Rattlin’ Rap. Petersen suggested casting them as far as you can and letting them sink to the bottom. Then work them back to the boat with a rip-andpause action.

Both guides also cast a variety of other lures depending on the situation. They agree that “power fishing” can actually be easier for a casual angler to learn than finesse fishing, which in turn improves the odds of success.

You can do a type of power fishing with my favorite presentation, a jig and plastic, called snap jigging. Snap jigging typically involves using a heavier than normal jig head and aggressively snapping it up and letting it fall during a fairly fast retrieve.

If you are not doing some form of power fishing this time of the year, you are probably missing out on some great action.