Diamond Hone

Fishing for bass, but northerns often cutting my line?

I am wondering if there is anything I can do about northerns taking my lures/soft baits instead of bass, and cutting the line? I am using 10 lb test fireline, and a northern can cut the line with its teeth as quickly as a diamond-honed knife. Amazing. All our lakes have plenty of northerns, so there is no getting around them. I’m in central MN.
I use leaders when I am specifically fishing for northerns in spring before bass season opens, but I am really fishing for bass right now. Just happen to get northerns biting.

Well, this time of year in MN the water begins to cool down and the Northerns that have basically been in deeper water or in thick weeds all Summer begin to “roam” the shallows once again.

Like you say, “there is no getting around them” EXCEPT:

1. Don’t fish where the Northerns are- Deep, green, weedlines CAN hold Bass this time of year, BUT docks are still a viable structure right now. Very rarely will Northerns station themselves on a dock. So, try fishing docks!

(I just came in 2nd place in a tourney on Lake Minnewawa, near Mcgregor, last Saturday and we won by fishing DOCKS! We were fishing against 16 other teams- most teams wrongly assumed the fish would be deep because it was cold and rainy all last week. We had 17.4LB of fish, (for 6 fish)!!! Wish me luck for this Sat’s Sturgeon Lake T! It should be fun.)

Will the Bass be on every dock on every shoreline? No. They will gang-up on a set of particular docks around/near main lake structure and main lake points. Find some likely docks on Google Maps, (use the satellite feature) and quickly move through a set of docks Pitching & Flippin’ until you find a dock that has a fish on it. SLOW down once you hit a Bass and fish that dock thoroughly. Usually, a dock that has 1 fish, will have 2-4 more! Furthermore, if you RETURN to that same set of docks in an hour usually they will produce again….

Best lures for dock fishing?????- 1/4-3/8 OZ weedless Bass Jigs with a 4″ trailer, Texas-rigged/Wacky-rigged Worms, and Texas-rigged Lizards.

Here’s a nice color and trailer for this time of year for your Jig. Get the “Sprayed Grass” color- http://www.tackleexperts.com/paca-craw-p-111750.html

Try to match the Jig and trailer color.

2. Fish SLOW moving lures- Pike tend to hit lures that are moving through the water quickly. If your using, (say), a Wacky-rigged worm or a Jig/Pig, those types of lures won’t intrigue a Pike as much as a Crank or a Spinnerbait, (because they require you to fish slower to be effective).

So, if you stay on the docks and fish slower moving lures it should cut down the amount of pesky Snakes your catching.

Otherwise, your going to have to hunt down some South Bend , Invisi-leaders- http://www.shopwiki.com/_South+Bend+Sporting+Goods+IL-518+Invisa-Leader+Flexible+Leader?s=3885&o=1034736291

Those are the best wire leaders for lures…….

By the way- When the Noretherns get past the 36″ size they aren’t so bad to catch!!!! (lol)

Hope this helps ya? And good luck!

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