Nice job Jax............glad you pitched in. The "tip of the month" certainly creates a starting point for conversation. I would like to see a "Camping Tip of the month" to but that is not my area of speciality. I used KF's twisty rope trick to create a clothes line recently and it worked like a charm but I digress.

Allow me to make an observation I think is valid for young of the year baitfish and cooler water in general. Speed of retrieve and vibration (or preferably lack of vibration) can be key. I like light line and the livliness of balsa wood early in the year. Modest vibration with no rattles early on is where its at IMHO. I'm also a big fan of natural perch if no Ciscos are present. 6lb test and the smallest 3 hook perch pattern original rapala will take lots of quality fish early on. Please test your knots or do what I do and use a fas snap which ties to 6lb extraordinarily well.

so its time that the young of the year baitfish are starting to get to a size where predators will consider eating them. so this tip comes a little early to prepare your mind and tackle boxes.

so the tip is called matching the hatch, but not really, only kinda sort of a little bit. sounds pretty meaningless. this tip involves following the fishes natural instincts but also playing into their desires.

the theory of match the hatch is that you try to present fish with the same size, shape, color and action of the fish they are primarily feeding on. that is all good and dandy if you want to leave everything up to chance on whether or not your identical bait to all the others is the one the fish chooses.

so this is where the kinda sorta, not really, but a little bit fits in. because lure producers have given us such a wide range of selections, we have options that fish dont. fish get stuck in ruts eating whatever is most prevalent and easy to get. by having options to choose from, we can give the fish what they want or what they think they want, but they dont know it yet.

so here is how to apply the kinda sorta matching the hatch, but not really. in a lake where yellow perch are the main forage you can do a few different things. you can A) use a perch bait (boring!) B) go with firetiger because its similar, but different enough to attract a fishes attention C) use a shad shaped perch/firetiger bait for a bit different action D) go a size up or down depending on where the perch are at in the growth stage.

so you can match the hatch in shape, size, color, or swimming action. but you want to differ with at least one of those in order to make your bait the one the fish wants. i tend to favor shad shaped baits in northern wisconsin and canadian waters. its easier to swallow than a bluegill, but more size/flash/color than a minnow or a perch. i also like to use more bold colors but in similar hues to the natural forage. firetiger substitutes for perch, silver for bluegill, foil for cisco.

with the young of the year baitfish getting to the lower edge of eating size, i prefer to use a bait that is slightly larger to entice a fish into biting. when sizing up, i try to stick to the same coloration as the forage. sometimes if you try to change the color/size/action/shape all at once you end up with nothing. fish are programmed to target certain fish at certain times, its instincts. you have to use their instincts to catch them, but make sure that your presentation is more appealing than the real thing.

my personal favorite to alter is the shape. shad shaped lures cover both your bluegill shaped forage as well as minnow shapes without being too different. they give a larger profile than a minnow so fish can find them more easily, show more color, vibrate more water, but are more attractive to fish than bluegills because they are easier to swallow.