AboutMarc Wisniewski Expertise I can answer questions relating to all types of freshwater fishing, tackle, and tactics. I also can answer questions regarding rod building, lure making, and lure modification.
Experience My expertise is in Bass, Pike, Musky and the Great Lakes species. I have a lot of experience in Wisconsin and Lake Michigan in particular. With regard to Rod building, I have built custom rods since 1978. I have been building and designing lures for 35 years. I currently sell several of my lures both locally and nation wide. I have done work for several lure companies such as Mepps, Storm, Cisco Kid, and Suick
Organizations Wisconsin DNR Lake Michigan Forum (elected position). Friends of Lakeshore State Park, Milwaukee, WI
Publications Two monthly columns in Midwest Outdoors Magazine, Writer of the weekly Lake Michigan Fishing Report in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, The In-Fisherman Magazine(since 1986), Musky Hunter Magazine, The Badger Sportsman, Woods and Waters Magazine, The Mepps Fishing Guide, Do-It Molds website, and I have been a guest on WGN Radio (Chicago) on their Saturday Outdoor program.
Education/Credentials I have an engineering background.
Question Marc,
My buddy and I are casual fishers. We get out just for the relaxation. We recently fished at a cedar lake in southern new jersey where the bass were jumping all over the place, but we had little luck cathing anything. We were using surface poppers as well as jig worms, etc. We tried everything in the box. What should we be doing to have a better time of it in cedar water?
Answer Hi Jim,
That is a tough one. It's hard to say what was going on with all the surface activity. Bait fish, bug hatch, etc.
My first thought would be, are you sure that they were bass? If you were in the middle of bass feeding that heavily and weren't able to hook up, it would be very unusual. Could they have been carp or something like that?
Otherwise I think you did all you could do. Observe and try to match the behavior you are witnessing. If there is some kind of unusual surface bug hatch, a surface plug would be the choice. If you saw baitfish exploding out of the water, a shallow baitfish crankbait or spoon would be a good choice. And when bass are feeding as vigorously as you saw, they will often hit just about anything, including the plastic worm you threw. bass aren't like a stream Brook Trout where you have to match the hatch perfectly. Again, that makes me wonder if what you saw were bass.
If it was a mayfly hatch, that can play havoc with fishermen. Traditionally, the bite for a lot of species is poor during a mayfly hatch.
I don't know if you did anything wrong. Some days they just won't bite. As you have probably heard before, that's why the call it "fishing" and not "catching".
