THE UPSIDE OF UPSIZING

The barometer is high and the bite is tough. The fish are somewhere between neutral and negative to every presentation that you’ve thrown at them. What’s your next move? Switch to live bait? Change colors? Different jigs? Switch between horizontal lor vertical? None of those are bad options but, typically, when the bite gets tough an ice angler’s first thought is to downsize. Downsizing is not a bad option at all and many times it works to get those finicky fish to bite. Sometimes though… even downsizing doesn’t work. Now what? How about giving upsizing a try? I know it sounds strange, but many times it works when downsizing doesn’t. It works so well, in fact, that I will often try upsizing before I downsize in an attempt to trigger a bite. I even have a couple of theories as to why it works so well.

Calories In, Calories Out

There’s a reason that the metabolism of most fish slows in the winter. Good high-calorie sources of protein become much more scarce. Rather than expend lots of energy and burning lots of calories chasing food sources around, the metabolism slows enough that it only needs occasional caloric topoffs in order to survive until winter ends and food becomes more readily available. What this means is that fish have to be very selective when it comes to deciding which food sources to chase. For every opportunity that presents itself, they have to determine if the calories taken in can justify the calories burned. Since most larger food sources contain more calories than smaller ones, it is much easier to justify pursuing the biggest food sources available. Will fish eat smaller offerings during the winter? Of course, they will, especially if it is an opportunity that requires little to no energy expenditure. However, if the potential calories burned are the same, metabolically speaking, the larger offering is the best one for the fish to eat. This is one reason that I always start big when searching for fish and then downsizing as needed. I feel that the larger presentation has a much greater chance of drawing fish in, because there are more calories there to justify the fish expending the extra energy to come investigate. I feel the fish often see the smaller offerings, but don’t want to burn the calories to come investigate because there is no opportunity for them to end up with a net gain of calories by eating that smaller food source.

Don’t Make Me Angry!

Sometimes I feel that fish eat an upsized presentation simply because it makes them mad. Much like waving a red flag in front of a bull, an upsized presentation is often an assault to the lateral line of the fish and the best way to eliminate that is to eat the offending food source. Often times, when the fish are negative it is because the barometer is high. This extra pressure in the atmosphere puts extra pressure on the swim bladder of a fish which, in turn, makes the fish feel very full. Think of how low your interest in food is immediately after stuffing yourself at Thanksgiving dinner. This is exactly how a fish feels with a high barometer and explains why they are so reluctant to eat. You are not going to trigger these fish by appealing to their need or desire to take in calories. In these situations, the best way to get these fish to eat is to make them angry, which explains perfectly why upsizing can work when the bite is tough. Essentially, you’re trying to get the fish to eat in order to remove an annoyance rather than trying to get them to eat because they’re hungry. In instances like this it’s also worth noting that it isn’t enough to just upsize. An upsized bait is rarely enough to annoy a fish to the point of eating that annoyance. In order to assure that the lateral line of the fish is being stimulated to the point of annoyance, the upsized offering must be worked in a very aggressive manner. Another reason I feel upsizing can be so effective, and it’s somewhat related to making the fish mad is that it can create increased competition among nearby fish. If the offering is big enough to offer the potential for significant calories it’s in the best interest of any single fish to be the first one to that big glob of calories so that they can eat it.

When the Going Gets Tough…

…the tough go BIGGER! Fish can become VERY negative during the hardwater months…probably more so than at any other time of the year. So, the next time you’re faced with a tough bite on the ice don’t hesitate to give upsizing a try. It seems somewhat counter-intuitive, but there are many good reasons why it often works. You just have to try it once to see for yourself and once it works, upsizing will definitely find its place in your bag of tricks.