DON’T OVERTHINK IT

With so many different tackle options out there, old, and new, it can be mentally challenging at times choosing what to purchase and ultimately what to use out on the ice. The truth is, they all have their time and place to shine. For me, I try to keep it simple when loading up my Clam Slim Jig box. Many anglers will have numerous jig and spoon boxes loaded to the brim with jigs, spoons, and jigging raps... often having one or two boxes for each style of bait, and that is absolutely fine... to each their own.

Over the years, I’ve learned to keep my approach light and stealthy when targeting panfish, often bringing along one pocket sized Slim Jig Box full of my miscellaneous confidence baits... confidence is everything when deciding what baits to use. We all have our “favorite baits” we start and end with when fishing, there’s a reason for that. These are your favorite baits because you more than likely catch a ton of fish with them and oftentimes when other baits don’t seem to be producing, your confidence bait will work because you’ve had success catching fish with it in the past and you’ve dialed in the cadence when fishing it. Yet, we often get caught up on thinking there’s something better out there and we get mesmerized by fancy eye catching paint jobs or because we see our role models promoting them. I myself have fallen victim to that over the years...in fact, I still have baits in their wrappers that I bought because they were supposed to be the next big thing, yet I always find myself going back to the same confidence baits time after time because I know they’ve caught fish for me in the past and if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Sure, we as anglers can take the time to learn all these new baits but for me, time on the ice is precious and I don’t really want to use a ton of that time learning all these new baits when I know I’ve got my favorite confidence baits that will work for me. With that being said, every October I take the time to prep one box I label as my go-to confidence baits. This box will have a couple rows full of my favorite tungsten jigs in my favorite sizes, colors and cadences including everything from The Genz Drop Kick (which features a more aggressive kicking action) a Maggot Drop which features a vertical style presentation) and a few of your more standard style horizontal tungsten jigs in various sizes which is important when fishing different depths and determining what kind of mood the fish are in). In that same box, I’ll include a row of my favorite confidence spoons like the Jointed Pinhead Mino and Leech Flutter Spoons and it’s always important to carry a few Jigging Raps like the Tikka Mino from Clam Pro Tackle for aggressive bites.

Bottom line here is to help all of you keep your approach light and stealthy while still having an arsenal of your confidence baits at your side in one box. Don’t think you need to buy everything that hits the market, carry only what’s worked for you in the past and what’s working for you in the present and you’ll avoid overthinking how to approach your next outing...spend more time fishing with confidence!