"match the hatch" not just for flyfishing

Fished with ChuckE yesterday, and the action was not "on fire", BUT i was managing to put in a few fish- some nice reds, an underling, a few cabs, etc. Chuck was having far less luck, with only a few grassies to show (all small).  I used the same orangish with gold fleck swimbait- only 4" on a 2oz head. We're fishing in about 80 feet, and the water is COLD- 50degrees. He's using longer swimbaits, different colors, and heavier head.

One of the fish he caught coughed up a little orange fish...now i could finally convince that guy to try one of my swimbaits and heads.

We paddled over to the 'the spot" - and in one drift of about 5 min he put two nice reds in the box.

So, match the hatch-- in this case small baits, less action....

I'd agree with this.  Yesterday's uncharacteristically slow bite for me at the Cape was not as slow for Matt who was using a smaller, bait-fish looking metal jig.  One of the blacks we caught puked up a little baitfish that looked remarkably similar...