R22
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Post by R22 on Feb 8, 2015 18:45:36 GMT -5
Saturday February, 7th
Weather - Beautiful - skies mostly clear with air temperatures somewhere near 60, maybe a little better. Breezy off and on throughout the day.
Water Temperature - 41-44
Technique - Jigged all day
I fished for 5 hours on Saturday. Good thing it was a beautiful day otherwise I would have been miserable. I found some fish scattered about. I did learn a few things during the last two weeks. First, I am not very good jigging. Second, I am not nearly as patient as I thought.
I did manage a small largemouth by accident but nothing else. There were lots of people fishing.
I decided to go on a bait run for Sunday. Headed to a popular mid-lake creek and bait was plentiful. There were a half dozen others doing the same. Nobody seemed to have much trouble filling their tank. I ended up with way too many with most of my keepers ranging in the 10-12 inch range.
I ended the day scouting some mid-lake areas but never fished anymore.
Sunday, February 8th
Weather - Another gorgeous day.
Water Temperature - Low 40s
Techniques - Two downlines and four lines with planers.
I was out before 8 am and fished for just under 3 hours. I ended up catching four; 27, 28, 30 and a nice 32 inch fish. Nothing on the downlines. Caught everything on 2 ounce weighted lines with leaders of about 15 feet. Fish were off the main channel at 30 feet in 40 feet of water. I caught everything in a two hundred yard stretch in just about one hour. I had to take advantage of this nice weather at the house so I headed in to get some things done.
There were lots of people fishing. There were a couple of boats fishing artificial nearby. They said they weren't having any luck. I could feel their pain from Saturday. I offered up my leftover bait but they all refused. I ended up dumping about 30 nice gizzards back into the lake.
Two excellent days to be on the lake.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2015 19:03:15 GMT -5
So you have a 2 oz sinker followed by 15 feet of leader? I suppose this gives the bait more area to swim? Seems like a tangle fest waiting to happen. This still seems like a down line to me as well. Interesting.
Thanks for the report.
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R22
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Post by R22 on Feb 8, 2015 19:25:08 GMT -5
So you have a 2 oz sinker followed by 15 feet of leader? I suppose this gives the bait more area to swim? Seems like a tangle fest waiting to happen. This still seems like a down line to me as well. Interesting. Thanks for the report. I understand your point, I would think the exact same thing but the fish were scattered and downlines and boards that were run in typical fashion were not working so I decided to get a little more creative in an effort to cover more of the area. I kept the boards a good 15 feet up from the swivel. I pulled up the downlines and ran the boards off both sides of the boat probably 40 feet apart to prevent tangling. I did get one of the lines caught up retrieving one of the fish but the process seemed to be effective. |
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Post by getnbit on Feb 8, 2015 20:45:48 GMT -5
How deep was the bait and what cast net do you use? Thanks for any help. Went today from 2-6 without a bite. All artificial today.
Thanks
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R22
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Post by R22 on Feb 8, 2015 21:04:41 GMT -5
How deep was the bait and what cast net do you use? Thanks for any help. Went today from 2-6 without a bite. All artificial today. Thanks The bait was in 10-20 feet of water but suspended more more shallow than that. I went prepared with a 10 feet - 3/4 inch net but used an 8 foot - 5/8 inch and it seemed to work just fine. |
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Post by getnbit on Feb 8, 2015 21:09:17 GMT -5
I have an 8' 3/8 deep hole but I don't think it sinks fast enough
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2015 22:37:19 GMT -5
So you have a 2 oz sinker followed by 15 feet of leader? I suppose this gives the bait more area to swim? Seems like a tangle fest waiting to happen. This still seems like a down line to me as well. Interesting. Thanks for the report. I understand your point, I would think the exact same thing but the fish were scattered and downlines and boards that were run in typical fashion were not working so I decided to get a little more creative in an effort to cover more of the area. I kept the boards a good 15 feet up from the swivel. I pulled up the downlines and ran the boards off both sides of the boat probably 40 feet apart to prevent tangling. I did get one of the lines caught up retrieving one of the fish but the process seemed to be effective. I am still trying to understand what you were doing. I love doing things differently. I have downlined using 3 oz on planers and also will run at 1.2 mph with 5 oz sinkers. I just never considered extra leader. So to understand.. You had a 2 oz sinker about 15 feet below the planer and a big bait 15 feet below that? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2015 22:44:21 GMT -5
I have an 8' 3/8 deep hole but I don't think it sinks fast enough Wow.. That is really slow. Yet if it stays open like it should as it drops, I think it would get em this time of year. You could load that net for sure at night. |
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Post by striperjohn on Feb 9, 2015 7:25:01 GMT -5
Now remember folks the water is denser now that it is near 39.2 (C4) degrees so the net will fall slower. ;D  ;D ;D ;D ;D |
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BentRod
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Post by BentRod on Feb 9, 2015 8:07:52 GMT -5
I understand your point, I would think the exact same thing but the fish were scattered and downlines and boards that were run in typical fashion were not working so I decided to get a little more creative in an effort to cover more of the area. I kept the boards a good 15 feet up from the swivel. I pulled up the downlines and ran the boards off both sides of the boat probably 40 feet apart to prevent tangling. I did get one of the lines caught up retrieving one of the fish but the process seemed to be effective. I am still trying to understand what you were doing. I love doing things differently. I have downlined using 3 oz on planers and also will run at 1.2 mph with 5 oz sinkers. I just never considered extra leader. So to understand.. You had a 2 oz sinker about 15 feet below the planer and a big bait 15 feet below that? That is interesting - I would think in cold water you'd go with a shorter leash because the fish are lethargic and won't chase much so restrict the baits ability to move much with a 1-2ft leader. Then in the summer you go long leader for movement and invisibility. But it sounds like it worked for you now! We fished big gizzards a few hours this weekend and my pattern is really not right yet - we boated a couple 28-32", but it was slow. It will change with the snap of your fingers when the water gets right - zero to hero overnight. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2015 8:31:28 GMT -5
Now remember folks the water is denser now that it is near 39.2 (C4) degrees so the net will fall slower. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Now that made me smile. Good one!  |
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R22
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Post by R22 on Feb 9, 2015 8:36:09 GMT -5
I am still trying to understand what you were doing. I love doing things differently. I have downlined using 3 oz on planers and also will run at 1.2 mph with 5 oz sinkers. I just never considered extra leader. So to understand.. You had a 2 oz sinker about 15 feet below the planer and a big bait 15 feet below that? That is interesting - I would think in cold water you'd go with a shorter leash because the fish are lethargic and won't chase much so restrict the baits ability to move much with a 1-2ft leader. Then in the summer you go long leader for movement and invisibility. But it sounds like it worked for you now! We fished big gizzards a few hours this weekend and my pattern is really not right yet - we boated a couple 28-32", but it was slow. It will change with the snap of your fingers when the water gets right - zero to hero overnight. I have only been doing this for less than two years so I don't really know what you should or shouldn't do. My entire thought process was pretty simple. I found scattered fish spread out over an area about the size of two football fields. I was simply trying to get more bait across that area at a depth they seemed to be. Bentrod's lesson on a shorter leash makes sense but I did know that because of my inexperience. This setup may not work tomorrow but yesterday it caught fish. Yam, I hope this will clarify this setup. A leader of 12-15 feet, a 2 ounce egg sinker and I attached the boards somewhere about 12-15 feet above the swivel. |
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BentRod
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Post by BentRod on Feb 9, 2015 8:49:50 GMT -5
That is interesting - I would think in cold water you'd go with a shorter leash because the fish are lethargic and won't chase much so restrict the baits ability to move much with a 1-2ft leader. Then in the summer you go long leader for movement and invisibility. But it sounds like it worked for you now! We fished big gizzards a few hours this weekend and my pattern is really not right yet - we boated a couple 28-32", but it was slow. It will change with the snap of your fingers when the water gets right - zero to hero overnight. I have only been doing this for less than two years so I don't really know what you should or shouldn't do. My entire thought process was pretty simple. I found scattered fish spread out over an area about the size of two football fields. I was simply trying to get more bait across that area at a depth they seemed to be. Bentrod's lesson on a shorter leash makes sense but I did know that because of my inexperience. This setup may not work tomorrow but yesterday it caught fish. Yam, I hope this will clarify this setup. A leader of 12-15 feet, a 2 ounce egg sinker and I attached the boards somewhere about 12-15 feet above the swivel. If it works, it works! No one way to do anything related to fishing. |
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johnr
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Post by johnr on Feb 9, 2015 8:55:36 GMT -5
I saw the same thing a couple winters ago. I made half of my rods with an 8' leader and the others with a 2' leader. The long leader consistently caught more fish. I think the bait looks more natural on the long leader, since its not swimming in a 4' diameter circle.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Overall, I like a bit longer leader at all times anyhow.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2015 9:16:12 GMT -5
Got it. Frankly, real fishing is more about figuring out your own way of doing things rather than copying conventional wisdom.
When I fish with my buddy who has his ways on other lakes, I always know when we are about to get bit. The bite comes as soon as we do something completely wrong or totally out of his comfort zone. If he's cussing I'm getting ready to set a hook!
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;D ;D ;D ;D 
