Slip’s 2016 LOGS, STATUS AND STRATEGIES

[Slip Sinker]

The past few seasons it’s been season outdoing the last. Knowledge base on top of knowledge base. Building on some great info from this site and time on the water. I’m anticipating and looking forward to even better results with more citation fish. Anyway that’s the game plan.

Last year was the season of fishing TINY. Thin UL Lines loaded on tiny 50 series reels and light UL rods tossing tiny baits in front of fish targets…quantities of quality panfish and trophy SMB. Tossed the baits into thick cover with reckless abandon. Tiny presentations under slip bobbers thrown next to thick weed slop and weed pockets. Mid day fishing out of the kayak in less than two feet of water and tagging quality fish. Never really had another fishing boat come close to me fishing. it was like i had the lake to myself. looking forward to making some more good memories in the upcoming season.

Looking forward to any hints suggestions or comments from the BBG membership… sharing is the best way to learn and progress!

hope everyone a successful "2016 Open Water Season"

[Slip Sinker]

20160503- ...----~~<")))))><(----------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

Today we decided to explore some upper reservoir sloughs and backwaters and build on to a lake contour map i started nearly two years ago. The initial thought process was to find colonies of hard to get to panfish in the stagnant warmer waters of the reservoir system known as Ross Lake. Navigation is easier at this time of year without the heavy weed cover.

Weather and Lake Conditions:

Started the trip with near summer like conditions. Living my life in Michigan weather is always an uncertainty … you leave the docks prepared weather wise. Sunny skies and light warm winds at launch to clear Ross lake waters at 55°. We made our way up stream to one of the five tributaries making up this reservoir. Soon into the trip before wetting the line clouds and wind started rolling in diverting from the short term forecast.

Fishing Activity:

We traveled up the small river with avg depths from 2-3 ft and finding some holes in the 6-7 ft range. Earl hooked up first as usual with the first of many junior pikes testing the UL panfish setups. With the pike activity came quite a few bite-offs. We traveled as far as we could upstream recording the contour data on the way and then traveled back down fishing the spots that looked good.

Earl then hooked up with a nice eater Walleye at 17” and then I quickly tagged a subsequent N.Pike. While Earl was fixing a wind knot I tagged a junior northern of 20” that a muskie decided to take for a short ride. I ended up fighting the battle to the boat and saw the 50+ inch monster release the N.Pike he had in his mouth sideways. Talk about an adrenaline rush. The walleye and the activity kept us on the spot for nearly 2 hrs.

We continued exploring some shallow waters along with recording the contour data on my Lowrance Elite 7 HDI. Stopped at a few noted hotspots of mine in the past hooking up with some more N.Pike, SMB’s and an 11” er B.Crappie in a back bay that recorded the warmest water temps of the day on the lake at 57°.

At the end of the day I was still missing some contour data because of the elevated fishing activity. Just another excuse to plan a quick trip back to finish up the complete map.

The trip was some what disappointing in the fact we were unable to find the panfish especiall B.Gill in this thinly populated lake. Just so many large Muskies, Northerns, Walleys along with SMB and LMB populations… panfish are few and far between but lunker  exist and noted on the Master Angler Database. Keeps me coming back.

Hardware:

We still have continued success with the UL spinning rigs so we focus their use. Sub 2” swimming plastic mounted on jig heads in the 1/64 and 1/32 oz sizes.

 

Partial map showing some of the river navigation created:

Some fish of the day:

 

MBFOTD!! B.Crappie:

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[Slip Sinker]

20160505- ...----~~<")))))><(----------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

Set out to do a last minute trip late afternoon-early evening for panfish. An area of the lake I have historically done well with numbers in the top tier sizes of Michigan B.Gill… that nice 8-9” range.

We set out in mid 60° air temps with light northerly winds and 55 - 57° water temps. On arrival to the spot I hooked up with just one sub 7” B.Gill and then moved to new locations. Slip float rigs were not producing the B.Gills as in the previous CPR trip of April 18^th when we slammed the B.Gills with the slip floats. Wixom Lake is a heavily fished lake so the schools may have been recently tapped by the locals.

We decided to fish a few cuts while working our way back to the launch. With just over a short time left to go we decided to focus our efforts on the deep end of the cut. This particular cut had a large culvert feeding the back end.  Two fisherman in a bass boat just finished working the area with floats and minnows and jigs they said they were on the water just over an hour, hadn’t caught anything and fishing wasn’t as good as it was 2 weeks ago. As the fisherman left the area I hooked up with a B.Gill and a SMB on a 1.5” swim jig. Earl made a great cast at the mouth of the drain and tagged a significant SMB at just under 18”. Working the cut towards the lake we started tagging the crappie at a significant pace. I was throwing the 2” Power Minnow attached to 2# ice braid. The action was there but the fish were smaller in size at between 8-10”. We decided to move to a different cove for the last hour in search of larger fish and a hopeful b.gill bite.

We used the electric motor to ease us into the back are of the cut and started working our way back to the opening. Using the motor and wind we started tagging the b.crappie at a great pace of 1 to 1.5 fish per minute. Long casts with small light jigs parallel with shore produced positive results along with short pitches to the breakwalls.

The key strategy here is long casts in shallow water the slowly descending jigs with plastic bodies. Keeping the bait in the zone. The action continued at this pace for about an hour… then like a flip of a switch the action stopped and couldn’t beg for a bite. we headed back to the launch

We ended up the day with easily over two limits each of crappie in a very short time… though there were no trophy sized or even bragger sized in the lot it is still a great experience tagging them at that pace.

[Slip Sinker]

20160507- ...----~~<")))))><(----------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

Sunny mid sixties in Michigan… short sleeves weather here… just got the kayak out of storage, dusted it off and got it assembled… time to take it on a spin. Im constantly thinking what the current pulse is out on the lake with the fish!.

Took it down to one of the drop off points that would provide some shelter from the 20-25 mph northern winds.

Launched the yak and was pleasantly surprised to see mid 60’s in the sheltered bay. I saw no visible signs of any panfish in the shallows. I made a few casts fanning a favorite area and quickly hooked up and tagged a near Master Angler Hen of a LMB. I was using an UL spinning rig I now use as my search rig. Its composed of a 5-0’ UL Okuma Celilo spinning rod with a Shimano Sienna 50 series reel loaded with 2# Power Pro ice braid… smooth as silk and cast a tiny jig a country mile. If B.Gill are around they either swallow it or tug its tail… if there are any other fish around it tags them too. I’ve been using other jigs also but this combination is my favorite.

After a couple photos the barbless jig head was freed and the LMB was quickly released. I scoured some of my favorite areas with the jig and then with a slip float and live waxies… no hits. I visibly scouted shallows looking for life… no panfish. Then I witnessed an amazing event … two muskies spawning in the shallows. Made my day!

After a short while I started feeling discomfort in my lower back and headed back home…

[Slip Sinker]

20160508- ...----~~<")))))><(----------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

a couple short trips to the bridge today. water temp 61° at the bank. mixed bag... B.Crappie quit the bite at dusk.

[Slip Sinker]

20160509- ...----~~<")))))><(----------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

We decide to fish a private lake late this afternoon... since the trip was put together in a impromptu fashion. We needed quick on and off access to the lake saving the waning afternoon minutes.

Once out on the lake we noted a low 60°’s along the shoreline and questioned whether the B.Crappies were on the beds. We quickly answered that question when Earl tagged a few blackened males that we quickly released to the beds and moved to areas adjacent too or further away.

Earl’s been on fire with the whole tiny jig thing and that pattern of success continued when he tagged a huge P’Seed at 100% Master Angler Rated – 9.0” with a 1.5” swim bait on a 1/64 oz jig head.

I thought i was doing good until Earl started catching fish 2:1 over mine.

I started pitching my hand tied “Spring Cricket” bait and quickly started catch primarily B’Gills. My catch ratio started going up on the B.Gills. Had a blast catching fish on a make it yourself bait.

The female B.Crappie seemed to be located on deeper edges or first break from shore away from the guardian males so we focused our attention for them at times. B.Gills and P.Seeds were tight to the bank in full feeding mode but tough to get too with the significant algae bloom going on. Pitching and sight fishing was the favored presentation here instead of the long casts. A long pole would have worked great here as well as our accurate pitching into open areas.

Collage of the trip:

[Slip Sinker]

20160510- ...----~~<")))))><(----------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

20160510.Wixom lake Shore fishing...took a little walk down to the lake and hooked up with a nice female LMB with an excellent fight on my new 4-6” Micro Lite spinning rig with 2# ice braid and a 1.5” micro swim jig attached to the end.

Water temps at the bank was 60°.