Do you love big bluegill?

Slip’s 2016 LOGS, STATUS AND STRATEGIES

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"

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Allen Morgan on June 27, 2016 at 6:42pm

I went out yesterday, headed to a local lake that my wife had been to last week. She told me that the Bluegills were staging raids into the swimming area, nipping at people. I needed to get over there and depopulate the weedbeds off the swimming area of 'gills.

I got a few miles from the lake, and noticed a few county sherrif's deputies partially blocking one lane, and directing traffic........

FOR A BIKE RACE! Ok......whatever floats their boat.

I get to the county park launch of the intended lake. As soon as I get there, at 08:05, I see a waterski boat making runs, a bouyed slolam course, and hear a racous party going on at the state park beach on the other side of the lake. What the......

I decided to head to other waters. I really didn't feel like getting bounced by boat wakes, and being forced out of potentially hot fishing areas because of unsafe boat traffic. Nor did I feel like listening to the noise of the sound system pumping out pop music. I go fishing for peace and quiet, to relax.

I tried to go to the boat launch on a nearby lake that's listed in my atlas. Couldn't find it. My map lists the launch, but doesn't have a road leading to it. Gotta find it a different way. I ended up headed to a little "village" I haven't been to in over 10 years. There is a small mill pond there, but no public access. However, a couple miles east of the village, I found a DNR access site to a lake. Launched into that. Decent-sized lake, not a lot of motor-boat traffic, since it's shallow and weeds EVERYWHERE. Caught a couple small sunnies and a couple Shiners about the size of my fingers.

Ended up calling it, packing up, and heading out. Decided that since there were a few other lakes in the area, I might as well go check them out. One is a no-go, completely developed shoreline, waterski boats, pontoons doing cruises around the lake burning gas; your typical "party lake". County park does not allow boat launching (wasn't stopping a gent with an inflatable raft), swimming, etc. There is a boat ramp, but I didn't go looking for it. Two other lakes had DNR paved boat launches, and a variety of watercraft out fishing and recreating peacefully. One lake is "carry-in access"; has a wooden sidewalk. I could technically launch my yak in there, if I didn't mind getting my feet muddy/mucky. Small, but probably no pressure at all. The last lake (actually the first I visited), has an unpaved DNR launch. Lake is probably 20 acres. Nice open water in the center, and the only evidence of weeds was the usual shoreline weeds. NO SHORELINE DEVELOPMENT! Also, there was no one there when I drove up. I probably should have launched, just to explore that little lake.

I ended up going back to the lake I originally wanted to fish. By this time, the water-ski course was gone, the party beach crowd had been replaced by the usual beach crowd, but there were more boats on the water. I decided to launch anyway. Ended up catching a bunch of small gills, a yellow perch the size of my finger, and a nice 15" LMB.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Slip Sinker on June 28, 2016 at 9:25am

The lake I spent summers growing up as a kid was much like that busy lake you describe… but only on the weekends. During the weekdays it seemed like we had the lake to ourselves. Loved that.

Couple of summers ago I was dropshotting a busy lake… jet skis buzzing all around with speedboats cruising in circles and pontoons with their music blaring. I caught a series of 9” plus bluegills in 15 -20 fow and soon became oblivious to the havoc around me. Soon No-wake time arrived on the lake and it seemed like I had the lake to myself again.

Those little lakes will surprise you sometimes especially the weedy ones… because they are tough to fish. Find a pattern of fishing on those lakes and you may uncover a gold mine. That’s if the ice fishermen havnt tapped heavily into it.

How do you transport your kayak Allen?... sounds like you have a pretty easy routine of loading and launching.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Allen Morgan on June 28, 2016 at 7:20pm

I car-top it. I have pool noodle zip-tied to the luggage rack on top of my Traverse. I built an "auto-loader" from PVC that slips in between the luggage rack and the roof of my vehicle. It has a couple pieces that stick out to the rear, and a padded cross-bar. I just lift up the stern end, raise it up over my head, and swing it onto the auto-loader. The stern of the kayak rests securely on that, without sliding off and falling. I just walk to the bow of the kayak, lift it up, and push the kayak forward onto the luggage rack. Strap it down and I'm good-to-go.

I will admit that I transport my yak right-side-up. This does create more drag on the vehicle, along with possibly causing the yak to lift up and off. Some people will say I need bow and stern straps. While it is safer, I haven't done anything with that, yet. No attachment points in those areas. I just take two straps, wrap them around the rear luggage bar and feed them up and across my yak, making an X over the top. I feed the straps through the carry handles on the sides of my yak. Rachet them boat down tight. I've never had an issue. On longer hauls, I will stop after an hour and check straps. I usually have to tighten them a bit. Especially if it's rained.

My wife drove 950 miles last Fall with my boat strapped to the top of my car, and never had a problem.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Leo Nguyen on June 28, 2016 at 7:29pm

Love taking chances heh? I strap my down like Fort Knox. The only chance the kayaks are coming off the trailer is when the UFO decide to beam them up, or someone decides to play tug-o-war with me using a HEMI.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Allen Morgan on June 29, 2016 at 6:17am

I can usually see the stern of my kayak projecting forward past the windshield. A little rocking up-and-down, about an inch, is normal. It's because of the area between the luggage crossbars being a little smaller than when I had the minivan. Any movement side-to-side gets an immediate stop and check straps.

I've been cartopping my yak for a few years now. I'm fairly comfortable with strapping it on and going anywhere. A lot of places I've been are on backroads, and the speed limits are between 40 and 55. Once I get up above 70 is when it really gets "iffy". Especially if there's a cross-wind. Now that I'm up here in MI, I rarely drive more than 20 miles to get to where I'm fishing. To much water close to home :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Leo Nguyen on June 29, 2016 at 8:33am

Wow. You're a freaking brave, brave man. Used to do that with my kayaks on top of our minivan as well. The 118lbs standard unloaded weight per kayak, and the huge body size of the kayaks, was way too much. The bounces did a number on the roof carrier racks at the speed of 45+mph. So, I went and invested on a utility trailer to make things more easier to manage. No more back pain, and reduced of mounting time.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Slip Sinker on June 27, 2016 at 10:14am

20160627- ...----~~<")))))><(----------------------------

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Slip Sinker on June 28, 2016 at 10:00am

Spent the most part of the afternoon buying fly tying supplies at a local fishing retailer for the spring cricket and some slip/floating floats and jigs. Buy the time I got on the water it was late and the weather wasn’t cooperating. The kayak wasn’t anchoring nicely in the wind and casting the new styles of slip floats werent casting with accuracy. The whole wind thing im blaming for my poor showing on numbers of fish caught and reduced quality numbers of fish.

I got a couple sizes of stealth Lindy Little Joe floats that I wanted to evaluate and to try and incorporate into my fishing system. I really ended up not having a real solid opinion on them because of the weather and wind. Because they are casted off center they do wobble a bit mid cast and my accuracy was a bit off. I did love how they sat in the water and I did tag a couple small fish with them.

The thill pro float did the best casting with the wind when accuracy is considered.

I also purchased some clear casting bubbles to cast some poppers and flys to areas of clearings in the pad fields where I see some top water activity that ignores the slip/float/fly/waxie offering.

I struggled the rest of the little trip with the wind even though I wasn’t exposed to waves.

Casting the light spring proved fruitless along with other light offering in the wind because of the line bowing and lack of feel. But Hey fishing in challenging circumstances only conditions you to be a better more productive fisherman in the future… is the way my Dad taught and the way I look at it.

Well in the bottom of the ninth I pulled out a winner just before setting a time to leave… a nice lunker p.seed on the slip/float/fly/waxie… thought I had a certificate fish there for a second.

todays BFOTD!!