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Drifting Herring

Greg and I net 12 fish on a dozen Herring . 10 Crappie -13-15" a 11,1/2" Yellow Perch and a 19,1/2" Pickerel . Rebel wee R's , Spoons with worms, Bomber Crank baits didn't work at all . Slow drift over 20' bottom near shore got all the fish Rock meets weeds .Allowing the wind to blow us over submerged structure at about 20 feet near a bluff like bank was the ticket .With the motor off ,the drift was the proper speed and that's when they bit . We would motor back and troll but not catch anything .Even trolling was too quick to pick up fish . We lob casted and let some line out and fingered the line with bails open .When a tap occurred we released the line and bait back with some slack ,flipped the bail reeled up and when the rod tip was loaded by the fish take swept the hook set lightly . Great hookup percentage ,missed a few fish but I believe they came right back and we hooked them the 2nd try . Some of the fish took the bait deep ( The perch had its bladder come up through the throat ) .As to how deep the Crappie were holding I'd say about 6-10 feet early on and later deeper than that . Small shot 6#, and 4# test mono about a 3 " Herring Live or dead both caught. A # 4 Aberdeen light wire hook to keep the Herring lively and so as not to rip Paper mouth too big an escape hole . Very imperative to keep pressure on a hooked fish after a gentle sweep set and keep them coming slow and steady to the net .

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Albums: October/November/December 2015

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Comment by Jim Gronaw on October 25, 2015 at 7:53pm: Slabs!

Comment by John Sheehan on October 24, 2015 at 8:35am: Thanks Carl ! Thick Crappie! Tasted good and I have some in the freezer .Tried out my fish filet table for the 1st time .The misses gave me it for Christmas last year.

Comment by carl hendrix on October 23, 2015 at 6:13pm: our buddy John with some really nice slab crappie and perch ! excellent !!

Comment by John Sheehan on October 23, 2015 at 10:07am: When I say" fish took deep" I mean depth not deep in the mouth . The hook sets were shallow in the mouth and allowed for good releases . Our timing was figured out immediately .My 1st fish came on the 1st drift and set the pattern.

Comment by John Sheehan on October 23, 2015 at 10:03am: Slip -Allowing the wind to blow us over submerged structure at about 20 feet near a bluff like bank was the ticket .With the motor off ,the drift was the proper speed and that's when they bit . We would motor back and troll but not catch anything .Even trolling was too quick to pick up fish . We lob casted and let some line out and fingered the line with bails open .When a tap occurred we released the line and bait back with some slack ,flipped the bail reeled up and when the rod tip was loaded by the fish take swept the hook set lightly . Great hookup percentage ,missed a few fish but I believe they came right back and we hooked them the 2nd try . Some of the fish took the bait deep ( The perch had its bladder come it up through the throat ) .As to how deep the Crappie were holding I'd say about 6-10 feet early on and later deeper than that . Small shot 6#, and 4# test mono about a 3 " Herring Live or dead both caught. A # 6 Aberdeen light wire hook to keep the Herring lively and so as not to rip Paper mouth too big an escape hole . Very imperative to keep pressure on a hooked fish after a gentle sweep set and keep them coming slow and steady to the net .

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on October 23, 2015 at 8:33am: Nice stringer and good eats on the way!

Comment by dick tabbert on October 23, 2015 at 7:48am: Nice mess of fish for sure.

Comment by Slip Sinker on October 23, 2015 at 7:00am: Nice Outing John and Greg!... some real Hawgs in there!!

could you describe drifting herring...