Slip’s 2015 LOGS, STATUS AND STRATEGIES… 2ND HALF EDITION

[Slip Sinker]

... postings concerning the second half season of fishing 2015

[Slip Sinker]

20150801-Trophy Crappie Quest 2015...

First outing on an informal organized strategy to fish for Master Angler Trophies at least once a week searching the p.m. bite on local lakes.

We decided to kick the Trophy Crappie Quest up one night due to weather forecasting strong thunderstorms for Sunday. We proceeded to a local lake to search the p.m. early and late night bite searching for that elusive Master Angler. We started the early evening pitching favorite jigs along deep edges of weedlines and drop offs. We found some passive schools with a slow bite catching 10” plus and 8” plus B’Gills mainly on Power minnows and Gary Yamamoto panfish bodies. I commented a few times how slow the fishing was and we set a time to depart at 9:30. That never happened we got slammed as soon as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. The only cameras on board were one owned by me and Earl’s phones battery was on the demise. Many crappie topping off at 12.3 inches and bluegill at 8.6”…. WHAT A NIGHT!!! Over 60 crappies total fishing the night bite. Earl’s battery died on the snap of my BFOTD at 12.3” we ended the evening at near midnight under a near full moon!

Cant wait for next week!

 

[Slip Sinker]

a nice workout for the new jigging rod setup...most of my fish were caught on this setup...

 

[Slip Sinker]

some of the productive baits of the day... darker baits produced better at night

very important to glue the plastic jig body to the jig head with this tip... so you can assure yourself your bait is in the correct position while casting in darkness.

GLUE IT DOWN-Get more life out of your plastic tails

[Slip Sinker]

20150802-Wixom Lake... Earl's Puddle Jumper maiden voyage. got about an hours worth of fishing in before a large line of thunderstorms were formed before our eyes. just made it off the lake before they hit

[Slip Sinker]

20150803- Locked and reloaded for 2nd half season with Gulp Pink and Chartreuse Waxies...

Berkley Gulp Waxies and Asticots would certainly make the list of top (5) factors contributing to my personal success pan fishing in both the hard and soft water seasons. I feel good contributing to the more positive success with my fellow anglers family and friends that i have personally taken fishing and turned them on to this product.

[Slip Sinker]

20150803- number one on the TODO LIST for this week.. finish the Tobacco River portion of Wixom Lake map that i nearly completed last year. i should be able to do this with the kayak and the Lowrance Elite 4 and add it to the GOFREE maps.

if you havnt already check out the community added maps at this link....

http://www.gofreemarine.com/insight-genesis/community

[Slip Sinker]

20150803 ~ Neck and arms with a deep ache this morning including yesterday. will forgo the kayak on the lake in exchange for some light duty shore-fishing

[Slip Sinker]

20150803-Wixom Lake… I’ve been pretty intrigued with the late dusk late p.m. crappie bite lately since our success on 2010801. We were also catching bonus jumbo B’Gills at night also. I thought these guys shut down at night. Caught me completely off guard.
So I donned the old cervical collar since the pain would not subside and walked to the bridge to see if I could stir a few crappies up for a bite. I glued on a red/black Yamaminnow to a 1/32 oz jig head and cast the 7-0' U/L Crappie B'Gill U/L Spinning Rig and proceeded to catch a few crappies in the 8-10” range.
The past few years ive been fishing “safe”.. middle of the day etc. and have been doing pretty well followed the fish deep with deep jigging or bottom dropshotting… lately ive been thinking this nite time bite maybe just the tool I need to land the Master Angler crappie.
Its going to be an interesting second half.

 

 

[Slip Sinker]

20150804-today looks like a great day to fill some gaps on the lake map. hope the arm and the shoulder hold up.

[Slip Sinker]

20150804-Wixom Lake... so heres the thing every year at summer peak... summer fishing periods after all herbicide treatments are exercised we are left with nothing but eel grass through out the lake (2-0 to 6-0' deep) all around the lake. sometimes the weed edges are productive but i believe fish bury themselves into the grass when neutral or semi neutral. How to fish? i want to slip bobber with multiple castings and less retrieving. so what is the best weedless rigging for slip bobber or fixed bobber for fishing this system?... working on that right now.Should prove interesting.

[Slip Sinker]

has anyone else had luck fishing this weed pattern?

[Slip Sinker]

20150804- I think I came pretty close to finding an ideal “float rig” for fishing the eel grass which is so common in Wixom Lake during the summer periods. I recall having better weed less control with my QUICK STRIKE BOBBER RIG so I started with that basic setup and modified just a little for optimum bush whacking the eel grass. I replaced the standard hook with a small circle hook. They are designed to be snag less being able to pull out of a fish’s gullet without snagging… thinking they will have the same properties when pulled thru eel grass.

Taking four rigs with me yesterday…

1. MUL Jigging Rod with Steve’s Panfish sized Texas rigged tube
2. MICRO ULTRA LIGHT SLIP FLOAT SETUP
3. DROPSHOT~ COMMON LIGHT RIG FOR PANFISH
4. And the modified Quick Strike Rig or Slip Float Bush Whack Rig

The new rig tended to be significantly more weedless than the normal bobber setups with regular hooks. Steves Panfish sized Texas rigged tube also proved very weedless. Although I had no strikes I picked up fish along the steep dropoff with UL jigs. I believe there were no significant panfish populations in the weeds at that time at that particular spot. Will try this rig further in known populated areas in a boat or kayak. This will be for now considered progress moving forward.