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20170617-Earl and I set out late morning on a small lake with calm conditions and upper seventy water temps. We took a preliminary slow runaround the small lake to find indication of fish activity in the shallows and sonar activity at the break lines towards deeper water. Earl spotted minimal spawning sites or nests. Since most sunfish and lmb spawning has already taken place typically we should have spotted many old nests slightly filled with sediment. Yet there were very few… not a good sign of a good panfish lake IMO.  

The perimeter of the lake was lined with a 20-50’ band of lilly pads… very difficult to land a hooked fish and the submerged weeds looked balanced and under control.

We immediately started hooking a few blue gills in the pads but getting them to the boat was the problem. Once they wrapped around the pad stalks the fish pulled free. We landed very few that we could ski the dinks across the surface with the 8# braid. Fishing the edges with the slip/floats produced little action. A kayak instead of a jon would be a great tool to fish this particular lake effectively.

Deeper along the first weed line produced many eater slot B.Crappie Long-Casting/Lil Minnow. The action was fast with this pattern producing fish on nearly every cast.

The weather forecast for the day called for spotty t storms. I was tracking one coming in our direction. When it came close we decided to pack up and drive thru the storm to another lake near this location where I tagged a Master Angler B.Gill just days previous.

As the storm passed the winds really kicked up but we decided to launch the boat and set out anyway.

Once at the spot the strategy was to position the boat upwind of the waypoint and toss the tiny jigs straight out with the wind. I hadn’t made a cast yet when Earl hauled in a 9”+ class bull B.Gill. on the very next cast he nailed a Master Angler B.Gill at 10.12” WOW!

Long-casting/lil minnow tagged a nice, just missing the mark P.Seed at 8.7”… beautifully colored.

While fishing the minor period on a 15% productive day Earl then nails 2 more Master Angler P.Seeds long-casting 1/32oz jigs!

At this point we decide to stick it out thru the lull between solunar periods and hit the up tick on the major coming up at 20:00. Fishing thru this time slot was slow and tedious… the bite turned very negative. We sat thru a couple short downpours and spent the time exploring weed edges and breaklines. Many empty beds were spotted in the shallows… either the spawning shift was over or the fish got picked off on this very pressured lake.

Earl downsized to a tiny jig head and crawler bit and started picking up on more bites. I followed suit but used a tiny pink-waxie as tipping on the 1/50 oz jig head. As we headed up the up-tick on the major period the action followed. Earl tagged a nice 17” LMB on the tiny crawler tipped jig and I found nice activity with the B.Gills.

As another t-storm was approaching in the distance we packed it in and called it a day!

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...20170619-Very Nice 9” Class P.Seed tagged Long-Casting the Lil Minnow

...20170619-Right spot at the right time Earl tags (3) Master Angler fish during a Minor Solunar Period UL Jigging all CPR'ed.. congratulations !!!

...20170619-an array of eater slot b.crappie long-casting/Lil Minnow

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20170621----~~<")))))><(---*Post Spawn Period*--77°

20170621-65%/77°~ just wow!! … as the power of June over  the Lepomis species Continues I tag another Master Angler and Personal Best Blue Gill!!! Just seven days after tagging my first of the year M.A. Blue Gill in the same lake using the same strategies and methods.

The month of June was extraordinary on this lake for the Long-Cast/Tiny Jigs method… checking over the 10 year trophy B.Gill on this lake Earl and I combined own 42% of them… in just one month. Statistically this is phenomenal. Combining solunar table timing with established productive methods and baits on great proven waypoints just blowing away the statistics!

The bite on the lake started out and ended at a steady tempo. I never had the opportunity to switch methods… I started out with the long cast/tiny jig method and stuck with it. Only difference was I moved in to the “Between the Docks” strategy. The locals all had their docks out for the summer season by now and the b.gills were establishing their positions with the temporary structures along the shorelines.

I started making my way down a shoreline that bordered  an area that tagged 4 master angler tags in two separate days  including a record breaking day for Earl earlier this month tagging three master angler fish in one day!. I spotted quite a few older beds that have accumulated dark patches of sediment in their centers… the fish were still there. A long cast made parallel to a long dock resulted in the trophy shooting out from underneath the shade of the dock to connect with the jig. What a battle to the boat!

I continued connecting with some great looking bulls and hens consistently snapping up the micro jigs… the long-cast/Lil Minnow placed a close second in productivity.

Just a memorable day in the books nailing that Master Angler and Personal Best B.Gill!

Don’t forget fishing between the docks… just an awesome pattern!

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Are you planning on hitting the same waterbodies with the same techniques next year, to create uniformity on the data collection?

Basically yes… this year I added two more BOW’s to my regular hit list… I am in the water and ready to fish in less than a half hour for the Gladwin BOW’s and 45 mins for the lakes in Clare County… not bad for efficiency. The kayak is in the water in less than 15 mins in Wixom lake… the lake adjacent to me.

The past few years I’ve been carrying three systems… drop shot, slip/float and Long-Cast/Tiny Jig rigs. I believe I’ve hit Least Common Denominator with my methods and got my tackle box down to (1) 3600 Plano to fit all baits, hooks, sinkers, jig bodies etc that I use on my systems. So I am basically uniform year to year. So yeah that’s great for uniformity in data collection.

I’m finding the more I reduce in size in tackle including rods, lines and baits the more quantities and quality fish I tag. The more I look at the numbers the more I am amazed.

i look at previous data ive collected the past few years and i try to be in the zone at those waypoints, times in relation to solar periods and water temps.

20170622----~~<")))))><(---*Post Spawn Period*--73°

20170622-84%/73°~ A powerful month of June fishing continues!....

flanked between a Master angler PB B.Gill yesterday and the the new moon tomorrow at 84% for the day (which is excellent) I decided to take my methods to the new lake I added to my agenda for this year. I have a good feeling about this lake for the B.Gill. The specimens I tag are very healthy and robust on avg and I have already tagged a nice trophy earlier in the season with many other nudging the trophy mark of 10” for the B.Gill and 9” for the P.Seeds.

Just leaving a lake where “Between the Docks” strategy was a huge success I decided to carry that over on this lake hoping to duplicate the results. I was correct I ended up slamming them… one fish after another… by looking at the picture count on my camera I was well into the low 100’s for the tally.

I started with the Long-Cast/.020oz jig/Lil Minnow method tagging fish but getting a lot of short biters. I shortened up the presentation to the Long-Cast/.020oz jig/Pink Waxie and started connecting readily on the light bite.

Check out the movie clip here…

I noticed a few fish still on clean beds but noticed hundreds of empty beds partially filled with sediment as I scanned the shallows.

Tagged many very colorful males and many fish between the 9-10” slot. Earlier in the season when I was electronically mapping the bottom of this BOW I talked to many pan fishermen. The typical response was large fish reaching the mid-8’s was upper end for the B.Gill. I’ve beaten that ceiling many times on this bow as well as the rest of the lakes on my list. I’m typically in the 5-20% range of total fish in the days tally between the 9 and 10 Inch slot on the gill and 8-9 inches on the P.Seeds.

Today I worked the “Between the Docks” pattern the majority of the time but checked out deeper breaks along the more popular stretches to check for big sows hanging around. I believe the larger specimens are first to spawn in the season and some prolific females will spawn twice in my area.

While working a particular stretch of shoreline with success… a young boy playing on the dock asked me what I was fishing for… I responded “b.gill”… he pointed in the shallows just to his left and said they are all right here. I moved the boat over to visually look at what he was pointing to and there I saw an incredible sight! It was a dark black cloud of B.Gills swarming in a concentrated area of about 20’ in circumference. This was amazing! I have never in my history of fishing saw such a sight! I beat up 2 or 3 Lil Minnows tagging fish after fish. They all seemed to be in the 7-8” range… just amazing. I eventually moved on to look for the larger specimens after tagging many fish. I motored back at the end of the day and noticed the gills were still in the same area but one property over.

A powerful month of June fishing continues!....

...

...

20170623----~~<")))))><(---*Post Spawn Period*--74°

 I was planning a kayak trip for some vertical jigging in the laydowns today... the 10-12" of rain we got last night put a kibosh to my plans

20170623-94%/74°~ Took some family out on the waning crescent on a high percentage day. I felt the need to get some family in on the action ive been having through the month of June.

I rigged Brenden up with a Long-Cast/UL swim jig set-up… an ugly stick combo I gave him for his birthday a month earlier. We needed to break this combo in and today was the day to do it. Jeri concentrated on the LMBs using the Long-Cast/1/8 oz swim jig

Everyone tied into some quantity and I ended up with a few quality P.Seeds thru the short trip.

...

...20170623-very nice P.Seed just missing the 9.0” mark… tagged Long-Casting/tiny jigs

...20170623-very nice 9” class BGxPS hybrid… tagged Long-Casting/tiny jigs

...20170623-another very nice P.Seed just missing the 9.0” mark… tagged Long-Casting/tiny jigs

...20170623-short late afternoon trip with family… everyone caught fish!

 

201700625----~~<")))))><(---*Pre summer Period*--67°

20170625-another day of moderate to high winds and spotty showers and thunderstorm…. Tough to make plans and time fishing trips. With temps in the 60’s and showers, I loaded up the boat and headed to the lake. The area is still recovering from a devastating 10-12” of rain overnight on the 23rd.

As I pulled up to the launch the water was muddied caused by a feeder stream. I launched anyways thinking one of the larger bays just north might not be affected by the current and stain. There was a distinct mud line as I entered the sheltered bay... my instincts were correct and the water remained clear just like a few days ago before the large rain.

The water temps dropped by double digits into the high 60’s because of the cold front. Not good.

As I approached one of my most productive waypoints I noticed many fish on the sonar off the first break… another sign of poor fishing.

Throwing my current hot UL jigs towards the bank yielded the nicest B.Gill of the day. With no more bites, I headed toward the first break where I spotted which seemed to be neutral fish. I managed to tag a few dinks before pulling anchor to other spots.

I anchored off a wind-beaten point and managed to tag a nice 12” class B.Crappie off my hot B.Gill bait… bonus fish. Fan casting the area for more B.Crappie proved fruitless.I moved on to the remaining waypoints with spotty results.

Feeling more like late October than early summer I packed it in and headed home… defeated by weather.

20170625-nice quality B.Crappie Long-Casting/.016 oz jig/Lil Minnow

20170625-nice bull made my day. long casting/tiny jigs

20170625-nice round hen tagged long–casting/.016 oz jig/pink waxie

20170625- wet, cold and blustery day shortened my trip but found 3 quality tags.

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