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]

20161022- ...----~~<")))))><(-------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

******* SNOW*******

[Slip Sinker]

20161031- ...----~~<")))))><(---*Cold-Water Period*----

[Slip Sinker]

20161031 thanks everyone for your kind emails and messages… I abstained and rested from fishing for a few days over the pain in arm, shoulder and legs due to my spinal issues. I will continue fishing until the very end even if I have to be duct taped to that fishing rod… :>)…

Yesterday found Earl and I on an impromptu fishing trip on a familiar reservoir with 50 degree surf temps and a biting wind chill with upper 40 air temps. Long-Casting the micro jigs was going to be tough with the wind so we positioned ourselves in the boat to cast with the wind over our hot waypoints.

I armed myself with two Micro Lite jigging rods capable of casting the tiny swim jigs, a slip/float rig and a drop shot rig.

Scanning the breaks we could not locate the fish on sonar so we presumed they would be shallow in the weeds. Side scan imaging would have been nice here to help locate.

The weed beds were reduced to clumps that held fish and we were readily rewarded with that pattern thru the rest of the trip. I repeatedly tested the deeper breaks for b.gill with jigs and drop shot but came up empty. However I was satisfied with a few bruiser p.seeds. most of the bites were b.crappie with some nice lengths tagged long-casting the tiny swim jigs… lil minnow and the apex 1” shad mounted and glued on 1/32 and 1/64 oz jig heads. Most of the b.crappie were over the 10” mark up too the 13” class range. Earl ended up with about a dozen more pan fish then I and my picture folder counted 36 fish… A NICE COLD-WATER TRIP WITH NO ONE ELSE ON THE BOW!

We are discovering the long-casting method in cold-water is steadfastly out producing the float methods in numbers and quality. Covering more water in less time produces more fish! It’s worked for us since early season when the lakes were still ice covered in areas.

Nice b.crappie

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Nice p.seed

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Another nice p.seed

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A segment of today's catches…All cpr’ed

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[Slip Sinker]

20161106- ...----~~<")))))><(---*Cold-Water Period*--48°

[Slip Sinker]

It’s been awhile since i last took some casts and felt the tug of the fish. Sore leg, shoulder and arm muscles had me on the sidelines lately.

I decided to try something different and focus on the toothy species Muskie and N.Pike. I took a walk down to the lake at one of my favorite spots rigged with a medium spinning rig loaded with 15# braid jerk baits and some large jigs in the ¼ oz to 3/8 oz range. this is a set-up i haven't touched in years and the braid looked brand spanking new.It's been a long while since ive thrown the large baits. An ul rig was added also for this trip.

I noted upper 40’s water temps at the bank perfect for large preds. A few casts in on a 3/8 oz swim jig I tagged a beast of a N.Pike that I nearly brought in to netting distance… a couple long runs later he hung me up in a known pile of rebar and concrete and would not budge. As last resort, I slack lined him for a few minutes and reeled in a beat up jig body minus the N.Pike.

A few minutes later I tagged another heavy fish with the UL with one heavy lunge bit off the tiny swim bait. Probably the same fish.

Final score

Ken 0-2 Fish

[Slip Sinker]

20161110- ...----~~<")))))><(-------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

We had about 1.5 hours to fish before sunset so we decide to fish a small private lake with a good panfish population.

Launching the boat Earl and I noticed minnows in the shallow weeds and 48-50° water temps.

I like to start the fish search with sonar out deep to visually identify the fish activity. If fish are absent in the basins we work our way in hitting all the break-lines. We spotted very few fish schooling in water 12-30 ft. determining the locations must be shallow we started long-casting the swim jigs along the weed lines and clumps picking up a fish here and there… very thinly schooled and displaying near neutral behavior.

We battled the wind gusts throughout the trip and at times sought out protected shorelines. With air temps in the upper 40’s the wind chill was significant vowing to bring bibs on the next trip.

Boat control was difficult. We positioned the boat strategically up wind of the hot spots so we were able to cast the light presentations.

So a combination of factors lead to one of the worst productivity trips of the year…  with weather with its cold front and high winds leading the way.

1/64 – 1/32 oz swim jigs were the popular style bait today. Slip/floating was an impossible option and 0 fish were tagged with drop shot.

[Slip Sinker]

20161111- ...----~~<")))))><(-------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

 

20161111-I had an opportunity to fit a short time slot of fishing again this evening… similar to yesterdays outing. The wind was gusting from the WNW at 10-20 mph with a significant wind chill. After taking the wind chill beating on the boat yesterday I was better prepared to face the elements with my ice fishing bibs and coat.

Water temps were at the upper 40’s level down a couple from the day previous.

Sonar scans showed fish scattered thru the deep basins from top to bottom... Signifying a tough start to the short trip.

Vertical jigging proved fruitless even while presenting ice jigs tipped with gulp waxies or nite crawler bits.

Drop shotting a GULP Pink Waxie at the bottom of the first deep break at 12 ft produced a tough battle from a low 20’s junior N.Pike on UL tackle and 4# ice braid.

Little LMBs provided some action on long-casting the little jigs. Boat positioning was important considering the strong winds. Dick Tabbert’s Jelly jig in white was the popular jig on the flats and for the day. Honorable mention baits include Lil Minnow on 1/64 oz and 1” Apex Shad on a 1/32 oz.

Without the panfish bite in about 2/3 of my time allotted I finally found a small dispersed group of B.Crappies and B.Gills foraging minnows from scattered weed clumps in 3-6 FOW… taking the long casted swim jigs readily… sun sinking in the horizon signaled times up with very few fish crossing the gunwales.

Worthwhile trip? Of course I rack em up to learning experiences.  The more difficult days on a fisherman’s log the better fisherman we become.

[Slip Sinker]

20161112- ...----~~<")))))><(---*Cold-Water Period*--

[Slip Sinker]

Ice on the garden pond...