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]

20161113- ...----~~<")))))><(---*Cold-Water Period*-----

[Slip Sinker]

Got a liitle warm weather spike coming up… might be worthwhile fishing if the ol spine cooperates… might be on the lake

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[Slip Sinker]

…roughly 50 days till ice fishing season!

[Slip Sinker]

20161114- ...----~~<")))))><(---*Cold-Water Period*--48°

[Slip Sinker]

Had abaout 2hrs of total fishing trip time to spend on one of our favorite panfish lakes. Using the Fishing Points App we noticed it was about a 90% fish activity forecast which was very good rating for a day. This is a lake that has always done good for us in the past when it comes lunar forecasting… good or bad forecasts we have always done well.

Once out on the lake we noticed upper 40’s degree water surf temps and very few fish marked on the deeper breaks and basins. This usually tips us off on the shallow flat weed bite. once on the flats long-casting the swim jigs have produced very well.

After many casts the trip was proving to be a very difficult bite… this would be (3) trips in a row with poor results…

slip/floating and drop-shotting resulted in 0 fish.

At the end of the day long-casting the Lil Minnow proved to be my best bait of the trip with just a handful of B.Gills and B.Crappie with no preds. A very difficult trip.

I believe the trip proved to be difficult because we just could not locate the tighter schools colder water produces. Sonar is great for locating fish in deeper water but shallower than ten feet becomes a crap shoot. side imaging would have produced well for us today.

It’s on my Chrismas wish list!

 

Good B.Gill

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Good B.Crappie

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[Slip Sinker]

20161115- ...----~~<")))))><(---*Cold-Water Period*--45°

[Slip Sinker]

Loaded up (3) set-ups for a session at the bridge… 5-6’ Ul spinning with 12# GLISS swim jigs, 6-0’ Med action spinning with 15# Power Pro medium jigging, and a 7-0’ 15# Power Pro spinning for medium spoons (N.Pike) to test the bite.

Initially throwing the heavier gear along the road rip-rap and making long casts to off shore weed beds produced 0 bites.

Testing the bite for panfish produced a nice SMB next to a underwater broken concrete and rebar hump. The productive bait was the 1” Apex Shad mounted on a 1/32 oz jig head.

One tag in 45 mins of fishing in mid 40’s water.

[Slip Sinker]

20161118- ...----~~<")))))><(---*Cold-Water Period*--45°

[Slip Sinker]

Tracking a significant cold front in the short term forecast and air temps in the 60’s I set off to the bridge to tag some fish.

I loaded myself up with the same three set-ups like the trip previous…5-6’ Ul spinning with 12# GLISS swim jigs, 6-0’ Med action spinning with 15# Power Pro medium jigging, and a 7-0’ 15# Power Pro spinning for medium spoons (N.Pike).

Water temps 45° at the bank and a few casts in with the 1” Apex shad tagged a nice Y.Perch. a few casts later I experienced a clean bite-off obviously from a toothie N.Pike or Walleye. Retying quickly with another 1” Apex Shad I hooked up solidly with a nice N.Pike on the UL Sinning rig with 12# GLISS. After a nice few scorching runs I netted a 26” class N.Pike.

I spent another ½ hour fancasting the area with all the set-ups including the pred set-ups with 0 tags.

Nice Y.Perch

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Nice N.Pike

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[Slip Sinker]

20161123- ...----~~<")))))><(---*Transition Period*--32°

[Slip Sinker]

Ross Lake... thin ice over the entire lake ... and snow covered.

looks like the start of the transition period between on and off thin ice till safe ice.

[John Sheehan]

no crust yet here in NJ but 44 degree water temp yesterday and the Pickerel and Perch were aggressive!