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"

[Kelly Peterson]

Froze here last night, 29 degrees. Will be beautiful Fall weather in the coming days and weeks. Enjoy!

[Riverman]

Way to go... what a fantastic year you have had...   sure wish I would catch em like you do. 

[Slip Sinker]

Riverman… thank you for your kind words!

I hope you can get something positive from the thread… that’s why I post! Let me know your findings on anything … feel free to comment!

Ive had several facets of this sport working positively for me this season!… and I have to be thankful for the easy access to the many lakes available to me locally. Good lakes with some quality fish.

My goal is to go south and do some fishing… Florida with family and friends is first on my list… maybe fish for some Bluegills, flyers, Oscars,Tilapia, peacock bass and snakeheads! Lol!

 

 

[Slip Sinker]

20161010- ...----~~<")))))><(-------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

just loaded some 12# GLISS to another Long/Cast spinning rig i just put together. the 12# Gliss is spec'ed at .005" in diameter and the 2# mono is spec'ed at .004" in diameter. the casting tests were done on the lawn an swapped out the spools of line being tested... after multiple casts i estimated i got roughly the same distance. i thought it was amazing.... im thinking on taking it out for some on the water testing in a bit

[Slip Sinker]

20161011- ...----~~<")))))><(-------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

looking at possibly squeezing in a late afternoon bite

[Slip Sinker]

i've been off the lakes for quite a few days now and have lost the pulse of the calendar seasons... last time i fished it was clearly post-summer but i feel the changeover has accured with these repetitive mid 30s nights. so going in this afternoon with a turnover- season strategy. the season is short and cold water season typically starts at the end of October here in the north

[Slip Sinker]

We timed a last minute trip to a small natural lake where we would have the last two hours before sunset to get some tagging in. the Long-Casting Jigs method has been hot for us all year so I loaded (4) setups for Long-Casting.

Power minnow, Lil Minnow, Spring Cricket and the Apex Shad have been the reliable mainstay and were loaded on the spinng set-ups. B.Gill, B.Crappie and P.Seed were the target fish in this lake with an occasional nice Y.Perch.

After boat was launched and heading to our spots I noticed a low 60’s surf temp and some activity in the deep basins on the sonar. Our first stop was on a 4-6 foot mud flat with weeds and stumps the bite was very thin but consistent on the Ul Minnow swim jigs. B.gill were absent but there was a scattered school of B.Crappie keeping some interest going but not for long.

One spot after another proved the same thing in the way of neutral bite. Checking the Fishing Points App. I noticed we were at the end of a Lull Lunar period and on a minor period uptick.

We moved to the edge of a deep break that rose to a nice weedy flat. Earl hooked up with a nice fish that tested the tackle. The 8# Gliss held tight and true on the UL Shakespeare Wild Rod as I slid the net under Earl’s PB LMB at 20” ... the fish was tagged on a 1/32 oz olive Apex Shad swim tail.

Coincidentally as time went on the bite improved validating the Minor Lunar Cycle. B.Crappie bite picked up and accelerated towards dusk and sunset. then at dark the bite quit altogether. Many times the bite picked up to a point we were tagging them at nearly 2 fish / minute. I ended up with 38 fish at the end of the day.

As the sunlight waned in the horizon the Power Minnow picked up the pace and left the Lil Minnow idle. However at the end of day the Lil Minnow was the most productive when fish were totaled.

A great post summer trip.

A good double!

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Earl’s PB LMB

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Nice B.Crappie

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A segment of today’s CPR’ed tags

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[Slip Sinker]

20161012- ...----~~<")))))><(-------------------------

[Slip Sinker]

off to test the bite on a small natural lake

 

[Slip Sinker]

20161012—we launched the jon boat into the same lake as the previous trip hoping to find the same successful pattern and discover the missing B.Gill bite. In order to try to make that happen we decided to hit a hot shoreline area for us that we experienced back in August and September. This also gives Connor the opportunity to tag some fish casting to shoreline structure.

Connor immediately began tagging some nice hybrids, P.Seeds and B.Gills with some quality to them. Moving in closer to the shorelines Earl and I Long Casted parallel to shore the area and picked up some nice B.Gills. The bite was slow and thin so we gradually started making our way to the deeper breaks. No doubt about it the bite favored the neutral side.

Referencing my Fishing Points App I noted we were in a slow Lunar period with a Minor coming up.

Earl and experience a few bite-offs and we tagged a few hammer handles before Earl set the hooks into a nice keeper N.Pike tagged on the 1” Apex Shad in Olive color mtd on a 1/32 oz jighead. Fish was carefully CPR'ed

I continued with the Lil Minnow and tagged a generous mix of 10-11” slot B.Crappie and mid sized B.Gills before setting the hooks into a good tag B.Gill in the lower 90% MAR. this B.Gill had some incredible coloring not typical for our tags this late in the season.

Earl and I decided that once the surf temps hit the low to mid 50s we would harvest some of these many 10-12” B.Crappies we’ve been tagging lately.

Connor was busy tagging many Junior LMB, B.Gills and B.Crappie on the worm bits under a slip/float/circle hook.

The bite got hotter as we worked our way up the Lunar activity Minor Period. At various times I quit taking pictures on the hot consistent B.Crappie bite to keep up with Earl pulling them in at 2 fish/min. Competition has that way with me.

Slight variable winds and low 60’s water temps. Weed beds were down as noted during the last trip… where there was existing weed clumps and beds we found higher concentrations of fish. Fish spotted on sonar were also concentrated on the edges of the deep drop-off breaks peeking over the edges onto the 4-6 ft flats.

Over-all we ended up having a lot of action at some periods of the trip with the long casted jigs producing along with Connors slip/float/circle hook/worm presentation.

My BFOTD!! 91% Master Angler Rated B.Gill tagged on the Lil Minnow

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Many typical slot B.Crappie between 10 – 11”

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Earls N.Pike on the 1” Apex Shad

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Composite odf some of the fish tags for the day… al CPR’ed