SLIP’S 2017 LOGS, STATUS AND STRATEGIES

[Slip Sinker]

[Slip Sinker]

20170830----~~<")))))><(---*Summer Period*--24% Solunar/77°

[Slip Sinker]

20170830-after the abysmal outing on two different lakes yesterday I decided to head to the reservoir I had luck on the other day. The weather was hot plenty of the sunshine and calm seas.

I arrived at the launch at the base of the minor period as a couple fisherman were coming in. the story they told fishing since late morning with barely a bite yet they saw fish at the dropoffs on sonar. (They fished the null period between a major and minor).

I decided to skip the island drop-off and head straight for the bridge and rip rap where I had my most success previously. My strategy was the same start shallow with the Long-cast/tiny jigs most notably the hot waxies mounted on 1/64 oz collared jig.

I caught many fish during the minor period till after the peak. The lull period between the minor and major did produce some fish but had to work harder with longer gaps in-between fish. I found by tossing the Long-Casting/.016 oz Jig/Pink Waxie into weed pockets, letting settle to the bottom till slack line then watch for line movement did pick up some more fish during this lull.

Once the major period started kicking in the fish bite increased dramatically nearly every cast. These were no lunkers by any means… with most fish in the eater slot range. Many gills in the low to mid 7’s with an 8” class P.Seed as a bonus… B.Crappies most in the 9” range with few close to the ten mark.

best set-ups for the B.Gill were the Long-casting/.016 oz Jig/Pink Waxie.

B.Crappies enjoyed the Lil-Minnow and Apex Minnow in Blue-Black

I was working on the fifth limit for the day!... all CPR’ed!!

 

[Slip Sinker]

20170830----~~<")))))><(---*Summer Period*--63% Solunar/76°

[Slip Sinker]

20170901----~~<")))))><(---*Post Summer Period*--15% Solunar/69°

[Slip Sinker]

20170901-Had a great time fishing with my buddy Dennis…

Started out the trip undecided on which lake to fish… narrowed it down to two different lakes in the same proximity 20 mins from the house.

We just finished strung Gliss 8# on Dennis’s new U-Lite setup to gear up for the Long-Cast method. A coin toss finally decided the lake choice which we both mutually understood it was the tougher of the lakes to fish, but had a better chance at the trophy. I also had the honor of putting Dennis on a master Angler in July on this lake.

Once the boat was launched on this coldest day this summer (with a frost warning last night… brrr) we headed to the big fish spot and started tagging the gills straight away. Not satisfied with the frequency of the tags we made our way north to end up at one of our favorite B.Crappie holes.

We found the fish scattered and to get the numbers up we moved often. Between the docks strategy seemed to work the best today with fish tight to cover. Dropping the jig down in 4 to 6 FOW along weed clumps and pockets provided some nice fish. Typical with cold front patterns most fish seemed to be buried in the weeds. Casting long and pitching jigs short tight to edges and in pockets produced the best results.

Dropping the jig down in 4 to 6 FOW along weed clumps and pockets provided some nice fish. Typical with cold front patterns most fish seemed to be buried in the weeds. Casting long and pitching jigs short tight to edges and in pockets produced the best results.

At one point I hooked up a Long-Cast/.016 collared Jig/1” GULP Minnow from a forgotten jar on the boat. Ive historically been disappointed in the 1” GULP Minnow with its durability on the hook after it’s tagged a fish … in many cases it’s 1 to 2 fish per bait… which is frustrating. It is the main reason why I turn to the Lil Minnow for its durability, performance, and action.

Soooo…. A great time to do a little on the water comparison between the two baits… Lil-Minnow vs. 1” Gulp Minnow. Both baits caught fish as anticipated. The Lil-Minnow as expected was the more durable of the two. The Lil Minnow is solidly glued and will last thru dozens of fish frequently.

Sooooo… another sub experiment was in order… test the viability of super glue on a wet GULP Minnow. due to the softer material, it did not achieve the same performance as the Lil Minnow however it proved better durability catching many fish on just one bait.

At the end of the day… Dennis and I performed well under significant under–ideal conditions and tagged a few lunker 90% Master Angler Rated fish… not bad for fish trip...

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[Slip Sinker]

20170902----~~<")))))><(---*Post Summer Period*--27%/72°

[Slip Sinker]

20170902-Dennis and I set out on one of the busiest lakes in the county on the holiday… glutton for punishment? … maybe… or maybe just two panfish addicts looking for the tug of the trophy B.Gill or B.Crappie.

Setting off from the boat launch with calm seas and upper 60’s in surf temps we passed many potential panfish spots but we continued on. The waypoints Earl and I marked just a year previous were one of the most productive of the day especially for the B.Crappie and I made a bee line for it.

To get there we passed one of the busiest stretches of the lake with some nice waves from the boat action.

Once at the waypoint we started tagging some nice b.crappie straight away with my BFOTD on the first cast! We continued slamming the b.crappie tagging a combined 42 fish in a short period. The popular method was Long-Cast/.016 Jig/Swimbaits.

We decided to let the spot cool down to move up river and stopped at many potential spots along the way basically skunking-out.

Before sunset we hit the hot-spot one more time noticing quite a cool-down on the hot-bite.

Great day over-all!

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[Slip Sinker]

20170903----~~<")))))><(---*Post Summer Period*--59%/72°

[Slip Sinker]

20170903-Fishing Labor day weekend...

continues finding us back on the busy public lake…  Dennis Zack and I decided to hit a few waypoints on a late summer pattern that I find  popular with the bluegill and crappie.

The pattern is the flats created by the intersecting creek channels into the main river channel of the reservoir.  These are easily defined on contour maps as shown in the illustration below.  The order of popularity is from one to three with one being the most popular with bluegill and panfish concentrations.  The points with the most shallow surface area butted up against the shoreline proved to be the most popular.

We vertically jigged as well as Long-Cast/Ultra light Jigs tipped with gulp waxies and swim jig tales.

We continuously fought tremendous boat traffic and waves in the shallow profile jon-boat…  But slowly and methodically connected with the panfish bite.

i ended up with a bonus Lunker B.Gill vertically jigging the flats at 9-10'. saved my day.

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[Slip Sinker]

20170904----~~<")))))><(---*Post Summer Period*--81%/72°

[Slip Sinker]

20170904-Felt the pull of the Full moon…

Jeri and I took a break and fished off a private dock on a small lake known for some quality panfish.  I’d typically keep a Long-Cast spinning setup with a small 3600 Plano tackle box filled with my favorite setups in the car at all times. 

It was just a few short casts that I hooked into a sizable fish.  After a short battle, I saw that it was a trophy-size crappie and dragged it to shore where I planted a firm grip lip lock … bringing the fish to scale that stretched just short of 14 inches. Nice fish during a Minor solunar period just a day short of the full moon... timing... it's mostly about timing... on the lake at the right time with the right presentation

[Leo Nguyen]

Wow! Look at the size of that beauty!