Always learning

[John Bales]

Just thought I might share this with you. Just after the bass are done spawning there is a period where the catching is sometimes a little slower. The crappies are done, the bass are done and the pike really have not coming back out of the deeper waters on their regular summer movements. At this time of the year, the water color is at it's clearest of the year and you will find it that way during the spawn of several species. So with everything being not in our favor, what do we do? Much of my fishing or the choices I make are made when a certain species is most catchable, not talking about the spawn. We leave the fish alone to carry on the species. For me, it's all about the bass and when they start to spawn, we switch to crappies and when that's over, we are where we are now in that slow period. Mr. Perry said that when the spawn is over, the fish will go back to deep water and the movement will not be normal until the waters warm to the deeper depths. When we fish for the northerns at Lake Wawasee, it is possible to catch lots of northerns but the size is not there. Every once in a while we stumble on a better fish but not very often. This leads us to believe that the bigger fish are just not coming shallow but we all know that they still eat every day or they wouldn't exist. We have tried to carry our depth control and go a little slower to check for the bigger fish but most of the time you get nothing for your efforts. After a long spell, you settle for going back to the weedline and catch little ones. A few weeks ago I called two spoonpluggers to ask them if they thought if we spent some time a little deeper with some slower speed control if we could have some success with the bigger northerns? Running a three way with a spoon was brought up and then maybe doing some fan casting with some jump type lures on some of the contact points were discussed. Well...……….. a friend of mine was on Wawasee trolling the weedline and I was checking for the last remaining crappie and for the bass on the inside weedline knowing that these movements were coming to an end. The catching proved that. 4 crappie and 15 bass with one 3 pounder in 2/3rd of a day was proof that I was right. I knew that my buddy caught about 15 pike at that time and they were all little. I had gotten close to 4 amish guys anchored dead on one of the best points in the lake. By me following the inside weedline, I could tell they were anchored right on the money. As I got close to them I could see that they had pike bobbers all around the boat. I asked them how the pike fishing was going and they said that it was the best day they ever had. They said they had 9 in the cooler and needed 3 more for a limit. When I aske them how big they were, they said they had a 39, a 38, a 36 and a 32 incher and the rest were all 28, all of which were bigger than anything my friends were catching. They each pulled two out of the cooler and they were not pulling my leg. L found my buddy and told him of their catch and their using live bait(slower speed control and used deeper). Where they were anchored, they said they could reach a little over 30 feet deep and two of their rigs they had on the bottom, the rest suspended under a bobber. A couple of hours later, they were out of the area and another one of my buddies showed up to check on the crappies. I told him of the story and told him I was going over to the spot and get me a good anchoring position and cast some big swimbaits on a 3/4 ounce jig. He said he would join me in a bit. I got anchored up right on the tip of the point at about 15 feet which would allow me to reach out to 35 feet and also make casts down along the side of the point in both directions. About the third cast, I got a 28 incher and called my buddy to come over. As I made several casts around the bar, another one hit just under the boat, another 28 incher. A couple more casts, another fish took the lure as it sank, a nice fat 30 incher and that was the end. So...………. three nice fat fish caught deeper than the weedline and bigger than any of the fish that were caught trolling spoonplugs at the weedline. The colder water down deeper called for the slower speeds. It was obvious from the size of the fish that were being caught at the weedline told us that the bigger fish were deeper. So we can always continue learning and I thought I would share this with you. John

[Duplex]

John,

What it boils down to is depth and speed. Found that out fishing for crappie and walleye this spring. At this time of the year most of us are attuned to fishing shallow. The fish move in drawn by the urge to spawn. Easy pickings. But we know that the home is deep water. Spoonpluggers have always been cognizant that when the northerns hit the weedline, it is more easily checked by trolling. And we've had some great days when the hot weather moves in and the fish move up. Rarely do we cast for them; and when we do catch them on the cast, it's while fishing for bass or other species. It's an eye opener to hear of the catch you reference. The Amish guys were Spoonplugging: fishing a structure situation while controlling their depth and speed at the same time. At times, fishing with live bait is the way to go. Your catch using a jump bait confirms that they can also be caught on a well placed lure. How many Spoonpluggers would anchor and wait for the fish like these guys did? We spend a lot of time talking about trolling and casting once the fish have been located, but how many Spoonpluggers wait on the fish? Buck talks about waiting!

Just goes to underscore the point: there are no experts. There's always more to learn. Thanks for sharing.

Jim

[Team9nine]

Good post - good reply...

[TPD]

John
Timely post after last weekend getting skunked, after fishing from shallows to 50ft, at all speeds. Trying to figure out what else I could have done - now I know.
Terry

[Lip ripper]

JOHN YOU MUST HAVE BEEN READING MY MIND JUST WAS GOING TO POST ABOUT THE SAME SUBJECT. FINALLY GOT MY BROTHER OUT WITH ME, GOT ON LAKE ABOUT 800 AM ANCHORED IN MY CASTING POSITION. A FINGER OFF A BIG ISLAND FLAT THAT HAS A NICE 18FT BREAKLINE. THEN DUMPS INTO 45FT. YOU CAN SEE THE ISLAND BEHIND ME IN PHOTO. WEATHER WAS GOOD . TRIED SPINNER BAITS AND JERK BAITS SHALLOW NOTHING. THEN I WENT TO BREAKLINE WITH BLADE BAITS NOTHING, THEN TRD RIGS NOTHING. TOLD MY BROTHER THEY GOT TO BE HERE. RIGGED UP 2 SLIP BOBBBERS WITH 1/8OZ LINDY LIVE JIG WITH A GOOD SIZE SPLIT SHOT UP THE LINE TO BALANCE BOBBER. PUT ON ON LARGE LEECH, MADE THE CAST BINGO WE WHERE IN BUSINESS!! CAUGHT 8 BASS IN 20 MINUTES TOTAL WEIGHT OF 31PDS. BIGGEST WAS JUST SHY OF 5 PDS. THE STRANGE THING WAS THEY DIDN'T EVEN TAKE THE BOBBER DOWN, JUST LIKE A CRAPPIE HIT BOBBER WOULD COME UP AND LAY FLAT. BROTHER WAS AMAZED. BASICALLY ZERO SPEED WAS THE TICKET!!!!!

[Lip ripper]

HOPEFULLY PICTURE IN RIGHT ORIENTATION

[John Bales]

Good stuff and nice results. At the end of a fishing day, it always comes down to depth and speed. There are days that we figure them out and others send us home wondering if it was me or a condition that did not allow me to make a good catch. I know there were days that Buck would stay home and plant flowers instead of going fishing. On the other hand, success on a day that you thought might not be the best is pretty rewarding. Sometimes we learn the most on the toughest days.
I like that you are catching the bass. They will teach you the most. John

[JamesGinAZ]

Thanks for the story there's a lot of good things to digest from it. I love making sense out of a fishing situation. Congrats on your catch.