Sitting on the dock of the bay

[Steve Craig]

Ken,
In the Green Book as well as the HSC, Buck outlines exactly how to do this when you have a weed condition. See page 135 and Figures 47, 48, and 50.
When your lake has weeds like you are talking about, he says to go out to where those weeds end. Then simply place floating markers on anywhere there is a projection or point in the weedline. This will draw you a place on the water to be able to "see" the key spots that should be hit with the lures while trolling. Those points in the weedline are telling you that the bottom is different here(structure situation).
On very tall or deep weedlines, you still run the lures like Figure 48 says to do.
It is just common sense that when we have weeds or brush all the way from shoreline to as deep as they are growing, we cant run the lures in the shallows.
Some weedlines are harder to run than others, but for the most part they can be run.
After we leave the weedline, going deeper, we only want to troll with our lures bumping bottom (ON STRUCTURE) bARS , POINTS, HUMPS, ETC.
If i may make a suggestion.........
When reading that Book, DO NOT SKIP AROUND IN IT! Start at the beginning and read it straight through. To many times we have seen newbies only read what interests them in that book. This is a HUGE mistake. They become confused, miss things that they should have read, etc.
Research has shown that when we read something for the first time, we only retain 10% of what we read or watch. It takes 5 to 7 times before we retain 90%.
That is why this site is so important to beginning Spoonpluggers. They can ask questions and get answers here. And this helps to speed up the learning curve.
Buck told us to share and not hold back. That is NOT what other fishing shows, articles, etc do. Only Spoonpluggers will share what we have been taught.

[John Bales]

Your lake chain has lakes with great water color and a shallow weedline. Stay on them and do not fish the bigger clearer ones. It is that simple. The dark water color will allow you to learn how to run the smaller lures. It is a simple decision and one where the learning can start right away without frustration. John

[John Bales]

Steve, I was checking out some of the MLF tournaments last night and they were in Texas fishing a lake(I forgot the name), but I got the navionics out and found this lake so I moved over to Arizona and for the first time realized your state is not the place to be for someone who loves spoonplugging. Mr. Perry made a comment to me one time that there is a lot of great fishing out west but you don't want to live in Arizona. I took a look at what little fishing waters you guys have and the ones you do have are ones that a person should not take the boat off the trailer. Then I made it over to Lake Mead. OMG........ talk about steep and deep. When I look at those lakes and see very little highlighted blue color, I just shake my head. No way!!!!!!!!! It looks like most of the fishing water is in one area in Arizona but they are far and few between. Anywhere that steep and deep with little or no flatter stuff just makes it so tough. I know about slides and dirt banks but the over all picture just spells failure a lot of the time for the average fisherman. I feel sorry for all of you who have to do your fishing in this area. Makes my piece of crap lakes look better. Had to tell you I was looking around at the lakes in your area. Texas sure has the lakes don't they? And the giant bass. Take Care. John

[MuskyAddict]

Thanks John and Steve. Fran gave me the same advice and had a recommendation on a dark lake with shallow weeds. I just wish this ice would melt!

Ken

[MuskyAddict]

Gents,

Okay, I went back and read and re-read pages 135-141 a few times and a couple of light bulbs went off. I also recall Buck giving similar instruction when it came to trees @stay out of the trees”. Perhaps for me the “retaining 10% the first read” my be an exaggeration.

How would you approach a bar with a thick weed bed where (as an example) the weeds go to the surface at a certain depth, go to 3’ from the surface at a deeper depth, go 6’ from the surface at a deeper depth, and so on until they grow and to 3’ from the bottom at the edge. I would assume (based upon my limited understanding) that each stair step down should be considered a separate break line and fished as such. And, that water and weather conditions will determine how far up the fish migrate on that structure.

How did I do?

Ken

[John Bales]

Your thinking is good but you don't have to over think a weedline. If the weedline goes to 16 feet, pick a lure that runs about half way down and make that pass first , then go to a bigger lure and check the base of the weedline. You as a green horn should still stay on the lakes with water color and learn how run the lures and bump the bottom. But you thinking was good. John

[MuskyAddict]

Thanks John,

Yeah, I tend to over-think everything but glad I was on the right track. I’ve been doing some research and there are 3 “bays” on Minnetonka with water clarity averaging about 3’. That’s about the lowest in the 5 county area that I’ve seen so far. The problem is the zebra mussels filtering the water. But I know those areas and know quite a few structures where the weeds are limited in depth and are even sparse in some areas. That’s where I hope to start my training.

Ken

[John Bales]

You fish West Arm, Harrisons Bay and Jenning Bay. That's where you want to do your work. Caught a lot of bass out of Harrisons bay. These lakes have the best water color in the whole system and are a piece of cake to run the lures. You should rarely have to go deeper than a 200 on no bo to catch a few fish. John

[MuskyAddict]

John,
That is exactly where is was planning. Halsted and Stubbs has similar water color. Halsted is carp infested and I don’t know much about Stubbs. I’ve also caught some very nice walleye in West Arm.