Thread: Friday Fishing Report

As most of us know, fishing has been tough the last couple of days. Today was the worst bite I have had all season. I fished almost all day long. I tied on over 30 different lures and tried every bait combo I could think of (and some I just plain made up). The entire lake was like this with lots of comers and goers. I could mark fish, get them to come to the lure and look but very few takers. The clock would strike a number and the fish would turn on for 5 minutes and shut off again. This happened until 2pm and then there were no more takers, just lots of lookers. I suspect that we need a front to move through to change things up. Best color today was orange tipped with a plain wax worm.

I went back to my old perch rig trick today and caught more fish than I would have with a standard 1 jig setup. I tie one jig about 10 inches above the other (in line). Seems to get more bites when it is slow. I usually tip each with a different bait to start with until I find what they like more. I also use different colors to see which they hit more. In the end you can usually narrow it down to two of the same colors and same baits on one rod. Just another way to get the most baits in the water at one time to maximize the chances. This works especially well for suspended crappie as you can adjust your length between the baits and fish two depths at one time.

Give it a try if you have not done so already and let me know what you think. We use this perch fishing as everyone knows they are always on the move. The more bait in the water the more chances the fish stay around. We also carry a second rod pre baited so as soon as the first comes out of the water the second can go down in the strike zone. This is an effort to keep the school in your area as long as possible.

I'm not fishing tomorrow as I have to try and get some rest. Plan on fishing Sunday morning and all day Monday. Bad day fishing is still better than almost anything I can think of.

hey rich got a question to throw at ya. im fishing suspended fish,30fow 20 foot down. these are large areas of fish mostly gills im speck fishing i have cought some nice ones but not consistent the ones that i have cought iv gotten them on a jigw/minnow havent got any on dead stick rod w/minnow' i have tryed spikes w/tear drop gills wont leave it alone.the only time i can fish this lake is during the day 800-400.im not sure if theres scools of specks or if there scattered around randomley.any ideas? ill be hitting the lake hard the next couple weeks. later....john

John,

Thats a tough one. I am assuming you have alot of small gills mixed in the bunch and thus the reason for not wanting to catch the gills? Besides, you can catch those all the time, after all it is a Crappie website!

I think you are on the money as far as bait choice. Usually the small gills tend to NOT want the minnow as they are bigger than their normal diet this time of year. The bigger gills will hit anything if the timing is right. Spikes and waxies will draw the crappies but if you have alot of gills in the mix then your best bet is to stay away from them as you said you can't keep the gills off from it. I would try a couple of different things here.

First: I would try and bring the fish up further. I am assuming you are using a flasher (vexilar or other) and can see the fish. Use a minnow and come in at say 15ft. If the water is clear the takers will single themselves from the group and come up. Of course any agressive fish on the feed will.

Second: if you find a crappie or two, move around just a little bit. You may only be a couple of feet off from the main group and that is all it takes. Dave Genz talks about this tactic alot. You could be off by a couple of feet and that makes all the difference in the world. One tactic that him and his buddies deploy during tournaments and fishing hard lakes is to drill many holes in a cirlce about 30 yards in diameter. As one guy is drilling, the other is checking holes. When they find fish in holes they begin to fish. If the fish are not of the size they want (say small bluegill) but there are a large quantity of them, they will drill another cirlce of holes around this one. They deploy the same tactic when fishing Crappies embedded within Gills (your situation). They fish till they find one or two but not a ton and then they begin to work around this hole.

Third: I assume you fish this lake quite a bit so you may know it well. I would find an ariel view of the lake (google maps or yahoo maps). I would go to the hybrid portion of the map and begin to zoom in. You would be amazed at the amount of structure and details this thing shows you from under the water. Also, I would get a hydrology map of the lake (if you don't already have one). goto DNR - Department of Natural Resources

then go to forms publications and maps, then choose online maps, then under hydrology choose "inland lake" maps. Next you choose the county to which you are fishing and a list of available maps appears. If you are fishing Eaton county you are out of luck as they don't have any. If your lake isn't listed, don't fear, Wal-mart sells a book of maps for several counties. I have seen a rack of them in Charlotte back by the fishing supplies. They are not cheap (about $20.00 per book) but worth it.

Lastly: if you need some help let me know. I have a gas auger and a flasher. We can make the lake look like swiss cheese if you want!

You also mentioned Dead sticking not working. My experience shows that it usually doesn't with a minnow. They want to see it injured and jigging or shaking does just that.

I would also try larger spoons. Guys from Minn. tend to use alot of bigger spoons and do quite well. I cannot think of the name at the moment but if you look at minn. message board you will see a recent thread from "Barren Von Crappie". In it he has alot of interesting pictures. In one of the pictures you can see the lures I am talking about plain as day.

I would also be willing to try soft plastics and imitation baits in this case. You are less likely to catch the gills. Try the crappie candy by "Gulp" in several different colors. Also, gulp has a new bait out called "minnow heads" I saw it tonight at the store and now I wished I would have picked up a bottle. You usually tip the larger spoons with a minnow head instead of a whole minnow.

I'm off work on monday???

dang rich we think alike i have tryed all of the things that you have that you posted the only difference is dead sticking i ment i had live minnows 2 rods 1 set at 18 foot 1 at2foot off bottem.wile jiggen the 3rd rod.i have found 2 different schools of fish i have cought craps out of both schools just cant get them pinned down.my best water has nothing to do with these schools.thats where most people fish i just dont want to miss any thing.i am practiceing for a tourniment.i would be moor spicific but i dont know whos lookin.later........john

John,

I have another idea but I don't really want to throw it at you if you are practicing for a tournament and are worried about who is watching. It concerns bait and I have a little secret bait that about 95% of your tournament anglers are almost likely to have never even heard of, let alone use. The other 5% know what it is but most likely will not use it. Let me put it to you this way, in the North it is really common and you just use it as part of your arsenal, down here, it is hard to get and most people don't know what it is let alone where to find it. I have seen more than one tournament won in the Lansing area because One person was using this bait and knew what it was about. I got you interested now don't I? Don't worry, I don 't sell it so it isn't an infomertial! Shoot me an email and we can talk about it away from other eyes.

richard.wicklund@yahoo.com

Oh, the spoon I was refering to the other day is known as the flying spoon. I just remembered. They come is several colors. This by the way, is NOT the secret bait.

John, you busy working this week or do you have time to fish? I'm off work again this week and looking for a partner for thursday or friday. Wanna get together?

John,

Check your private messages and shoot me a call.

Rich