Thread: mtl help

i have been vertical fishing with not much luck this year on mtl.can anyone tell me what im doing wrong. i use 2 poles with jig and minnow fish by a tree usually 10 minutes if i dont get a bite i move to the next, i would love to know other techniqes or what im doing wrong. any info would be great.also tried slip bobbers this weekened caught 2 with this.

Originally Posted by yankee1

i have been vertical fishing with not much luck this year on mtl.can anyone tell me what im doing wrong. i use 2 poles with jig and minnow fish by a tree usually 10 minutes if i dont get a bite i move to the next, i would love to know other techniqes or what im doing wrong. any info would be great.also tried slip bobbers this weekened caught 2 with this.

Thats easy... You're fishing at MTL.
Kidding - I used to do well at Twain, but last year it was really tough fishing with all the high muddy water (and debris). This year I went up for one weekend early in the year and almost got skunked... have not been back yet, but planning on it maybe this weekend.

What trees are you hitting there? Along the bluffs, or more on the flats?
During the summer, I had luck there hitting trees on points close to deeper water, and on the edges of the flats near deeper water. Usually jigging straight down until I hit bottom then reeling in slowly a few feet, stop, reel a few more feet, stop, etc until I starting getting hits at a certain depth.

i always vertical jig the deep water trees next to big flats. it seems the best water is 15-30 feet and about 6-12 feet down. i have been there twice this year and both times have managed to scratch out a limit. call it luck, but this pattern seems to work for me. it also seems that i am catching less small fish and more bigger fish 10+ inches. i also stay on lick creek area as i know this area the best.

It looks like they have slowed water release a lot the last 2-3 days. Maybe that will help. Ben

thanks guys i was fishing the sides of the channel in the middle fork,i dropped jig and minnow straight down and used slip bobber about 12 feet bobber caught a couple.do some guys do better casting a jig and minnow?

I almost always vertical jig trees when I fish MTL. Until yesterday I had been doing real well in Indian Creek.

I use a long pole and try to drop as close to the tree as I can. One thing I notice a lot of the guys I fish with do is they get too much slack line laying on the water when they are dropping their jigs down. I make my jig fall very slowly by lowering my rod tip. When the tip gets to the water I open the bail and raise the rod quickly to let out about five feet of line and lower slowly until i get to the depth I want. Many times a Crappie will take the jig and the only way you can tell is that the line quits going down. When this happens lift lightly and if you feel pressure set the hook. If you have a pile of slack line laying on the water you will not see this bite. I also use yellow line so I can see what the line is doing. I would say that half of the bites I get are seen and not felt. I hope this helps. The fish at MTL are running bigger this year so don't give up.

Good Luck
N2

I usually fish Little Indian Creek. Most of my poles are 4'6" to 5' ultralights and I don't use a bobber. Typically rig with 1/32 oz jig with red/white or blue/white tube tipped with crappie candy (berkley power bait). I fish every tree from 40' to 8' and can usually scrounge up a couple of keepers. I let the jig drop to the bottom, as close to the tree as I can get it and typically catch something on the retrieve.