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Thread: Help me locate more fish!!

  1. #1
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    Default Help me locate more fish!!


    So this is the start of season 2 for me and my new to me boat.

    Thanks to alot of reading, research and suggestions here, I was successful last season for the most part. My main issue with owning a boat was I needed to make certain I could catch fish, because lets face it, not catching fish gets a little boring. I didn't want to be one of the many who buy a boat and it sits and collects dust- or worse, leaves and mold, because its not much fun to go out.

    This year I upgraded my trolling motor to a new Ulterra I-pilot link, and we've had it out a few times so far. The last trip was pretty lengthy, we really hammered the water and gave it our best shot.

    I also have a Helix 9 SI

    We caught 2 fish. (Walleye and a channel..)


    We were specifically targeting walleyes, but Its also a good crappie reservoir and we fish them often in peak season.


    This is what I did.


    Water temp was 43-44 in a 5k acre reservoir (Brookville, IN). I figured fishing deep would be best, So I motored to a deep break on a flat that is popular in the spring. I marked waypoints of big bait balls, and suspicious bottom markings/ (I.e, to me, fish). After 4-5 marks, we started downwind and spotlocked each waypoint, jogging a bit here and there for 10-20 mins each spot before moving to the next.

    We used spoons and blade baits.


    We repeated this on another deep break next to a shallow flat, and finally moved mid lake to a causeway. We fished the windblown side, and marked massive amounts of shad, as well as what appeared to be fish under the shad. We repeated jigging under spots that seemed to have fish below the bait balls, but only caught the last fish, a channel cat, before giving up.


    I felt I really gave it a solid attempt. We only fished spots that we marked tons of shad, and shad + markings under them.

    We didn't stay too long in one spot. 10-20mins without action and we were off to the next mark.


    What could I do differently to increase my chances of catching more fish?

    When does color and presentation really come into play? If your over fish, and no bites, would you go back over the same spots with a diff approach or color before moving on?
    Likes Redge LIKED above post

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    Look for the first break coming from shallow water. Your water temps suggest that the fish will be in pre spawn. When fishing for the eyes, fish in the evening right before dusk and 2-3 hours after sunset. Casting long skinny lures, Rapalas, in shallow water. Don,t be afraid to stay in the shallows. Have caught many an eye in less than 3 ' of water at night. You may actually hear them rolling on the surface like carp.

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    Thanks for the advice!

    I have yet to really focus on shallow water- yet. I have read/heard that shallow water can be good year round, but I guess I just don't have any confidence in it yet.

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    *Crickets chirping....*

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    Quote Originally Posted by binfordw View Post
    *Crickets chirping....*
    Have you asked over on the Indiana Forum ?? They might have better insight than the general membership. You might even strike up a friendship with other Brookville walleye anglers.

    Only answer I can give you is on your last question, as far as when does "presentation" come into play, is that it's a constant. Best bait in the world used the wrong way = less fish. Presentation is the #1 key factor IMHO.

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    There is little action on the Indiana forum. I'm after basic info that could apply to any location or species.

    As for your advice- let me ask this, if you fish a spot you mark fish on and don't get a bite, do you move or change presentation?

    i can understand presentation is important for better success- but no bites at all?

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    For walleye tough to beat a live bait rig in those water temps, Lindy rig or Night crawler harness with a spinner and slip sinker or bottom bouncer slow trolled or drifting, I'd try large flats 7-12 feet of water. In the deeper water maybe a jig and minnow vertical jigged. Enjoy your new boat, Good Luck Fishing!!!

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    I'll try and help you out from both a tournament prospective and a general fishing perspective.

    First, based on what you said, it is really hard to tell exactly what you are fishing for. If you are simply fishing for "anything that bites" I often have found that it does become more difficult when you are targeting marks on the screen. The reason I say this is that one mark might be a walleye, one a channel cat, and several are crappies or blue gills. Each one of them, based on the conditions, will have a different feeding attitude on any given day. I've actually found it much easier to target specific species than to fish for "anything that bites". Oftentimes, people that do this are at the dock saying "The fish aren't biting" and then are amazed when someone comes in with a bag of walleyes or a limit of crappies.

    I would recommend this the next time you go to a lake. Set out to concentrate on one particular species. This way, you are utilzing baits that are more appealing directly to them. You can alter your presentation based on the water tempurature, how the fish are acting, and where they are located in the water column. After a period of time in one area where you are not catching the target species, move on to another and repeat. Eventually, you will find a location where the fish are active and feeding on what you are offering, or they are just not active. At this point, make a switch to a new species of fish and start over.

    Here is my reason for this. You head to a lake and you start fishing with larger jigs, blade baits, and larger lipped crank baits. Although you "might" catch a walleye, a pike, or a bass, your options for catching a crappie are limited. During the day, walleye lay where the water tempurature conforms with their bodies. Some days it is right on the bottom, other days it can be up in the column. They also stay out of the direct sunlight due to the makeup of their eyes. Those marks you see on the screen on the bottom "might" be walleyes. Target them directly. Unfortunatley, crappies are not normally found directly on the bottom. Throwing a bait that might be appealing to both parties can oftentimes mean that neither of them are going to want it. Plus, you might be fishing outside the target zone of each species.

    Prefishing for walleye tournaments has helped me realize how long to stay in an area. I used to run an area, catch some fish, go back and run it again to try and dial them in. Now, I look over my maps, my screen, take my best guess on where to find them at that particular point in the day, and head to a spot. I throw a vast array of different tactics. If I hit a fish in an area with a specific bait, I mark where it is and move on. I look for the NEXT spot in the lake that is similar and setup again. Usually, I'll hit another fish in a similar environment. Once done, I have a small picture painted. I pickup and move to a new area and start again. By the end of the day I may have only caught 7 fish but I have 7 spots where all the fish are acting the same at the same depth and eating the same size and shaped baits with the same color and the same presentation.

    On a tournament, I head to my first spot. If I put my pieces together right, I now have 3 days of prefishing and dialing in the "Right" bait. I will bombard that area with the "right" combination. I will work it until I exhaust it, they stop biting, or my quality changes. From there, I pick up and head to my next target spot and repeat!
    I have OCD "Obsessive Crappie Disorder"

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    Quote Originally Posted by binfordw View Post
    There is little action on the Indiana forum. I'm after basic info that could apply to any location or species.

    As for your advice- let me ask this, if you fish a spot you mark fish on and don't get a bite, do you move or change presentation?

    i can understand presentation is important for better success- but no bites at all?
    I would first change my presentation (esp. speed of retrieve and added motion to the bait by "hopping" the bait a little) ... but if I've spent more than 30 mins in a small area or more than 15 mins on one particular piece of cover & still haven't been bit, I move.

    I've only caught Walleye "accidentally" while Bass fishing flooded bushes with crankbaits .... and Crappie fishing a pea gravel bank with a Road Runner .... which is why I offered no particular info to your questions.

    I looked at a satellite view of the lake ... and if I were going to fish it for Crappie (esp. over the next couple of months) ... I would probably start on the West side of the lake & fish the creeks ... starting at the mouth and working the northern shoreline of those creeks & large pockets/bays ... looking for laydowns, standing timber close to shore, or any brushpiles I graphed up. Any North shoreline on the East side of the lake would also be of interest. The main reason being that these banks get the most sunlight throughout the day, so they're more likely to warm faster.
    Pea gravel banks & chunk rock banks will likely produce Black Crappie, while the timber in the area will likely produce more White Crappie ... but, Black Crappie will use them, too. The Black Crappie are just more likely to be in more shallow water, and be there earlier & stay longer (during the spawn) than the White Crappie (esp in fairly clear water conditions). Moderately to heavily stained waters may put both species in much closer proximity to each other.
    Thanks binfordw thanked you for this post

  10. #10
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    Some very helpful info!


    First-

    Yes, in my original description, we were targeting walleyes. We did another trip since then with even worse results, skunked! However, judging from the above info it sounds like while I was moving diff areas fairly quickly, I was NOT fishing diff types of water. We vertical jig'd almost the entire time- in similar depths/ structure types. But I was seeing "fish", so I felt it was a good idea. We did try 3 ways with stickbaits before we left- but it was in similar depths- 20-30ft.

    I did try to switch to crappie after a few hours of skunked, but I just didn't do a very good job of finding good water to fish so it quickly seemed like wasting time. ( We fished in one of the west coves/ creek inlets Crappie pappy mentioned, trying to cast and slowly retrieve jigs close to the bottom around standing timber. I had some minnows left from last week and I rigged a couple slip bobbers up and briefly tried bobber fishing, but the wind made that less than enjoyable so we didn't stay long) I didn't make use of my sonar at all in that cove to try to find structure/ fish, which annoyed me- I had zero confidence I might catch anything there. But- I wasn't too sure where to go for crappie, all I could assume was most likely cover/structure near entrance of a creek, in 15-30ft water. There seems to be VERY few brushpiles, logs etc in this lake, atleast from what I've seen.

    The main way we caught crappie last year was pulling cranks in open water.
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