Thread: My DIY Projects and Great Adventures

Well I went yesterday morning O’Dark Hundred. A truck pulled up as I was launching and the man started cussing me for having my headlights on. Yack Yack Yack he went on and on about it. Apparently he could not see to turn and back up to the other ramp. It was dark. SLAB would have been proud of me for not taking the bait and behaving poorly at the boat ramp. I was constrained but fully motivated….. I assure you. He shut up when he got a good look after I parked and walked back to the boat.

I had run out of gas last time the engine ran and so I had to crank it a couple of times, but then it was like a sewing machine.

I headed out and trolled around catching just a very few little devils here and there. The winds were very pleasant and felt great. Cloudy conditions so not bright hot fireball stuff. At one point I had a deep hooked crappie and when I had completed the hook removal the boat had made a complete 360 in the wind. Five lines out of course. My first move was to kill the trolling motor, and my next moves were to don my eye glasses for the big unwind operation. Sucked as I had to cut lines and retie and such.

The fish I was catching were smaller than the previous day. They all seemed to be about 11-12” and not especially fat. I knew that there was something wrong and so I tried to figure out what they wanted. I could see fish on the sonar and what looked like huge plumes of baitfish. I decided to drop down deeper and did so by using larger jig heads- 1/16th to 3/16th. This got me down deeper and a few times I was dragging the bottom. To raise them up some I sped up and reeled in some line, looking for the best depth.

I also swapped out colors and styles of jigs looking for that special combo. However nothing was working, so I decided to fire up the motor and go across the lake and setup a new drift. Amazingly that did nothing. Still a few little fish here and there. Then I setup another new drift and it was like magic, here they were. They started hitting all my jigs, which told me I had everything just so. Still they were small with only a few of any size. Caught a wee dinkum that had swallowed the jig bad. Grabbed it with my stats and pushed it out his gills, removed the jig and pulled the line out. No blood.

I managed 27 fish total over the course of the day, which was shortened because I had duties at home to please the mistress of the house. The old clean your garage trick and the old do the dishes and go grocery shopping tricks as well. Fished three hours probably. Felt good to run that motor though. Life is bad when the boat is broke.

I can see now that having a wide selection of jigs is helpful, but not required. If the fish can be found they will bite pretty much whatever is shown. I had on five different colors, and two with spinning blades and they hit all of them. The speed seems to be important. The depths not as much as I have always thought because I was not consistent with that and it didn’t seem to matter. I think as long as I am overhead they are willing to swim up to nab it. Way back jigs, in close jigs, everyone got into the action in an equal manner. That means different depths.

The fish were hitting very lightly and the rods, many times, only developed the smallest of curves as if a weed had becoming entangled. I imagine they grabbed the jig and swam along with it. Undiscovered fish enjoy fastening wildly intricate knottings you know. Usually also I am able to see surface commotion to know fish-on, but there were too many waves for that. Really odd the way they can swim behind the boat. Also, I had four or five that swallowed the jig down deep. Had three fish pop free before they got inside the boat. I like to land all of them but I can live with this so long as it remains just a few. Couple of months back I was losing half or better due to the shape and size of the hook. Love that Bat Jig with the Whacky Hooks but they are no good for trolling.

I took home 15 or so to make fish tacos for the mistress of the house. Mexican is something she tolerates. I plan to fry the fillets and ease them into soft taco shells. Forgot the guacamole of course.

We head to Don Cesar tomorrow so no fishing in the immediate future, which is fine because Tropical Storm Fred is sending us high winds. I can still fish in windy conditions, but not with as many lines obviously, and the trolling motor demands constant attention or else. I will wish to upgrade at some point and get a new motor eventually. Point and click sounds great.

I don’t imagine an improved sonar would do much for my style in this very shallow water. I was cruising in 7 feet when I found the fish. Sonar cone would be like 18” at most. The forward looking stuff is interesting but not for what they want me to spend to buy one. I also want to mount the new TM ( when I can save enough cash to get it ) straight in line, not angled, so I can leave my rod holders in place when moving around on the lake.

I will read some about rigging in a battery kill switch. Makes sense to just eliminate the possibility of a drain. I do not do well with wiring things though. I liked the idea of the quick connects to switch wires from TM batteries to the main battery. I can see now that a small issue can leave me stranded. I was grateful I discovered my issue the way I did.

Ordered some 1/0 Victory hooks and plan to make jigs with those. They should fit my FreeStyle mold down to the 1/16th size. The bigger hooks sure seem to hold the fish much better than the little hooks. I will still be able to make smaller jigs using a 2” grub by simply adding a chenille collar to push everything back. I have been catching on 2/0 pretty good and with the #1 pretty good, so 1/0 should be perfect. Their mouthes are plenty large enough to inhale the thing. The Victory hooks do not require sharpening like the EC sickle hooks do. I ordered in black as the red rubs off and looks silly.

I’ll take a picture today as I clean the fish. Didn’t snap any shots on the boat as I was busy babysitting that TM and undoing wraps. Speaking of wraps, seems just looking at the rods causes the line to wrap around the rod tips seventeen times. Horribly frustrating. So I started using 30lb braid in the hopes it would stop this malady. It has helped but not enough to please me. So I plan to add a “shock leader” of 100lb test braid. Maybe fifteen feet or so to lessen the looping action. The guides are shaped to help prevent this but it is amazing to see just how badly the line gets with almost zero opportunity. I will add a section of mono for leader as I always do. The 8lb test mono seems to hold fish well, but once wrapped up, it becomes a snarled mess. I hear the fish are not line shy and trolling doesn’t actually require limp line, so probably jump that up a weight classes as well. Besides the TM spinning the boat wildly as soon as I step away, line wraps are really my only other frustrations. If I can cure that it will be worth it.

Looks like my next adventure will be on Friday.

Size #1 hooks, 1/16th ounce heads, with ball bearing swivels, split rings, and English blades.

These are about the same overall length as a normal jig with a 2” curly tail grub, and maybe shorter. I was wanting to add some Tail Gunners to my arsenal as these may ride more horizontal. Could be pointed downwards though- I shall see. Been thinking about how to keep the jig on the horizontal as it is certain to fish better in that fashion. The underspins definitely are cocked and that cannot be as good as horizontal. I am thinking it has to do with the fact that the blade is pulling back, and the line is attached to the hook eye, so they naturally align. This leaves the jig angled, and baitfish swim horizontal. I guess the bait fish do point downwards and upwards sometimes, and maybe it doesn’t matter.

I have some new blades coming soon. Deep dish Colorado blades to give me thump. I am thinking that with my dark stained waters I don’t need flash. The issue now is how easily the blades will pull and how deep the jig will go. Willow leafs when I think I need a little extra depth, Indiana when I need mid depth, and Colorado when I want them shallow. The different blade styles also provide different sounds and vibrations as they go by the fish, so a selection is always nice.

Ordered some new hooks from Victory. I had read a little and it seems that several guys left other companies and started Victory. Mustad and Matzuo. The Matzuo hooks are sharp but are not a great wire, according to reports ( insert grain of salt ). Mustad are good wire but not sharp. Victory are supposed to be solving both issues. Of course I probably should just buy Owner jig hooks and be done. I mean I don’t lose jigs to stumps, rather cycling through as new ideas come to me.

Anyways the Victory sickle hooks I have now are pretty sharp. I test points on my fingernail by sliding them across. Dull slides easily, sharp scratches as it slides, super sharp dig in with no slippage. I saw that I had been getting better hook sets using larger hooks and that means more fish in the boat. I get upset when a fish flops off. Lost a real pig that way and would have loved to had him aboard. Larger hooks seem to just perform better for my setup. Your mileage may vary of course and probably does. Victory hooks scratch my fingernail and that is all that is really needed for crappie. I sharpen the EC Lil Nasties right off, but they just seem like a bad choice, even if you can buy a huge box of them for cheap.

At some point I am going to start painting my blades like the walleye and salmon guys do. They fish cleaners waters but still the crappie seem to be able to discern certain colors. My fish are fairly consistent with chartreuse yellow, bright orange, chartreuse green, and purple and pink. As you see in the photo above more or less. Most of my plastics are two colors mixing these five colors in some fashion.

I. really liked the Bobby Garland Stroll’Rs but those Crappie Magnet Slab Curlies are a little nicer. The tail action is better than a curly tail grub as well. I use all three but the Slab Curlies are definitely putting fish in the boat. Long line trolling them. I was also having some success with a two legged jig thingie, but not as much luck. Small differences add up quickly and when you have a hot jig you notice it.

I stand up on the forward deck, work the fish between the lines and lift into the boat. I let them flap and flop like they do with a slack line and about half the time they spit the jig and I can quick cast back out. A great way to manage them as walking away from the trolling motor is usually a bad idea. LOL

I am trying to dial the fish in and manage my skill set and technique at the same time. Changing just a few things at a time helps me figure out some things. I can use plain unpainted 1/16th ounce jig heads with little size #6 bronze hooks and plain jane 2” curly tail grubs and do pretty darn good now. Thanks to my desire to learn. However, there are options off of that that will let me do better.

I remember the man I saw on Lake Orange trolling using his gas engine and cheap rod holders and he was kind of just trolling in one area and was filling his cooler. That man was dialed in on what he wanted to catch. They looked to be “eating size” to me. I guess he catches a big one every so often, but I want the bigger fish even if it means fewer overall. The wife and I could not eat half of what I caught, kept, cleaned and cooked. Need to learn to bring home what we can eat as that will make cleaning and cooking them easier on me. Bigger fish but fewer of them makes sense to me.

It is mid-August now and so far I have gotten by without an umbrella. I like an umbrella though, especially when it is raining, but the one I rigged up was in the way and would be even more so with the way I have been landing the fish lately. Go early, catch my fish, go home early.