EF FISHING TACTICS QUESTION

[325WSM]

Hi everyone. I have been fishing EF in the spring for about 3 years now. I spider rig with two poles, double minnow rig on one, and double jig rig on the other. Which ever one they tend to prefer that day is what I will switch both to. I tend to fish in 6-12 fow and usually find fish anywhere from 2-10 fow. I fish mostly coves around timber on both ends of the lake and sometimes find fish around the gradually sloping sandy bottom areas. I'd say my average catch is around 20-30 fish in a typical 5-6 hour period with an average keeper rate of 14-15 fish.

My question is am I doing something wrong? I here alot about people catching over a 100 fish a day on this lake and having no problem catching a limit every time. I'd like to hear some different opinions or tactics if you guys don't mind. If you do mind I understand that too. PM me maybe. My name is Paul and I'm in a small 16' silver and white cimmaron with a 60 Evinrude on the back. I launch out of the Boar's head ramp I'll probably take a vacation day and be back out this friday morning. Thanks guys.

[jeepguyjames]

Ranger bass boat and a Elvis hair do = guaranteed 100 fish days ....... Seriously though if you aren't happy with your results change what your doing .... Swim jigs - jig n float - long line troll , fish shallower , fish deeper.......experiment ...... I will say you can't fish to shallow at EF .... Good luck and work on your Elvis hair do or Mexican accident .....

[EFslabs]

It sounds like you're doing just fine if those 15 fish are 10+''. We have had many 100-200 fish days, but 90% of those always seem to be under 10''. I'd gladly settle for less numbers on that lake if the quality was a little better.

[325WSM]

I talked to a fellow when I was there last Friday who was in a nice ranger, didn't get his name. It was an older model with an inboard motor. Nice boat, don't see those too often. Not sure if that's the Ranger you were reffering to James. I remember them telling me they were headed to the river to fish.

I was told once that the larger females will usually hang out in the slightly deeper water before and during the spawn, and only go to the bank for a very short time to deposit their eggs and then back out. But if you guys are catching 100 fish a day off the bank and getting say a 25% keeper rate that beats my 50% keeper rate on a 30-40 fish a day any day.

[mbk]

It sounds like you're doing just fine if those 15 fish are 10+''. We have had many 100-200 fish days, but 90% of those always seem to be under 10''. I'd gladly settle for less numbers on that lake if the quality was a little better.

I was going to say almost the same thing. Sounds like you are doing pretty good as-is. My dad and I caught near 100 (85) last week, but that was one of the best days we've ever had there. Time before that - in Jan on MLK day - we fished 6 hours and got skunked. Granted water temps were low 30s and the coves where we wanted to fish where iced over, but we've had our rough days, in every season.

My favorite fishing and the kind where I catch the most when they are biting is single pole jigging with a 12' pole. I troll through and jig up against structure and keep my finger on my 6# test and ready to set the hook with even the slightest tick.

However, I've done good trolling with double-minnow rigs too - generally in summer and early fall. Last summer, being in no particular hurry, I was trolling back to the ramp all the way across the open part of the lake and I was surprised to be catching crappie about 5-6 feet down in 50-60 foot of water with no structure anywhere around. It just depends on where they are - and I'm still learning for sure.

Average size for me last week was probably 9.5 (many well over 10"). I caught a share of small ones but the size was encouraging to me. Hopefully there's a good class of crappie in there now.

[CrappieCrazed]

No, the guy with the Elvis hair has an outboard. I've never seen a ranger with an inboard motor before?? Anyways, let me tell ya, there are some days I would beg for days like your having on a consistent basis. Jeepguyjames gave u good info for sure.... I don't fish like you do. I've tried it but man it got boring quick to me. I have to have a pole in my hand working a jig at all times. Good luck man! PS, are you sire it was an INBOARD? now u got me curious, I gotta google it now

[Tom 513]

[Tom 513]

I spider rig too with what sounds like the same set up, capps and coleman style with a 1/2oz eggs sinker. This year I tied my rigs up using small duo clips so I can change out jigs quickly, so what I do now is run 1 minnow and 1 jig on each pole, and keep changing jigs to see what works best, also use crappie nibbles if needed. I also try to vary my depth and speeds, Ive had days where trolling around 1 mph is what put fish in the boat, whereas I usually run .3 to .5 mph. I've been fishing crappie the last 4 weekends and have been catching them deeper than You mentioned more like 10 to 14ft, this past weekend is the first I noticed the smaller fish are getting there colors. Actually 2 of Us caught 88 in 4 hrs Sat and a natural colored Bobby Garland jig tipped with crappie nibbles worked better than 3$ a dozen minnows.

[325WSM]

POSITIVE about the i/o Ranger. It was an older guy who said he just got back from Florida. I've seen two of them to date.
I
Tom. I agree. Most days it takes some experimenting to see what they want. Case in point was last Friday. Minnows usually out fish jigs in my opinion but the water was so stained the brightest colored jigs I had out fished the minnows by far. I also try to setup so as to drift with the wind so I can stay off the TM. Seems to increase catch rate even with 12' rods.

[325WSM]

Ranger 395V I/O. Late 80's.