Spider Rigging

[Bittle]

I went last Monday for my maiden voyage on rigging. I get the idea but have never done it before. I fished in the wind in some places that I guessed would have had fish. I put in at Bucksaw and went upstream, not quite to the bridge. I bobbed around for a few hours before I lucked into about 4 crappie. One keeper, one on the line and two super shorts. I did manage to land a 25 pound carp though. But I also broke the tip on my brand new BnM pole after about 10 minutes of using it. I believe there was something wrong with the rod because I didn't do anything that would have caused it to snap like it did. Anyway, I'm going to try to get after it again this sunday. Does anyone have any tips on if I should try a different part of the lake? or was I not far up enough. First time on Truman so I'm learning.

Bittle

[Bigby]

Right now try halfway up in the creeks, on up past the bridge there is Hay and Sand creeks that a pretty good, most of the fish I'm catching are 3 to 5 ft down and in 8 to 17 fow on minnows. Good Luck

[Jigging15]

Like Brian said get in a creek. Depending on what these fronts do to them they will be shallow still or could move a little deeper. But they will not leave the creeks from now until the spawn. Minnows is for sure the best bait right now. Trolling is rough on rods for sure. I also broke a rod tip section last week on a small fish that I thought I should be able to swing in the boat. If you raise that rod above a certain angle it has no where else to bend. With the small diameter of the tips they will break if taken past that point. I do not know of any rods over the 12' length that will warranty them because of being used for trolling. Best bet is to net everything. It's good practice for when the big one bites and you really need the net.

[jigfisherx]

Broke more rods in the last 2 years rigging than in the last 5 years put together. I just break em and buy a new one. On the plus side. If you have a break low on the tip section, keep it. You can trim off the butt section to length and use it to replace a tip section on a short rod. Just be sure to go online an look how to wrap a rod to keep it from splitting.

[Macbow]

Man I have trouble rigging on Truman. Even when it looks like no trees close I'm constantly hung up especially with wind.

[MinnowDipper]

I've had success rigging on Stockton, Pomme, Truman and LOZ. Truman is more of a challenge, the key is learning the channels and creeks. Don't feel as if you have to run all of your rods. I like to rig in a couple spots were I can only keep up with 3-4 rods at a time because of all the underwater structure. These spots also tend to hold a lot of fish so it's definitely a good trade off. On the other lakes I look for break lines or edges to fish. Fishing bluffs with timber and staying just outside the timber seems to work well. I'll sometimes rig three poles out the channel side of the boat while dipping trees with another pole on timber side. Good Luck!!!!

[Jigging15]

If your getting hung up your going to fast for the area because of trees or stumps. If you go in to the wind and are going slow you will see the line move back towards the boat in time to let the boat blow backwards in the wind. Then pick that rod up and move forward with trolling motor and set rod back down when past the hang up. The key for fishing a new area and not sure about what's under the water is go slow and even slower. Should be able to go all day and not lose anything if fishing in to the wind. But you really have to watch the line to see when it moves back toward the boat.

[Macbow]

Thanks, will try again this year. I'm sure I was going too fast.

[Bulletman]

Yep, slow down,then slow down some more, always rig into the wind. Boat control is the key to rigging well.

[cricket1985]

What they said. Go slow. I fish with the wind a lot but I drag two chains or use wind socks in open water.