Retrieve speed for different jigs

[Spoonminnow]

You will continue to catch a bunch - and not just panfish. Looking forward to hearing how well you do and on what & how.

Advice: cover different areas. Fish do move and congregate - or not -depending on the season and weather. No point casting to an area that holds no fish. Recently I found that with water getting colder (55 degrees), the bite has been scattered but bigger fish have been biting.

[CrappiePappy]

What is livescipe?


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Livescope is a transducer & modem that hooks up to certain Garmin depth finders to give you live action sonar readings "forward/down/behind" the transducer's position. You can actually see the fish move around in real time. Videos are all over the web showing how they work & what they show.

Like this quick video :
Panoptix LiveScope – The most amazing sonar technology ever. - YouTube

[castingcole]

Livescope is a transducer & modem that hooks up to certain Garmin depth finders to give you live action sonar readings "forward/down/behind" the transducer's position. You can actually see the fish move around in real time. Videos are all over the web showing how they work & what they show.

Like this quick video :
Panoptix LiveScope – The most amazing sonar technology ever. - YouTube

Wow that is super cool! I do not have a boat though. Will have to check that out just to see thought technology is absolutely amazing


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[castingcole]

You will continue to catch a bunch - and not just panfish. Looking forward to hearing how well you do and on what & how.

Advice: cover different areas. Fish do move and congregate - or not -depending on the season and weather. No point casting to an area that holds no fish. Recently I found that with water getting colder (55 degrees), the bite has been scattered but bigger fish have been biting.

Thanks for the advice. How long should I try an area before moving? Will absolutely update afterwards


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[dbowling]

slow, then slower

[CrappiePappy]

Thanks for the advice. How long should I try an area before moving? Will absolutely update afterwards


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I've often said that I'll give a spot 15mins max if I'm not catching fish on the first few casts, but in reality I was probably staying there for more like 30mins. But, that was when I was casting to spots known to me (either from visible cover or found by Down Image unit). Now that I have Livescope, I'll stay on a spot as long as I'm catching keepers off it, but move to another spot in short order if not. And I will be searching for new/unknown ones as I move from spot to spot.

[Spoonminnow]

[QUOTE=castingcole;4063682]Thanks for the advice. How long should I try an area before moving? Will absolutely update afterwards
QUOTE]

All waters are different even those of the same average depth. Structure fishing involves KNOWING THE BOTTOM EVERYWHERE and not just depth.In fact there aren't too many waters I have fished for years that I didn't find something new.
Depth tells you the range in feet fish may be at whether shallow, mid depth or on bottom. Seasonal locations involve depth and weeds (weed types, weed edges, how far off bottom they grow, when they start to die seasonally - if at all), etc.)
Seasonal locations generally are good guides. Shallow in spring, deeper after the spawn / structure located the rest of the year except winter when mid lake schooling may occur.

Even if you have sonar and see no fish within its transucer limitation doesn't mean fish aren't present further out. Recently I fished a lake I've fished for 40 years and just found out some new seasonal locations - near shallower bottoms that drop off in the middle of nowhere and in parts of the lake that are uniformly only 7'-8'. Cast all around you using the presentations suggested by the fine replies above, but know the depth and therefore mid depth. If fishing humps and points, know where they begin and end after looking on shore for landmarks that can be used to find them again.

Right now fish in different waters are not all patterned in the same areas. Some are mid depth, some off points and at weed bases for example. In the other lake, fish were caught in the middle of nowhere but generally in the north or south ends - examples of location patterns for this time of year FOR THOSE PARTICULAR WATERS.

I also work areas in ALL directions and if there's no strikes of any kind, like Crappy Crappy I allow the boat to drift 10 yards and repeat. If any extensive area proves dead, I move a much greater distance and search. Again, YOUR LURES ARE YOUR FISH FINDERS and prove whether potentially active fish are present to strike. Even if you saw fish on a finder doesn't mean they won't come out their stupor to hit even the best lures and presentations.

That's it in a big nutshell and again based on my experience fishing the many waters I fish and in areas of those waters in less than 12'. (Can't fish deeper than that to save my life!)