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Thread: Curiosity. How many fish are really near the bottom? Photo.

  1. #21
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    Interesting question Ship!
    I would guess that crappie pappies vertical casting method would provided a reasonable answer to that question. Curiosity. How many fish are really near the bottom?  Photo.

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    Chuck...
    When I drop shot for bg I get a fair amount of crappie also so they must be down there.

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    If I am having a hard time with getting bit. I strictly pitch and bump bottom with a stinger shad and 1/16 jig head. It slows me down and I am always on bottom and it works, even though I not above the fish.


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    Remember, fish always look up. They cannot even look forward without lowering their heads and raising their tails.

    A 12" crappie is typically about 8" top to bottom. So that fish, if its belly is on bottom, has its eyes at least 6-8" off bottom and looking upward. If the water clarity for us is 2 feet than the fish can likely see a bait a little farther than that. So you can be at least 2.5 feet off bottom and have that crappie that is touching bottom still see your bait. Whether or not he wants to come up and eat it, i dont know.. theres probably a reason its inactive and laying on bottom in the first place.

    Bluegills and perch will often feed on insects on the bottom, they don't usually like to suspend and chase minners like crappies.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck Adams View Post
    I also drop shot for bluegill at certain times of the year.
    I don’t use a conventional drop shot weight. Knot tied in tag end of line and then split shot crimped just above knot. Hook tied 8 inches to a foot above split shot.
    Mostly use red worms around this part of the country.
    Might work for crappie as long as your weight is heavier than your jig.
    Something to think about for sure.



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    I can see a lot of changes in my fishing methods coming this Spring. No more slip float fishing for me. It was fun seeing the slip bobbers go down, but honestly I catch more fish using the bottom float methods. I really appreciate all of you who replied on this thread. Who says an old dog can't change his tactics. This 77year old dog ain't "Old Yellah". Watch out panfish. This "Old Ship" is out to get you with some bottom float rigs.

    Mike
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    May God be with you. Keep CALM and STAY ANCHORED with your faith.

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  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by CentKyPaddler View Post
    Maybe thats my problem lately… I am always concerned about my jigs being lower than them but maybe I am not low enough. Plus I tend to be lazy and not want to get snagged a lot. Next time I’m out I’m going deep
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    Livescope taught me that a lot I thought I knew about crappie was wrong. The biggest thing Livescope does for me is ensure I stay above the crappie. However I have seen enough instances of crappie coming down to take my jigs that I now know they will sometimes come down if a jig is under them and passing near enough for them to sense.

    As to getting snagged I was always told that if you are not getting snagged you are not fishing where the crappie are. And Livescope has proved that to be true when you are fishing brush, underwater trees and stumps.

    Until I started dock shooting last year I seldom fished a float for crappie. Bluegill, yes, but not crappie. However I have discover that a float will often allow you to get to places around a dock that at the proper depth that you can not get just shooting a jig into the area. That has also re-introduced me to the pleasure of watching a jig go under when a crappie hits it. Plus when the crappie are biting too light for my old hands to detect the bite, the slight movement of a small pencil float will alert me to the bite.

    As to crappie being on the bottom, that is where I normally find the bigger crappie, within a foot or two of the bottom in water under 20 feet or so. When the water column is deeper, I find them deep but not always at the bottom.

    I finally got a chance to do some crappie fishing on Lake Washington. I found the crappie in sunken trees in 60 foot of water. I did not find any around the docks or shallower water.

    The tops of the trees were around 40 foot deep. The crappie were there, with yellow perch above them. I mainly caught yellow perch as it was hard to get the jig by them to get the crappie. I was using a 1/32th jig with a drop shot rig to get the jig down in a reasonable amount of time. I was only able to fish for an hour as it was late when I found them. But it was a fun filled hour and I look forward to finding them again in that area.
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    You can get live wax worms at petsmart. Can of 50 is about the same price as 50 crickets at the baitshop. They have a jar of bright orange cricket guts jelly bean looking stuff that has a smell you will never forget and is very hard to get off your hands that all fish love. My son has a pet gecko and feeds it this stuff so I tried it fishing and it works
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  8. #28
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    I FOUND A RIG BETTER THAN USING A CAROLINA RIG. How many of you have heard of "THE BOTTOM FLOAT RIG ?

    " How is it I had not found this when researching the Carolina rig? I imagine that I was looking in all of the wrong places. I was a big dummy. I still want to again thank all of you for your wise input on this thread. I have found the answer to my question. I was fishing too shallow and I found a better way to fish deeper. The soft plastic on a hook, the jig or live bait all move freely with the motion from the lake water and are not impeded by the float. The winds do not affect your presentation like they did under a slip float. THIS OLD DOG HAS INDEED LEARNED A NEW TRICK. Here are my results.

    Anyway I can use this setup to fish all my jigs or hooks the same way I would be fishing them under any slip float but now I eliminate the slip float and can fish them at any depth from 8 inches to six feet from the bottom of the lake where 95% of the active feeding fish are according to the reports on this thread. Here is the concept and the video that I want to share with you all.

    THE CONCEPT:

    Name:  A BOTTOM FLOAT RIG.jpg
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    THE PICTURE FROM MY TEST TANK

    Name:  A BOTTOM FLOAT RIG PICTURE.jpg
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    THIS IS THE VIDEO
    I found that teaches "The Bottom Float Rig."

    Last edited by shipahoy41; 01-11-2023 at 08:49 AM.
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    Default Curiosity. How many fish are really near the bottom? Photo.

    Very interesting concept.
    I will try that for sure.
    Ship
    Just wondering if you will be downsizing your pool noodle floats for that method?
    I guess it will take some experimenting to match the float with jig size?
    Otherwise your bait will float up to your leader length I assume??
    Thanks
    Chuck


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    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck Adams View Post
    Very interesting concept.
    I will try that for sure.
    Ship
    Just wondering if you will be downsizing your pool noodle floats for that method?
    I guess it will take some experimenting to match the float with jig size?
    Otherwise your bait will float up to your leader length I assume??
    Thanks
    Chuck


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    Pool noodles are history. I will be using this new method from now on. Be sure to watch the video. Make up one for yourself. I like the fact I can use a small snap on this setup so I can quickly change hooks or lures. am loving this new concept to get these lures down and it will save a bunch of space in the tackle box. The lure hangs about two inches from the float. These floats average out about three pennies each. The float depth is set by the small bobber stop in front of the medium size float. The float is a one inch float. Here is a photo I just took from my test tank.

    Name:  IMG_20230111_071612083.jpg
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    Mike
    Last edited by shipahoy41; 01-11-2023 at 11:09 AM.
    Aquatic Species Removal Engineer.
    May God be with you. Keep CALM and STAY ANCHORED with your faith.


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