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Thread: Dime a Dozen Dinks!

  1. #1
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    Default Dime a Dozen Dinks!


    Spent the last two days from daylight to dark with my spider rigged "toon", I could catch dinks 7-8" long anywhere I went. Most hit the pink curly tails, the other favorite seemed to be the blue/clear. Not one fish over 10", surface temp was 67-69. I'm guessing the females went to the brush to spawn, leaving only mostly dinks 1-2 year olds out in the flats? What'cha think?

    A good word for my BnM Pro Staff trolling rods.....they are tough, tips and all. Wife had a heck of a fight with the trolling motor for about 20 seconds then it finally cut the 10/2 power pro some how. whew! No damage done to the rod and the tip was in one helll of a loop.

  2. #2
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    Sounds about right. You may want to consider trolling some floats in the flats near the backs of the creeks. Floats will get the lure furthur away from the toon. Seems like if the females are shallow as they are during the spawn they shy away from a boat. Using the floats can get the lure 30 to 40 ft, away from the toon and can help when the fish are shallow in the flats.



  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by whizkids
    Sounds about right. You may want to consider trolling some floats in the flats near the backs of the creeks. Floats will get the lure furthur away from the toon. Seems like if the females are shallow as they are during the spawn they shy away from a boat. Using the floats can get the lure 30 to 40 ft, away from the toon and can help when the fish are shallow in the flats.
    Whiz, the only problem I have in trolling creeks is we are talking 800 acres, no active creeks. I'ma think'in I'm going to have to wait until they go deep again, I found several nice brush piles out in 15-20 foot of water, but the Lowrance showed very little around them, did catch a couple of dinks around one. I did all my trolling with the Minnkota with 14' BnM trolling rods, shouldn't 12'+ to the side of the toon been quiet enough? I varied the depth and colors all day long. I also wonder with catching a the dink Crappies why we only got one small gill. I know for a fact that the lake holds both nice Crappie, Bluegill, and Redear. Oh well, I'll try again this weekend. Might cozy up to some still timber and still fish awhile. But I really had my heart set on spider rigged trolling.

  4. #4
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    I did all my trolling with the Minnkota with 14' BnM trolling rods, shouldn't 12'+ to the side of the toon been quiet enough? I varied the depth and colors all day long. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I also troll with 14 and 16 ft. rods. I was catching dinks like crazy several weeks ago and other guys were catching slabs in the shallow flats or closer to the bank. Some were fishing like you are and others were trolling floats. I think if the fish are shallow, 1 to 6 ft or so, even of the water is 20 ft. deep your toon may be displacing enough water to make them move away from you. I have seen boats catch those fish by moving very, very slowly with little noise. ( Water displacement is noise) . Just my thoughts. I have had the same experience and when I know lure color, depth, line size etc is not the problem, then I think stealth is the answer. I long line a lot and I can assure you that there are days when the size of the fish is related to the distance behind the boat ( not depth) the lure is running. The only way I can explain that is that the larger fish are spooked by the water displacement. I trim my big motor up to reduce the turbulance also.



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    I was catching good crappie trolling last week, this week I been still fishing near brush in fairly shallow water and catching them. You got to fish where they are, not where you want them to be. You fish just east of me, the crappie will be up next to the bank the next couple of weeks. Then, it will be back to trolling. Good luck!

  6. #6
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    You can still spider rig when they are on the banks, when the females empty there sacks they go back to deeper water so you can catch them. Seems spider rigging will catch them year round. If your fairly new to spider rigging like me make sure you always have lots of minnows just incase. Seems all the pro's don't use them or not much but on my fav lakes I catch most my fish on them. I like to stick a small spinner blade above a few beads above a hook or jig, it gives alot more flash and sometimes I will only catch fish on the hooks with blades above. Heres a link to the little metal piece you use to attach the blade to the line. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catal...rTarget=search

  7. #7
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    Try casting with a slip bobber setup. Find them. Throw out a marker bouy and back off. Wait for things to settle back down and then slip in quietly upwind and anchor. Drift back close and then cast to the bigger fish.


    Bigger fish are smart and will hear you coming and may be spooked in the very shallow water. Note I said MAY. But the bigger fish sure are smarter than those little 8" dinks which seem to be everywhere. The bigger fish are more cautious IMHO. Sort of like us humans. Compare some old guys like me to a teenager and you know what I am talking about. Experience normally makes us more cautious the older we get. We don't feel so invulnerable as we age. But those young of the year crappie are ravenous and will hit almost anything thrown their way this time of the year.

    Sometimes you have to wade though 10 to 15 little ones to catch one big one at Patoka Lake. Sometimes you only catch the dinks and once in a while if you are lucky and get in the right spot at the right time you can catch a bunch of big'ens.

    Quote Originally Posted by VietVet68
    Whiz, the only problem I have in trolling creeks is we are talking 800 acres, no active creeks. I'ma think'in I'm going to have to wait until they go deep again, I found several nice brush piles out in 15-20 foot of water, but the Lowrance showed very little around them, did catch a couple of dinks around one. I did all my trolling with the Minnkota with 14' BnM trolling rods, shouldn't 12'+ to the side of the toon been quiet enough? I varied the depth and colors all day long. I also wonder with catching a the dink Crappies why we only got one small gill. I know for a fact that the lake holds both nice Crappie, Bluegill, and Redear. Oh well, I'll try again this weekend. Might cozy up to some still timber and still fish awhile. But I really had my heart set on spider rigged trolling.
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  8. #8
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    Just wondering what upwind has to do with it? Thought we were fishing, not deer hunting.

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    They say crappie are always facing the wind. I know I have much better luck fishing upwind.

  10. #10
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    :D Grandpa always told me never fish against the current !! Cast and let the wind drift your bait into the crappie , not to mention it'll help "carry " a smaller jig a lil farther on the cast !
    Last edited by DmDuck; 04-20-2005 at 08:13 PM.
    Jim McIntyre
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