Whrizob and anyone interested.... I fished three days last week and they hit the same thing all three days in the same general areas BUT what worked in GSP didnt work in Station Camp, AND that didnt work in Spencer Creek or Cedar Creek or on the Main Lake. Im not trying to sound weird or like I am a know it all but I want to give you a correct answer on what worked for me in what area. I did catch fish in all those places. If you dont want to give up your areas online keep reading.
Look for any sharp sloping bank usually ending up in a channel swing near your usual spring time fishing areas. Graph over it until you find the baitfish, they are there. Every fish doesnt go to the main channel and sit in 65 feet of water. I found them ranging from 12-20 feet and some in the main channel I had to bleed their air bladder (35ft). If your graph is high power, you should see the gamefish under the baitfish. If you do, you can try one of these options that worked for me. If not, LEAVE and try an different spot. You will waste your time freezing, casting and probably cussing me LOL.
1) If I used a dropshot, I tied the hook BETWEEN the gamefish and baitfish so it looked like "the lost puppy". Sometimes it sat there but I would reel in after 15 minutes max. I mostly let it sit giving few twitches but ocasionally I worked it back slow. Mostly a bite took a little over five minutes and it felt more like mush than a peck if you know what im saying. As for bait, "Flukes" in light colors. Try to get as realistic as you can to mimic shad. I personally used an unweighted TruTungsten hollow body swimbait. It looks dead on. My partner used a fluke and still caught fish as well. Just not as many.
2) Deep Diving Cranks. Before I get any farther let me emphasize SLOW, DEEP and CAREFUL. If you burn it through there, you will most likely scare the baitfish and they will leave. Then the bass will follow suit. Next, if you aren't deep enough, you risk cranking right through the bait ball and that will scatter then too. I used multiple brands but shad patterns were dominant. If you are unsure you are deep enough, try this option last or try option three.
3) Yo-Yo a smaller lightweight Rattle Trap. I used an Xcalibur XR50. Cast past them, let it fall. About a 1.5 ft per second fall rate. Yo-Yo it trying not to get as high as the baitfish but not lower than the gamefish. They hit this on the fall and it is usually aggressive.
4) Deep Diving Suspending Jerkbait. (almost as boring as the dropshot and I usually love jerkbaits) Once again, SLOW!!!! I had to weight my jerkbaits so they would dive farther because there isn't one I could find on the market that would suspend in 18 ft. LuckyCraft DD Pointers get 12ft max on 8lb test and I was using 12lb. If you dont have lead wire to wrap the trebles or suspend dots or strips to stick under the front end of the bait, use a pinch-on sinker on the front treble, they hardly hit that one anyway or you can peg a texas rig weight against the line tie but thats last option stuff. If you are like me, you rip your jerkbait normally with 3-5 twitches and 3-5 second pauses. Well, dont. I seriously would barely twitch 2 or 3 times max and count to 20. When I went to twitch again, I was setting the hook. They would hit it and not move. The line would still be slack and in the same place. It was like the were taking a break before swimming back to their resting area.
5) Floating Carolina Rig: Some guys have never heard of this but I learned this method during a B.A.S.S. event where I fished as an amateur. If you haven't heard of it here ya go. Same setup as a regular C-rig but your weight/beads are in behind the swivel. Leader legnth depends on where the suspended fish are in relation to the bottom. If they are 3 feet off the bottom, tie a leader of 3 feet and so forth. Other baits work alot better if they are higher than 5 feet off the bottom and after 4 feet, its hard to cast. Use a LIGHT WIRE hook and mono line on the leader and a short thick floating plastic in winter. I cut a 7" floating worm in half or use a floating swimbait. Make sure the plastic has enough bouyancy to float the hook, if not downsize the hook. I used a #1 dropshot hook and I only missed a couple. If using a swimbait, make sure you center the hook or it swims funny. Its basically a Texas rig with a C-Rig weight. When you twitch the bait, it goes down instead of crawling accross the ground. When you move it, the lure swims down, drags the bottom and then swims up. Now that you know the how, just fish it like a dropshot. The bait physically floats right in front of them sometimes hitting them. When I first saw this set-up, I thought what a load of bull but after he pulled in a few keepers, I had to ask how and why. Maybe you knew, maybe you just learned. Amazingly, it works for multiple species and great under docks in the spring. Just check your knot often. PS... THATS HOW I CAUGHT THE STRIPER TOO!!!! That setup in the current has awesome results as long as your angle is right. Both pics in GSP were off that rig.
SORRY I rambled but I didnt want to leave anything out. These were presentations that worked for me. I hope this helps and I didnt sound like a "magazine article". I just took about 10 minutes at each spot idling around graphing until I found the bait. Again if there is no baitfish, dont waste your time. Im going again Saturday and will have a camera with FULL batteries so hopefully I will be lucky enought to give more info. If not, it was sure better than going to work.
-Tight Lines and Screaming Drags
-Mike
thanks man!
