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Fish galore shallow and deeper! #14372585 05/20/22 01:38 AM
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SenkoSam Offline OP
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This one lake I've fished for over 35 years finally came back from the dead after 3700 grass carp ate habitat fish need to survive. Now crappie are overpopulating the lake with the other species being caught more and more. It's great for me lure-making/ testing so close to home and catching numbers on every outing. Newly discovered are these findings:

1. If I dip the body of a plastic lure in hot plastic to thicken it, it seems to get more strikes and more aggressive ones from fish. This one caught four species in one outing last week:
[Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image]

2. Remember the claim that the near-invisibility of fluorocarbon made it ideal for line-shy fish? I debunked that due to necessity: dang pickerel kept chewing through my line causing me to lose lures!! (the above example). So in desperation, I happened to have some coated wire in my tackle box and though thick, attached it like a leader that no fish could cut. The thick wire leader + light jig caught fish all day long!
[Linked Image] [Linked Image]

3. See the clear plastic lure in the above photo? I wanted to confirm catching fish that I reported in a previous post wasn't a fluke. It still did well in different shapes and in murky water after 1" of rain the day before:
[Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image]

Clear plastic Bobble Tail:
[Linked Image]

Clear plastic curl tail with thickened body:
[Linked Image]

4. Up until yesterday I been catching mostly crappie, perch and gills in 3' of water near large pockets of pads, near wetland brush lines. The lake I fished has a gradual drop into deeper water at the south end and I figured: why not cast into water 5-6' deep away from shallows? Not all fish are involved with the spawn. I was right! Not only were fish out there, but the quality of fish went up. They weren't schooled tight like in the shallows, but loose groups of fish kept me searching water parallel to the wetlands. Footlong crappie like this one kept me busy:
[Linked Image]


5. Now like many anglers, I'm averse to fishing in high winds over 15 mph and +25 MPH gusts in bright sun. Two days in a row the wind would have pushed me into shallow water but for a 15 lb. anchor! The wind though didn't affect the spring bite I found out and finding near wind-protected areas was a priority. It paid off: 198 fish in two consecutive days! In fact, the dock where I launch my boat held a monster school of crappie: one fish after another to the tune of over 25 fish under white caps! (It was at the end of the day and the wind finally got to me forcing me to go home.)

6. Remember the Slugo? I had a similarly shaped lure stored for years and figured to try it rigged on a light jig head. It paid off!:
[Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image]
Seemed kinda big for panfish, but they didn't think so.

All in all, two great days that were informative and productive. White and yellow perch, crappie galore, bass, pickerel and large sunfish. My kind of fishing!!!


Last edited by SenkoSam; 05/20/22 07:39 AM.
Re: Fish galore shallow and deeper! [Re: SenkoSam] #14372633 05/20/22 03:23 AM
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Nice post. Love the variety of fish. Good job. thumb


[Linked Image][Linked Image]

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Re: Fish galore shallow and deeper! [Re: SenkoSam] #14372806 05/20/22 02:20 PM
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Awesome post and a heck of a buffet! cheers


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Re: Fish galore shallow and deeper! [Re: SenkoSam] #14372994 05/20/22 06:18 PM
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pop r Online Content
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Nicely done! thumb

Re: Fish galore shallow and deeper! [Re: SenkoSam] #14373952 05/22/22 08:07 AM
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SenkoSam Offline OP
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Follow-up:

The day after was windy - again - but the bite was excellent! The fish were in booby trap mode, waiting around until lures set them off via exsplosive strikes!
New designs were tried and every one of them caught fish in 2-6' near pads!
This Mojo chubby grub caught crappie and a 4 lb bass (note the waves):
[Linked Image] [Linked Image]


A Soft Worm hybrid fused to a French Fry segment caught many fish until a pickerel cut the line:
[Linked Image] [Linked Image]

The added segment seems to make a big difference. The chubby body added to grubs such as this curl tail caught everything:
[Linked Image] [Linked Image]

It will never cease to amaze me when fish hit this shape similar to Uncle Josh's Pork Frog:
[Linked Image] [Linked Image]

A few sunfish even had it completely in their mouths!! Crappie of course slammed it in shallow and deeper water - go figure:
[Linked Image]

A 25 mph wind and rain started falling finally got to me, but 70 fish taught me a few things that made fishing starting after 1 pm worth it. At least I know where the fish are now for the near future. Patterns are wonderful when they stay put for a while!

Last edited by SenkoSam; 05/23/22 09:23 AM.
Re: Fish galore shallow and deeper! [Re: pop r] #14374259 05/22/22 07:27 PM
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Originally Posted by pop r
Nicely done! thumb




Yes Sir!

Re: Fish galore shallow and deeper! [Re: SenkoSam] #14374620 05/23/22 09:22 AM
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SenkoSam Offline OP
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Should be interesting to see if the patterns holds. In the last few days, near 90 degrees/ 68 at night; this week near 70 with night temps in the upper 40's to low 50's.

Re: Fish galore shallow and deeper! [Re: SenkoSam] #14380255 05/29/22 11:35 PM
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Nice post and some nice fish. Good job SenkoSam. woot

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