Fishing Forum

Ira and I got out to Willard today and fished with Reelfast. Since he retired he does not like to get out too early, so we meet up, launched and were fishing by 8:15 am. We had our first eye, ten minutes later, then caught another two in just a few minutes, two on the apex lures that Ira and I both have.
 That was it for the day for the apex lures, from then on, it was only a crank bite. We have been fishing the same area for over a month now and every week we are seeing more and more shad in the water and their size are getting larger.




 We must have tried at least 30 different lure today, catching one or two on a lure then nothing for a while, nothing real consistent. By 2 pm we had 12 eyes in the dead well, we stuck it out for another hour but only got one more, so we called it quits around 3 pm. Water temp was 66 when we got there and got to 74 before we stopped for the day. Most eyes were caught off of side planers. We trolled between 1.9 and 2.3 mph. We mainly fished in 10 to 11 fow all day. 

(06-23-2022, 01:36 AM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]Ira and I got out to Willard today and fished with Reelfast. Since he retired he does not like to get out too early, so we meet up, launched and were fishing by 8:15 am. We had our first eye, ten minutes later, then caught another two in just a few minutes, two on the apex lures that Ira and I both have. That was it for the day for the apex lures, from then on, it was only a crank bite. We have been fishing the same area for over a month now and every week we are seeing more and more shad in the water and their size are getting larger. I'll post a pic of what we are seeing after I get them off my phone. We must have tried at least 30 different lure today, catching one or two on a lure then nothing for a while, nothing real consistent. By 2 pm we had 12 eyes in the dead well, we stuck it out for another hour but only got one more, so we called it quits around 3 pm. Water temp was 66 when we got there and got to 74 before we stopped for the day. Most eyes were caught off of side planers. We trolled between 1.9 and 2.3 mph. We mainly fished in 10 to 11 fow all day. Pics will follow.

Not as good as you did for us, we fished from 8:30 until 1, ended up with 7 eyes 2 wipers 2 cats and 1 crappie, kept 6 eyes all caught on flicker shad trolling at 2.4, fish caught were about even between planer boards and long lining. I'm only able to get out 1 day a week if I'm lucky and only able to fish for 4 to 5 hrs. But at least it is getting on the water, the days have been pleasant and not very buggy. I sure wish with all the money the state makes at the state parks they could do some improvements especially on the only really usable dock at the North marina. Went to use the cleaning station at the North Marina ( which I very seldom do) and it was plugged up.

(06-23-2022, 01:36 AM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]Ira and I got out to Willard today and fished with Reelfast. Since he retired he does not like to get out too early, so we meet up, launched and were fishing by 8:15 am. We had our first eye, ten minutes later, then caught another two in just a few minutes, two on the apex lures that Ira and I both have. That was it for the day for the apex lures, from then on, it was only a crank bite. We have been fishing the same area for over a month now and every week we are seeing more and more shad in the water and their size are getting larger. I'll post a pic of what we are seeing after I get them off my phone. We must have tried at least 30 different lure today, catching one or two on a lure then nothing for a while, nothing real consistent. By 2 pm we had 12 eyes in the dead well, we stuck it out for another hour but only got one more, so we called it quits around 3 pm. Water temp was 66 when we got there and got to 74 before we stopped for the day. Most eyes were caught off of side planers. We trolled between 1.9 and 2.3 mph. We mainly fished in 10 to 11 fow all day. Pics will follow.

Apex spoon or hot spot?

(06-23-2022, 02:13 AM)PACKFAN Wrote: [ -> ]Not as good as you did for us, we fished from 8:30 until 1, ended up with 7 eyes 2 wipers 2 cats and 1 crappie, kept 6 eyes all caught on flicker shad trolling at 2.4, fish caught were about even between planer boards and long lining. I'm only able to get out 1 day a week if I'm lucky and only able to fish for 4 to 5 hrs. But at least it is getting on the water, the days have been pleasant and not very buggy. I sure wish with all the money the state makes at the state parks they could do some improvements especially on the only really usable dock at the North marina. Went to use the cleaning station at the North Marina ( which I very seldom do) and it was plugged up.

I don't care to fish that long but when you go out with others, you have to get out of your comfort zone. We rarely get out more than once a week too but Dan is hear for a month, so he is fishing 4 days a week or so, depending on the weather. I think all this cooler weather is keeping the bugs down, not sure how much later this will last but we can enjoy it while it last.  Water level is dropping but the South marina still has two very usable docks and the cleaning seems to be working most of the time.

(06-23-2022, 02:17 AM)Redrebel Wrote: [ -> ]Apex spoon or hot spot?

Apex but they are homemade so they are different than the store bought ones.

Heck of a run on that apex and you still got decent numbers.

(06-23-2022, 11:23 PM)2knots Wrote: [ -> ]Heck of a run on that apex and you still got decent numbers.

Yea, can't complain and for a homemade(HM) lure it did good this year. Actually, Ira has been playing with getting his apex tuned just right and he caught one of those first two on his HM apex. They were deep early, then we started catching them higher in the water column, as the day went on.

Thanks for the photos, that is helpful on the shape and color of your HM apex lure. Do you tip with anything or run it bare?

(06-24-2022, 06:32 PM)joatmon Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the photos, that is helpful on the shape and color of your HM apex lure.  Do you tip with anything or run it bare?

I run a three hook worm harness behind it and yes I put a night crawler on it. I fish it deep using lead core line, to get it down just off the bottom.

Here is what that apex looked like as a blank, after it was rough cut from out of the 2 & 1/4 piece of PVC.

(06-23-2022, 02:56 AM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-23-2022, 02:17 AM)Redrebel Wrote: [ -> ]Apex spoon or hot spot?

Apex but they are homemade so they are different than the store bought ones.

(06-24-2022, 08:52 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]Here is what that apex looked like as a blank, after it was rough cut from out of the 2 & 1/4 piece of PVC.

Oh Gee, those look familiar 

Thanks much for giving those to me this year Roger, it was amazing how well they did. Mine was good right off the bat, Ira had to work on his some, it was one of the plain white ones I got from you. He dyed it chartruse first, then put gliter on it. His is shaped slightly different than mine and has a different wobble but it worked on this last trip. It's funny because I've talked to members that have bought store bought ones and
 they get little to no wobble out of them.

Don't tell anyone, but a flatfish or Lazy Ike behind a bottom bouncer can also be walleye candy.

(06-25-2022, 01:51 PM)RockyRaab2 Wrote: [ -> ]Don't tell anyone, but a flatfish or Lazy Ike behind a bottom bouncer can also be walleye candy.

That sounds like something worth giving a try. I've used Flatfish up higher in the water column but never near the bottom, sounds interesting. Thanks for the info Rocky.

I tried flatfish this year out there.  I tried them on my downriggers to put them near the bottom.  I didn't catch anything, but I thought it would work.

(06-25-2022, 05:12 PM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]I tried flatfish this year out there.  I tried them on my downriggers to put them near the bottom.  I didn't catch anything, but I thought it would work.

How fast were you trolling it? How close to the bottom?

(06-25-2022, 05:18 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-25-2022, 05:12 PM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]I tried flatfish this year out there.  I tried them on my downriggers to put them near the bottom.  I didn't catch anything, but I thought it would work.

How fast were you trolling it? How close to the bottom?

1.3 to 1.7. I just checked the action on the side of the boat before lowering it. I put the ball down about 8 ft in 10 ft of water.  10 ft down in 12 ft etc.

It requires almost a "paint drying" speed or a flatfish will roll instead of wobbling. You can use a bottom bouncer, an inline trolling weight, a drift sinker, or a three-way swivel and sinker, followed by a shortish leader of about three feet. That allows the flatfish to run just a bit higher than the weight.

You want a wide, slow wobble, not a tight wiggle. In lieu of a flatfish, you can also use a shallow-running jointed minnow lure like a jointed Rapala or a classic like a Heddon Tadpolly. I drape half a crawler on two barbs of the flatfish treble, letting the two ends dangle.

You can run this rig bumping bottom or up higher when fish are suspended.

You're right, go too fast and they roll. That's why I always put them in the water and test them before using. I've caught a lot of trout using them on downriggers. Still looking for that 1st walleye or wiper.

Catfish will whack the snot out of them, but often bend the light trebles that come on flatfish. Try dabbing a little Pro-Cure on, also.