02-05-2016, 07:46 PM
Last year it seemed like they would move in to shallower water (25') at night and then head deep after sunrise...
This year they seem to be holding at the 40' -45' all of the time. They seem to hug the bottom more during the day and suspend up as much as 15' at night...which kind of follows the food source.
No doubt they hit better at night, indisputable fact there....but you can catch them all day...we do it all the time.
Size WAY down on the bait - Tungsten teardrop with 1/3 of a mealworm is perfect. Present it slow...and most times you set the hook on line movement...even with a spring bobber most bites are "lifts" of the line.
I will be there tomorrow to hit the morning bite but if needed i will fish into the sunlight no problem.
One other thing. Most nights the fish are stacked 15' up from the bottom, i have really tried to fish the layers to understand where the big fish are in the "stack". Without question the top layer of fish are the larger fish. In fact i drop right to the top of the stack and work the jig up a few feet...this brings up the most aggressive fish and usually it is the larger ones.
Started doing this because culling through Crappie brought up from 45' isn't an option. They are committed to the bucket at that point because of the air buildup....You cannot release a Crappie from that depth...so you have to make sure you are hooking up with the best 20 that are down there!
[signature]
This year they seem to be holding at the 40' -45' all of the time. They seem to hug the bottom more during the day and suspend up as much as 15' at night...which kind of follows the food source.
No doubt they hit better at night, indisputable fact there....but you can catch them all day...we do it all the time.
Size WAY down on the bait - Tungsten teardrop with 1/3 of a mealworm is perfect. Present it slow...and most times you set the hook on line movement...even with a spring bobber most bites are "lifts" of the line.
I will be there tomorrow to hit the morning bite but if needed i will fish into the sunlight no problem.
One other thing. Most nights the fish are stacked 15' up from the bottom, i have really tried to fish the layers to understand where the big fish are in the "stack". Without question the top layer of fish are the larger fish. In fact i drop right to the top of the stack and work the jig up a few feet...this brings up the most aggressive fish and usually it is the larger ones.
Started doing this because culling through Crappie brought up from 45' isn't an option. They are committed to the bucket at that point because of the air buildup....You cannot release a Crappie from that depth...so you have to make sure you are hooking up with the best 20 that are down there!
[signature]