Help with Mantua

[icefool]

I have never fished Mantua and am planning a camping trip in a few weeks. What I need to know is what artificial bait works well there. I have never had to fish artificial only before. I know we have had this discussion before. What I need are name brands of lures that work well.What is considered not artificial. I have some tube jigs that are salt impregnated is that artificial or not.
Thanks for the help.
[signature]

[PREDATOR]

Your salt impregnated tubes are not considered artificial lures. Look at it this way, it would be no different than if you had smeared powerbait all over your tube. Salt, smelly jelly, powerbait, whatever.
What are you fishing for?
Boat, shore, or float tubes?
The weeds have come up pretty good in there, and the fish use the weeds to escape the heat of the day, hide from predators, and feed on the many other things living in the weeds.
I like to find weedrings, or weedlines that are holding fish, and fish the edges of them.
If you can find a good size open area, you can fish crankbaits, or spinners, without getting snagged up to much.
If you want to fish bass, you need to go to [url "http://www.maniaccustomlures.com"]www.maniaccustomlures.com[/url] and get some of the unsalted custom senko type lures. Rig up weedless, and you should be in great shape.
For the gills and perch, same story, find an open area, fish the weedlines with a float suspending a small lure.
[signature]

[icefool]

We will be taking our rafts to fish from. We have heard that there are some pretty big blue gill out there. My grandson likes to fish for the bass.
[signature]

[Topehaw]

Be careful with the information that sometimes is given! Here is the definition from the Fishing Proclamation!

"Artificial lure" means a device made of rubber, wood, metal, glass, fiber, feathers, hair or plastic with a hook or hooks attached. Artificial lures (including artificial flies) do not include fish eggs or other chemically treated or processed natural baits or any natural or human-made food, or any lures that have been treated with a natural or artificial fish attractant or feeding stimulant.

I have been "Counseled" by Fish N' Game that this includes salt. I fish Mantua almost 2-3 times a week. simple plastic worms in dark colors rigged weedless on a carolina rig will produce a fair to moderate number of fish. From there it is all about presentation and location. You find them and provide the right movement and you'll get bit! Good luck.

[icefool]

My grandson wants me to ask about spinner baits. Do they work for the bass in there? He likes using those.
[signature]

[Topehaw]

I have had fair success w/Spinnerbaits up there, although after you get there you may understand why we have recommended finding "POCKETS" and fishing them. The main reason the killed off the lake years back also is one of the main reasons Mantua is home to some beefy Largemouths. The grass will make a sailor out of you within the first few casts with topwater. I do know some who do religiously throw spinnerbaits and other topwater, but it will require a bit of patience and skill. Good luck, Mantua is a great fishery.

[acey]

Hi- I went to Mantua today, July 20th and I was surprised at how thick the weeds were getting already. In a lot of areas they are almost to the surface. We found some pockets of deeper water that was weed free and fished them, but only caught a few bluegills. The signs reminded the swimmers that the seaweeds in Mantua can cause swimmers rash and itch from being in the water. Lots of luck. Acey
[signature]

[icefool]

Thanks acey for the report. I have heard about the swimmers itch there. So we will be careful when we launch our rafts. How big were the gills you got.
[signature]

[acey]

The bluegills we caught were only about 6" long. We never really got into them. We only found one here and one there. Acey
[signature]

[icefool]

We decided to try it before we planed a camping trip.We went up there yesterday. Had a great time and got alot of gills. They were all pretty good sized. We would float until we would see a deep hole, then drop down a jig and they would slam it. The perch we got the same way and they were nice size also. I haven't gotten a perch since ice fishing.All in all I think I really like that lake and it is alot closer than Pelican. We also got a few bass.
[signature]

[acey]

Were the bluegills deep or shallow? The ones on my fish finder looked to be down 8 to 10 feet deep. Were they hitting curly tailed jigs or marabou, and what colors seemed to work best? Did you try any bead headed nymph flies? Sometimes I have had good luck with a fly and a bubble for the gills if they are feeding near the top. Acey
[signature]

[icefool]

The gills weren't very deep. sometimes I think they hit maybe 6 ft down. We went to Wally's world and got what is called trout magnet in white and some in green. We would watch the lure go down aways and when it would disappear real quick we would set the hook. We used them again today. I took my daughter and my son up there today. We had a great time. My daughter also got 13 bass some real small and some in between and one that was 12 inches on the same lures.I think I have a new favorite place to fish. I used to really like Echo because of the different kinds of fish, but I haven't gotten a perch out of there since ice fishing.
[signature]