Today, I want to post a different kind of fishing post. You all know that I post our trips from time to time and include pics of the fish caught, some nature pics when appropriate, and give general info as to the type of structure where we locate and catch our fish. I don’t tell where we fish but some can figure out where we fish and that is perfectly okay with me.
I will tell you up front that I have few “secret” spots. Grin. We mostly fish community holes and developed techniques that seem to be effective on our very short trips. What I want to say in the next paragraph or two is strictly my opinion and is not intended to be a slight to anyone or anyway to fish. There are many ways that work. I will be talking about the 3 keys to fishing success and you must have all three or your trips will not be as productive as they could be even if you have the latest technology aka Livescope.
Livescope is not a replacement for fishing knowledge. I’m going to tell of a specific trip a few weeks ago and I am not trying to embarrass anyone by telling what happened on this trip. Oh, before I forget, the 3 keys are location, presentation, and confidence.
Dr Phillip and I had some friends come and fish a certain structure with us where we had been having some pretty good trips and wanted them to get in on the action. We were fishing offshore deep structure and had located the fish and set our boat up to present the lures in the best possible way for the conditions. Conditions change everyday and so should your setup as well.
We had them bring their boat up next to us and after I figured out the presentation and started catching the fish. I even gave them the lure that we were using. They have Livescope on their boat and could see the fish. I caught several in a row and Phillip, my partner was using the same lure as I and not catching because his presentation was off slightly.
Our friends said that they saw the fish swim up to their lures, turn and go back down without biting. I finally told Phil what I was doing to present the lure like the fish wanted and he immediately started catching the fish too. If my memory isn’t failing me, Phillip and I caught 22 crappie from that structure, nice keeper size crappie, and our friends in the boat beside us went fishless.
I tried to coach our friends that morning, but their presentation was just off slightly and the fish were not buying any of it. I guess that I have said this to say to the Livescopers out there that see fish swim up and reject your lure, doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to change colors and find that hot color that they want. You may have to, but more than likely, you need to change your presentation.
Everyday is different and that is why it is called fishing instead of catching. Believe me, there are days when I get skunked because I could not figure out the correct presentation. I can find fish every time that we fish with our down and side scan graph. It doesn’t take but a second to lose confidence in what you are casting and when that happens, you might as well go put the boat on the trailer. That is unless you are a guide and never have bad days. Grin.
Abounding love til time
Dickey aka the fisherman
September 26, 2024
I might add that weather and lake conditions play a big part in the size of lure and depth of water that you are fishing. Seasoned anglers already know this but I am trying to help those less experienced fishermen.
Presentations are as varied as the many colors of plastic lures are on the market and figuring out what it takes to fool a crappie into biting something that isn’t alive is the fun part of fishing for me.
Figure out the depth of the fish first and then count down your lures to that depth before beginning your presentations. Watch the line like a hawk if you can because many times a crappie will bite a lure as it is falling and sometimes you can’t feel that bite. You just see your line go slack like it has hit the bottom.
Some retrieve techniques: Slow steady retrieve and no jigging. Slow steady retrieve with occasional twitches with a “palsy” twitch which is just a slight twitch not really a jigging motion. Lift and drop, lift and drop with twitches. Slow steady and suddenly stop and let the jig fall. Faster steady retrieve for the rare times when crappie are super active and chasing bait. Cast, let bait go to the bottom, retrieve slightly and then dead stick which means do nothing to move the jig at all. I catch a lot of crappie when they are deep with this particular presentation. Many think that crappie don’t feed on the bottom and pass up so many fish because of that myth. On a rare day, it takes a violent jig of the lure a couple of feet and let it drop back down to trigger a reaction bite. This happens more than you think. Hang up on a stump, brush or rock sometimes and pop the jig free and see how many crappie will nail it when it pops off suddenly. Amazing
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