Pay No Attention……

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I have already learned so much, and there seems no end in sight for things yet to be discovered.

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Totally agree!

Thanks for the detailed dissertations.
After decades of using lures for many fish species I've come to the conclusion: simpler is better and more so having done well mostly lures I make or modify. You may find a few ideas to consider found in most of my posts - photos included. But seeing the quality and number of crappie you caught makes me believe that location is at the top of the list along with the speed and type of retrieve depending on lure choice (many of the ones you showed I would happlily cast).

Suggestion: thin wire attached to the jig under the line tie does away with glue allowing soft plastics to last far longer. Method of attachment quick & easy.

Suggestion: buoy floats help a lot when it comes to marking boat position in relation to fish caught - especially if fighting a wind of over 15 mph becomes a distraction while using the trolling motor. Of course once a school or groups of fish are found, an anchor is the best way.

Thank you for the pointers.


I considered tossing out a fancy marker, but that would mean a retrieval would be needed. For this reason I usually just toss out a water bottle, and then if I never go back no harm no foul.

Just kidding. I bought the kind that has a bright plastic buoy, string wrapped around and a lead weight to spin it. I will give it a try and see how that goes.



Yesterday I was able to make tight 90 degree turns without fouling my lines. The trolling sinkers seemed to work out well. I had several fish strike those rigs, and it kept the line in close to the boat and out of the way of me landing fish a lot better. So four lines will have sinkers from now on.

This new rig shall be a three way swivel from main line, a leader and a clip to attach and unattach sinkers. I make Bell shaped sinkers with a bronze eye in small sizes up to 2 ounce. I originally bought the mold because I was Spider Rigging and hadn’t used any sinkers since switching over to long lining. Now they will play a prominent role once again. I watched each swim, the trolling and the Bell and each seemed to do the same thing at the speeds I like to go- 1.0-1.2 mph.

The Bucktail jigs were equal to the plastics as the results were about the same. The bucktails landed a few more of the smaller fish though. I had nine keepers but tossed back over a dozen little ones. The lures swam very sleekly and held up to the damage, however I noticed that the weeds seemed to stick to the “hair” and almost refused to turn loose. Brown goo looking stuff.

I started with ten all the same jigs and when things were slow swapped out a few for plastics and nothing much different happened. So I am going with the idea that they are indeed equal, which is good for me financially as I was going broke buying all those plastics. LOL

Next experiment will involve 2” curly tail grubs and I want to test them. I have used them in the past, but next trip I will try a little harder to see if they make the grade. My guess is that results will be similar again. I suspect it really doesn’t much matter what swims by, just so long as it can be located, tracked and attacked. So the size needs to be right, a good profile, and the colors bright.

I remembered what Skip said about casting and how he rides with a single rod. I was jigging one of the rods for a bit but it didn’t do anything because the bite was slow. I will try again. However, I noticed something about this whole mess. I have been pulling at the lines and releasing to trigger strikes, and did so several times yesterday, however I went to pluck a line and found a fish already there. Nice medium, plump and feisty. I grabbed the line to pull and he was there. He had hooked himself and was swimming along until I pulled, Then the rod bowed. Funny how they choose to just swim along. I have seen this before and wondered why. The plucked lines that triggered strikes did not have fish attached already as i would have felt the resistance.

The fish yesterday were fighting hard. Usually they surface quickly and I water ski them to the boat. Yesterday they were staying down and thrashing about. I also noticed they flopped less once landed. Even though the live well would work due to cooler conditions, I prefer the freezing cold salted ice water slurry bath in the cooler as it shuts them down fast. I have had crappie still flopping about after being left on the cutting board for a long time. Slurried devils are cold cold cold and no worry about butchering a live animal. In fact it is hard to hold them they get so cold due to that rock salt.

Air temp was 45 degrees to start and ended at 70 degrees. Water was 62-64 degrees. Winds very light and sunny skies. I saw the minnow trollers catch a few smallish fish, and keep them. Trying to ensure a return on the price they paid out for minnows no doubt. Had I kept little fish I would have had pretty close to a limit.

So next trip out will have me fishing like I did yesterday, probably same lake, probably same results. I guess i will just have to keep plugging along until the fish decide to start hitting again. The Moon is starting to get brighter and that might encourage them some. They are already fat so they might have slowed down on feeding due to having reached their headed-into-Winter weight.

I have a new phone now so will start to take pictures again. I know everyone likes pictures of the action and reports seem silly without those. I see large flocks of ducks perched atop the hydrilla and they just seem to sit there. I breeze past yelling at them like John Wayne and they just look at me. When done for the day, they are still sitting there in the same spots. I can only imagine they are eating the hydrilla. If I was an alligator……

Long lining seems so easy to do, but once you get involved the intricacies multiply pretty quickly. I feel the more complicated things get the closer I am pushed towards the simple. Like a giant circle right back to what is stupid simple. Learning the whole way though and that is what will make the difference in the long run. Who knew that dumb old bucktail jigs would be just as viable as a fancy plastic wiggler thingie ?

The added advantage of the bucktails would be the durability. They should swim pretty well without any tracking issues also

Today the bucktail jigs did pretty well. I did use some plastics but the bucktail jigs were scoring some very nice fish, and a bunch of toss backs. Took home a limit of fish with some that were very thick.

Attachment 412959


I trolled around some nut once I found a good area the bites came pretty quickly. 3 hours from launch to landing.

I followed Skip’s advice and held a rod in hand and jigged it as I went along but no bites. Saw some others doing just that as well. Apparently it is a thing.

Nice mess of fish

Attachment 412999

Today was slower than yesterday and I spent much of my time searching for fish. Still it was great first thing just being out there. Then about 930 the wind began to blow and the water got rough and I chose to leave without a limit.

Bucktails did well again, so I am surprised and pleased. I plan to drop down into the 1/32 ounce world next.

I am making her a treat tonight. Oven is preheating now- “ pompano en papillate “ using crappie and canned crab. Total experiment buy t if I get close I will pursue it further. Got to go the oven just beeped.

Those bucktails are working very well for you. That's a nice 2 day total of some thick fish

Attachment 412999

Today was slower than yesterday and I spent much of my time searching for fish. Still it was great first thing in the morning just being out there. Then about 930 the wind began to blow and the water got rough and I chose to leave without a limit.

Bucktails did well again, so I am still surprised and of course pleased. I plan to drop down into the 1/32 ounce world next.

I am making her a treat tonight. Oven is preheating now- “ pompano en papillate “ using crappie and canned crab. Total experiment buy t if I get close I will pursue it further. Got to go the oven just beeped.

That sounds like some good eats

Yes, those bucktails are the right ticket. Of course, that can change in a heartbeat!
Bob