Help on tactics

[Spoonminnow]

It was tough last Sunday with water temp in the low 50s, but today with the temp up to 61, phenomenal! It will get even better in the next week as temps rise to 70.

Location: tried super shallow - fish aren't there yet;
Moved into water 4-5 ' and cast around the boat to find which direction higher concentrations of prespawn fish were (shallow, schooled fish are generally totally nuts and fall all over themselves to bite lures).

If a location started to fizzle (after catching 15-20 crappie and other fish, I pulled anchor and move 15' parallel to the shore/ same depth, anchored and cast some more.

Lure size and color varied (as usual for spring), staying with lures 2-2.5" in length, some curl tail, some straight flat tail (see photo) rigged on 1/16 oz jig heads (never colored).



Light braid line or light mono (Trilene or Suffix) handled the light lure and strike detection good as usual.
Retrieve: slow and steady mid-depth with slight rod twitches if needed. Fish sometimes followed the lures and struck at the boat.

Some shores are worthless!!! But this time of year, shallow is key and the easiest time to catch shallow species. It's just a matter of which shore lines (usually those with vegetation adjacent to wetlands or mid lake humps). Fish don't all spawn at the same time (Thank GOD) and you can return to the same areas sometimes up to week or more.

Scout out good water using slow moving lures - JMO

[cpd21]

Hunter I am like the others....the smallest bait I normally use is beavertails 2in.....usually use two quarter oz jigheads and 2.5 in minnow mindr and 3 in slabslayer.....almost always use larger baits and troll sloooooow....unless i am trying to cover ground and find hotspots, then i set jigs deeper and speed up until i locate them....right now they seem to be on breaklines where it starts to drop off....once i find the depth i set them all there and slow down....Good luck and keep after it.

Also, I have started double dipping (use two rods in hand with the same bait setup as rigging) alot because it is easier to move from place to place while searching....once you get them patterned then you can take the kids rigging

Andy