Underwater screenshots from Harris

I think the crappie and perch are mixed. We caught a number of our fish on the bottom and up a couple of turns. If you read Kevin (Gobbler)'s comments on the other post, he was catching his about 2'-6' above the bottom. I would suggest that while in the parking lot, put your rod in the holder and let it down to the ground. Reel up one turn on the handle and then measure the distance. Write this down or keep in it your memory because it will help while on the water. Watch your depthfinder and put the bait about six inches above what seems to be the preferred depth that the most are located. Hope this helps.

Any kind of detailed info is gonna help me. Didn't word my question clear enough, meaning if you marked a large school of fish could you anchor and fish that school or are they cruising just off the bottom following under the shad? My capt. prefers to cast jigs whenever possible.

I hit Spot Lock a few times, but did not seem to do any good. The best for me was easing around the flats that are holding fish at .3 mph.

gotcha

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by reeldude

Any kind of detailed info is gonna help me. Didn't word my question clear enough, meaning if you marked a large school of fish could you anchor and fish that school or are they cruising just off the bottom following under the shad? My capt. prefers to cast jigs whenever possible.

---

I'd like to hear from the pros on this, but when I went on Sunday I threw out the anchor cuz I was tired of fighting the wind and I had to manage some tangled lines. After anchoring I sat in one spot and fished for a while and it looked like stuff was swimming under my fish finder it was always changing even though I wasn't moving. I unusually drift around using trolling motor or go with the breeze...

We saw allot of the same thing on the FF pictures in the first post. We drifted and i-Pilot anchored the whole time we were there. 30' to 10' zigzagging our way around. We slayed the perch at all depths. Hung a handful of crappie. We need to figure out how to get those deeper ones to bite.

mike

Great details!

That pattern is custom made for jigging a Flexit or similar spoon off the bottom for perch and anything else down there. We love to find them with the DF and minnows like you showed and them drop spoons among them. I have caught 2 large blue cats(18 and 28 pounds) and numerous stripers on the Flexit while catching perch. Always a surprise when you expecting to catch a 1/2 t0 1 Lb. perch and something about takes the rod out of your hands.
Do y'all use the Flexit spoons?? Here is one for reference only: Berry's Flex-It Spoon - Striper Tackle

I saw a TV program made on nearby Jordan Lake using some kind of spoons in the winter. They would let them flutter down to the bottom much like dying shad. I've never tried it, but there is a guide on the lake that fishes this way and it should work on Harris as well.

JL kastmasters are good for this