Need some advice

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Originally Posted by onero22

I hope I am not pushing myself here with too many questions but my electronics does not tell me my speed. Am I SOL?

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You should be okay. Do you have a handheld GPS?
Is your TM a 5 speed or a variable speed or ...?
When I 1st started to learn to LL troll I had a 5 speed 30# TM. My standard practice I did on most days was to use #2 speed with the wind and #3 speed against the wind. I had to make adjustments as wind speeds picked up. I had no idea how fast I was going.
If you are slow trolling, spider rigging, tight lining or whatever the proper name is try keeping your line fairly vertical as you s-l-o-m-l-y move along. If you vary you speed try to pay attention to the angle the line is going into the water. Then try to repeat what works.

This is relevant to this discussion so I thought I'd post my results from East Fork yesterday. My dad and I went there Wednesday and fished from about 2 to 7. We nearly cancelled due to the forecast but glad that we didn't. One more example of why you shouldn't base your fishing plans on the weatherman. It looked ominous at times but I'd say it drizzled for 10 minutes in that entire span and that was it. It was a Wednesday but the lot was empty, probably because of the weather forecast.

Anyway, we got 4 dozen minnows from Boar's Head and trolled minnows until we ran out. Then switched to jigs, then the last couple of fish I caught pushing a crank with a 2 oz. weight attached. With the crank, I am just experimenting with that technique and still need to work on it based upon my results.

The bite was as active as I've seen it since spring. I caught 69 and my dad caught 45. All trolling near the channel in 10-18 foot of water about 6-8 foot down. Most of the fish were in that 12-14 foot range, about 1/2 way down. Oddly, we never caught a single other species. I would have figured at least a few hybrids but it didn't happen. Also, probably caught 40% black crappie which seemed a bit unusual. No giants. Biggest was probably 11" and we caught some dinks but overall the size was decent and brought home several.

Good report..

onero22...so how did you do?

My dad and myself was at east fork on 9-5. Caught some using a jig tipped with minnow just drifting. When we ran out of minnows we started pulling crankbaits. Caught a few 12 to 12.5" fish trolling crankbaits. Also catfish apparently love the crankbaits too, and snagged a damn carp in the back with one. That was fun to reel in on the crappie rod lol. But the crappie we were catching on the crankbaits were bigger in size. It was later in the day and the damn ski boats were damn near running over our marker and it was about 95 degrees out at that point, so we called it a day. I caught 23 keepers to my dads 3 lol.

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Originally Posted by onero22

I am making my first trip to paint creek this saturday, and could use some advice on the best way to fish that lake. Thanks!!!!

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Those are special type of fish down there, you have to communicate with them ..DROP THEM A line..
C J Polecat

Catch them while they are still in school ?