Quote Originally Posted by patrapper View Post
Welcome to the site. My brother and I fish Pymatuning and Wilhelm lakes mostly. On Pymatuning,we mostly troll with very good success. We also drift and if we find them stacked,we will anker up. On Wilhelm,we mainly drift. Last time we were there,it was hot and the water was warm and the fish had lock jaw and wouldn't bite so we started trolling at 1mph and things started to change. We took a few home for the grease. Pay attention to your electronics so you can see your depth. If you catch one fish,pay attention to the depth that fish came from and what you were using on that rod to make that fish bite. That fish was there for a reason and there are probably more fish there. Repeat what you just did to see if you catch another. If you do,you may have just cracked the code. Be ready to change at any time at what you did to catch those fish because it can change at anytime.

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Good advice. Thanks! I'm going to pay more attention to bait for sure. I've tried trolling, but not sure I was really using the right lures for trolling. I just bought an ultralight rod setup and a bunch more smaller jig heads and more jigs. I've got the spinner type heads now too, which I think are good for trolling? Going out to a different lake today that I know holds a TON of crappie. All small ones I'm pretty sure, but at least I know it's polluted with them. Hopefully I can find em there. There are a bunch of porcupine cribs in the lake and I know where they are, so hopefully the fish are there!

Quote Originally Posted by Crappieorbust View Post
Glad to have you. I fish the south, so I’m no help as to finding the fish. But I thought I would share something that I have seen on a few small boats.
On the transom and mounted on both sides a push type lawn mower wheel was mounted to a 1” piece of sq tubing or angle iron. When in position they were about 4 to 6 inches below the boat. The operator then lifted the front to the craft and rolled it to the water. After launching a pin was removed and the wheels pivoted up and repinned so that the wheels were out of the water. I thought it was really neat and have a small boat I have considered fixing that way. But I just don’t use my small boat and have way too many other projects if you are interested message me and I will try to go into more detail.
I learn SOMETHING new each day, unfortunately I am old enough now that I don’t always remember it the next day.
I've seen that setup before and it's a pretty great add on if you need to drag to the water. All my closest lakes have ramps. Only one has the barricade with slides. Wheels wouldn't help on the slides. Basically there is a Jersey barrier setup at the edge of the ramp before the waterline and then there is a framework of 2x6s with delrin screwed to the top of them. You back your boat trailer right up to the barricade and then you have to unwind the winch to slide the boat down onto the rails. It's all on a hill, and launching isn't really an issue. Pulling the boat back up the slides is where it's tough. Depending on the pool, you might have to drag the boat uphill on the slides for 40 feet or so until you can get the winch line on it. My 12 foot jon is pretty easy because it's light. Anything bigger and I'd simply need an extra pair of hands to load the thing. Of course, that lake (two of em really) is probably the best all around lake system in the entire area. HUGE bass, perch, crappie n other panfish. There are zebra mussels in the lower lake, which is why the ramps have the barricades. Appreciate the thoughts though!