After the afternoon rain let up, I managed to sneak in some time on a local lake. This one is tough … not easy to find both size and numbers of good fish, many dinks.
I worked the usual spots along the weedy edges and the first shoreline break out to the second inside weed edge. The result? A bunch of 4–5" dinks on my go-to methods and baits. Frustrating.
So I switched gears and pushed out into the big weedy flat you see in the pic. In the heat of summer, it’s normally unfishable with that dense floating milfoil canopy. I started with a slip float, trying to cast into small pockets, but quickly realized it was nearly impossible. I shortened up to little flips instead … and right away started connecting with better fish, mostly bulls.
The problem: the hook only occasionally made it to the bottom. Weeds grabbed it most of the time. That’s when it clicked ... I switched out to the drop shot rig and began dabbling the bait in small open pockets, 8–9 feet down, just above the bottom.
Voila … the payoff came just before dark with this 9.4” bull bluegill. Sometimes it takes frustration and a little experimenting to turn the bite around.
will be out this weekend, continuing with a larger weight and a float to extend this session.
dabble, dabble doo!
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