EF FISHING TACTICS QUESTION

Hi everyone. I have been fishing EF in the spring for about 3 years now. I spider rig with two poles, double minnow rig on one, and double jig rig on the other. Which ever one they tend to prefer that day is what I will switch both to. I tend to fish in 6-12 fow and usually find fish anywhere from 2-10 fow. I fish mostly coves around timber on both ends of the lake and sometimes find fish around the gradually sloping sandy bottom areas. I'd say my average catch is around 20-30 fish in a typical 5-6 hour period with an average keeper rate of 14-15 fish.

My question is am I doing something wrong? I here alot about people catching over a 100 fish a day on this lake and having no problem catching a limit every time. I'd like to hear some different opinions or tactics if you guys don't mind. If you do mind I understand that too. PM me maybe. My name is Paul and I'm in a small 16' silver and white cimmaron with a 60 Evinrude on the back. I launch out of the Boar's head ramp I'll probably take a vacation day and be back out this friday morning. Thanks guys.

Ranger bass boat and a Elvis hair do = guaranteed 100 fish days ....... Seriously though if you aren't happy with your results change what your doing .... Swim jigs - jig n float - long line troll , fish shallower , fish deeper.......experiment ...... I will say you can't fish to shallow at EF .... Good luck and work on your Elvis hair do or Mexican accident .....

It sounds like you're doing just fine if those 15 fish are 10+''. We have had many 100-200 fish days, but 90% of those always seem to be under 10''. I'd gladly settle for less numbers on that lake if the quality was a little better.

I talked to a fellow when I was there last Friday who was in a nice ranger, didn't get his name. It was an older model with an inboard motor. Nice boat, don't see those too often. Not sure if that's the Ranger you were reffering to James. I remember them telling me they were headed to the river to fish.

I was told once that the larger females will usually hang out in the slightly deeper water before and during the spawn, and only go to the bank for a very short time to deposit their eggs and then back out. But if you guys are catching 100 fish a day off the bank and getting say a 25% keeper rate that beats my 50% keeper rate on a 30-40 fish a day any day.

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Originally Posted by EFslabs

It sounds like you're doing just fine if those 15 fish are 10+''. We have had many 100-200 fish days, but 90% of those always seem to be under 10''. I'd gladly settle for less numbers on that lake if the quality was a little better.

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I was going to say almost the same thing. Sounds like you are doing pretty good as-is. My dad and I caught near 100 (85) last week, but that was one of the best days we've ever had there. Time before that - in Jan on MLK day - we fished 6 hours and got skunked. Granted water temps were low 30s and the coves where we wanted to fish where iced over, but we've had our rough days, in every season.

My favorite fishing and the kind where I catch the most when they are biting is single pole jigging with a 12' pole. I troll through and jig up against structure and keep my finger on my 6# test and ready to set the hook with even the slightest tick.

However, I've done good trolling with double-minnow rigs too - generally in summer and early fall. Last summer, being in no particular hurry, I was trolling back to the ramp all the way across the open part of the lake and I was surprised to be catching crappie about 5-6 feet down in 50-60 foot of water with no structure anywhere around. It just depends on where they are - and I'm still learning for sure.

Average size for me last week was probably 9.5 (many well over 10"). I caught a share of small ones but the size was encouraging to me. Hopefully there's a good class of crappie in there now.

No, the guy with the Elvis hair has an outboard. I've never seen a ranger with an inboard motor before?? Anyways, let me tell ya, there are some days I would beg for days like your having on a consistent basis. Jeepguyjames gave u good info for sure.... I don't fish like you do. I've tried it but man it got boring quick to me. I have to have a pole in my hand working a jig at all times. Good luck man! PS, are you sire it was an INBOARD? now u got me curious, I gotta google it now

:banghead

I spider rig too with what sounds like the same set up, capps and coleman style with a 1/2oz eggs sinker. This year I tied my rigs up using small duo clips so I can change out jigs quickly, so what I do now is run 1 minnow and 1 jig on each pole, and keep changing jigs to see what works best, also use crappie nibbles if needed. I also try to vary my depth and speeds, Ive had days where trolling around 1 mph is what put fish in the boat, whereas I usually run .3 to .5 mph. I've been fishing crappie the last 4 weekends and have been catching them deeper than You mentioned more like 10 to 14ft, this past weekend is the first I noticed the smaller fish are getting there colors. Actually 2 of Us caught 88 in 4 hrs Sat and a natural colored Bobby Garland jig tipped with crappie nibbles worked better than 3$ a dozen minnows.

POSITIVE about the i/o Ranger. It was an older guy who said he just got back from Florida. I've seen two of them to date.
I
Tom. I agree. Most days it takes some experimenting to see what they want. Case in point was last Friday. Minnows usually out fish jigs in my opinion but the water was so stained the brightest colored jigs I had out fished the minnows by far. I also try to setup so as to drift with the wind so I can stay off the TM. Seems to increase catch rate even with 12' rods.

Ranger 395V I/O. Late 80's.

Hmmm never met or seen that there "Pelvis" guy ya'll are talking about ... lol

Quick question ... i got a map sitting here in front of my and i launch my little boat at
the Boarshead ramp. Here it is ... what exactly or where is the river part ya'll talk about
and or, would it take all day for my little 9.9 to get there?

Be safe all.

PS: I spider rig a lot myself ... love it!

If you want to fish where the Little Miami comes into EF, then you will be pretty far from it if you put in at the North Shore Ramp. I have a 9.9 too and it's a big lake with that size motor. You'd have to go out, take a left, past Tate Ramp on your right, then the lake will take you left again and just keep going until north until you see the campground boat ramp and it will be across the beach and on your right (the river that is).

If that's where you want to fish, put in instead at the campground boat ramp. When you enter the park, just like you would if you are going to the North Shore Ramp, it will be your first left. They'll charge you $3 to put in if you aren't camping but you will be almost right where you want to be.

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Originally Posted by jeepguyjames

Seriously though if you aren't happy with your results change what your doing .... Swim jigs - jig n float - long line troll , fish shallower , fish deeper.......experiment ...... I will say you can't fish to shallow at EF ....

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That's good advice. There's lot's of ways to catch crappie and being flexible is part of it.

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Originally Posted by EFslabs

It sounds like you're doing just fine if those 15 fish are 10+''. We have had many 100-200 fish days, but 90% of those always seem to be under 10''. I'd gladly settle for less numbers on that lake if the quality was a little better.

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Just getting 10 fish OVER 10" can be a challenge some days but I think the size limit they put on has helped tremendously on that lake and I hope we continue to see some improvement over the next few years. Those 9" keepers just don't seem worth the effort it takes to clean them.

me and my dad went today and managed 33 keepers. lots of 10s and 1 about 13.5. caught mostly drifting a jig tipped with minnow about 12ft deep in 20 to 30 foot of water in a cove. couldnt catch much up shallow other than dinks.

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Originally Posted by liprippersc78

me and my dad went today and managed 33 keepers. lots of 10s and 1 about 13.5. caught mostly drifting a jig tipped with minnow about 12ft deep in 20 to 30 foot of water in a cove. couldnt catch much up shallow other than dinks.

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Man you have got to try fishing the boars head tournaments man!!!! You would have had a hell of a good bag of fish for the weigh in... You would have put it all over us... Think we placed 5th out of 11 boats with 5.10lbs..... Winner (congratulations Ricky d and Larry Yates) had 7.20 lbs!!! They smoked everybody today that's for sure. At least you were not so hard headed that you didn't keep trying shallow..... That's where a lot of us screwed up today. What does you boat look like?? How many ppl on your boat?? I prolly saw ya!! I was all over the lake today. I was I bass boat called a cobra with a 200 merc.

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Originally Posted by Cincinnati

Hmmm never met or seen that there "Pelvis" guy ya'll are talking about ... lol

Quick question ... i got a map sitting here in front of my and i launch my little boat at
the Boarshead ramp. Here it is ... what exactly or where is the river part ya'll talk about
and or, would it take all day for my little 9.9 to get there?

Be safe all.

PS: I spider rig a lot myself ... love it!

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rick put in @ the campground ramp $2 or $3 and go left.. 5min

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Originally Posted by jeepguyjames

Ranger bass boat and a Elvis hair do = guaranteed 100 fish days ....... Seriously though if you aren't happy with your results change what your doing .... Swim jigs - jig n float - long line troll , fish shallower , fish deeper.......experiment ...... I will say you can't fish to shallow at EF .... Good luck and work on your Elvis hair do or Mexican accident .....

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Elvis, Fonzie, Johnny Bravo and Speedy Gonzales... all Approved

I took off work and fished this past friday 4/24 and ended up with 23 keepers in 6 hours. It started out slow but really seemed to pick up after noon. I thought it was interesting that this time 21 of the fish I cleaned were males and last friday 4/17 all 14 I cleaned were female. I caught fish an average of 3 feet shallower than the prior week.

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Originally Posted by CrappieCrazed

Man you have got to try fishing the boars head tournaments man!!!! You would have had a hell of a good bag of fish for the weigh in... You would have put it all over us... Think we placed 5th out of 11 boats with 5.10lbs..... Winner (congratulations Ricky d and Larry Yates) had 7.20 lbs!!! They smoked everybody today that's for sure. At least you were not so hard headed that you didn't keep trying shallow..... That's where a lot of us screwed up today. What does you boat look like?? How many ppl on your boat?? I prolly saw ya!! I was all over the lake today. I was I bass boat called a cobra with a 200 merc.

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Wasn't someone saying something about Larry slowing down. Looks like the old dog still has some fight in him.
WTG Mr Yates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by crappiemax

Wasn't someone saying something about Larry slowing down. Looks like the old dog still has some fight in him.
WTG Mr Yates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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According to Ricky D he was nothing but a net man that day???? Lol

that right Ricky was

has been.we let u win so u wouldnt quit.bahahaha

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.O21...d=1.9&rs=0&p=0

CARPET


http://clubbingtitia.c.l.pic.centerb...t/be620e17.gif

lo u funny..nice bag of fish

Regarding thread topic: when you say spider rigging I assume your rods are in holders. If that's the case try keeping one in your hand. When I jig around with one rod in a holder and the other in my hand; the one I am holding hooks up 10:1 to the one in the rod holder. Unless the bite is very aggressive you will miss a lot of hookups. Some people (Me) consider me the local EF Pro so this advice comes with great weight behind it IMO...:) BTW I have been in negotiations with Abu Garcia, they have agreed to sell me all their gear at retail price. Petty Pumped about it...

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Originally Posted by LastShadow

Regarding thread topic: when you say spider rigging I assume your rods are in holders.......Unless the bite is very aggressive you will miss a lot of hookups. ...

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That's me...my lightning reflexes assure about 95% of my hits will be missed.

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Originally Posted by LastShadow

Regarding thread topic: when you say spider rigging I assume your rods are in holders. If that's the case try keeping one in your hand. When I jig around with one rod in a holder and the other in my hand; the one I am holding hooks up 10:1 to the one in the rod holder. Unless the bite is very aggressive you will miss a lot of hookups. Some people (Me) consider me the local EF Pro so this advice comes with great weight behind it IMO...:) BTW I have been in negotiations with Abu Garcia, they have agreed to sell me all their gear at retail price. Petty Pumped about it...

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Wow, sure would like to take some lessons from a pro at EF. Good luck w/Abu

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Originally Posted by CrappieCrazed

No, the guy with the Elvis hair has an outboard. I've never seen a ranger with an inboard motor before?? Anyways, let me tell ya, there are some days I would beg for days like your having on a consistent basis. Jeepguyjames gave u good info for sure.... I don't fish like you do. I've tried it but man it got boring quick to me. I have to have a pole in my hand working a jig at all times. Good luck man! PS, are you sire it was an INBOARD? now u got me curious, I gotta google it now

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Ranger made an inboard for a while. Blackhawk was the model, I think.

in my opinion, do not be afraid to tie up and fish structure. It has been a few years since i fished east fork, have not fished it since my dad passed, just something in my head preventing me from going back. Anyway there were many days we would pick a cove, and slowly move around tying up and fishing everything we could reach, all the while watching guys constantly moving around not catching anything. if you dont get a nibble in 10 min or so, time to move. Patience is in fact a virtue.