fishin by smell

I was fishing a red beach lake in Sebring ,fl the other morning for crappies. The crappie bite was slow but I caught a very strong whiff of fish beds at one point. I had once fished with an old pastor of mine and he could pinpoint exactly where bream beds were from the smell. This was about the same. Now is the smell strongest right where the beds are or does the smell carry quite a ways? There was no debris like fish had been clearing that area but there were reeds to the rear of the area I passed and I had caught shellcrackers there before with nightcrawlers. Could I have smelled crappie beds or are they not as obvious? If I had some nightcrawlerss that day I might have dragged the bottom the bottom as an experiment . How do I pinpoint them without a really good fishfinder? I have one but it definitely won't give me that much detail.Oh yeah..the area is I was in was about 15 fow..the reeds are in about 3-5 ft fow with some pad cover.

The beds should be close to the cover- weed beds. Start at the weed beds and work out. They could be shallow or deep.

look for small patches of bubbles on the surface.
You should be able to see the group of bubbles start to develop as the fish release the gas.

Spawning in December ?

Florida!!!

They Sleighing Crappie down there NOW!!!!

Great Folks down there Got Invited down FER a crappie catching myself!! If it weren't 12'-15 hour trip I'd be all over DAT Invitation!!...

I can smell Bream sometimes 20-40 yards down wind it Humidity is high enough!!!

I can smell em too but can't ever find em ? Do I get too close and spook em off?

Hard today!! I have a young friend killed in wreck while pulling his boat home from repair who. He always would lpitch out a couple of crickets along area he smelled the fish!! Usually you can get on lake during 6-9 am and locate gasses released from congregating fish!! Back when I was a MS Game Warden I could locate slat fish traps by idling the lake in the early morning on large reservoirs!!

What method are you trying to use to catch them once you smell them?

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Originally Posted by funbun

What method are you trying to use to catch them once you smell them?

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have throwed the book at em .im missing it some where!

I "smelled" a Bream bed one time, many decades ago. An old timer buddy of mine told me that a bed smelled like overripe watermelon ... and that was the scent that I picked up. A light wind carried the smell down the bank quite a ways, but I did find the bed. First and last time I ever smelled a Bream bed, as far as I can remember ... but, I ain't been much into Bream fishing since those times, so I may have just ignored it. :dono

Slab, If you've thrown everything in the book at them, I figure it's time to write a new book. I'm working on it:


Here's a video where I have smelled beds and catch'em. This was the Tuesday, December 29, 2017 trip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1DNCyz2tto

They were more than likely closer to the reeds in the shallower water. If they are shellcrackers they can be finicky to bite. Keep your distance and try a tiny jig head tipped with a meal worm, red wiggler, or some type of larvae. Don't use a cork, just tight line it.


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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

I "smelled" a Bream bed one time, many decades ago. An old timer buddy of mine told me that a bed smelled like overripe watermelon ... and that was the scent that I picked up. A light wind carried the smell down the bank quite a ways, but I did find the bed. First and last time I ever smelled a Bream bed, as far as I can remember ... but, I ain't been much into Bream fishing since those times, so I may have just ignored it. :dono

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Yep....thats the smell

If the males are milking the beds they at times will not take any bait!!

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Originally Posted by funbun

What method are you trying to use to catch them once you smell them?

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I know they were there somewhere..tried worms under hooks in the reeds..but no luck..wasn't shallow enough to see the beds.How long do they stay on them?

Fastfish I remember reading that males only stay for a couple days for the eggs to hatch in warmer water. Cooler water a little longer. The guys brought up a good point about the wind taking the smell down wind and in some cases a good distance.
Funny how so many talk about the old timers using this, same here when I was taken by a older fisherman for gills. It amazed me how he would smell the beds as CP spoke of and then work our way to find them. Just a thought, but have you tried a dropper fly off the jig for a smaller presentation to imitate A scud or something like that? Maybe smaller will help.

Funbun. I stay tangled up with just one line and a pole (lol). No patience here for the handliner fishing

Yeah, it isn't for everyone, but the principles can because to target bluegill on rod and reel given the difficulty you've been having. Just drag/troll one line rig on a Kentucky rig about 30 yards behind the boat on rod an reel. That's what I did before handlining. The rig doesn't know it's on a handline or rod and reel, neither do the fish.

In fact if I were to go back to a rod and reel, I'd get a fly rod with sinking line and run this same pattern.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEQLS1ovw60

Good info.