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I am looking for advice on catching red ear, I have tried dragging worms a long Pea gravel bottom, I have tried using crickets. I have tried using a cork set around 3' deep. I am not looking for anyone's spot, just some advice on set up and what kind of area I should be looking for to fish. Thanks in advance and any help is appreciated.
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Doesn't look like anyone is eager to chime in...................or they are busy right now catching shell crackers. I have no first hand knowledge on Kentucky or Barkley but if I had the time off I would be there. This is the time for sure to catch them on the bed. Ease into any one of the bays and start looking. If you have side imaging it should not take long to locate some beds. I have caught them on both crickets and red worms. In theory they should hit a red worm over a cricket but from past experience they did not have a preference. Rig up a number 8 hook on 6 lb test. Leave about 12 of tag end on the hook tie. Attach a couple split shot to the bottom of the tag end. No float needed. Cast out and hang on.
Thank for the info..... how close to the bank do they build their beds? The water is rising like crazy, it's supposed to be 3' over summer pool by Thursday. Will they keep moving up with water or stay out in their traditional bedding area?Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockhitter
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It's three feet over summer pool already.Quote:
Originally Posted by mgrimm
Attachment 265767
I use a black hair jig tipped with a waxworm under a small bobber. Set it to float just above the bottom. And yes, the gills and red ears will move shallower with rising water. A few years ago when the lake flooded, Canepole had red ear beds in his driveway. He took pics to prove it.
Wish I could help I would .
I found them today, first mess I've caught in two weeks! We caught them in flooded mustard grass. I fish with a slip float and was literally drop shotting them today. I lost the big fish of the day right at the boat, it was a monster.
Wheres the PICS?
I would have pics but my phone is apparently completely out of storage space and it won't even snap a pic. I've got to delete some files. I'm getting ready to go now, hopefully have a couple pics today. It's been a Tough season thus far.
I used a Popeye jig black with red eye,with a wax worm fish about 3 foot deep about 2 to 3 foot from the bank,I use a small float..good luck they are fun fun to catch
I use a Grizzly Jig (from Grizzly Jig Co.) tipped with a Berkley Power Wiggler (usually white or chartreuse) to catch shellcrackers (and bluegills) and have for years on both Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. It is the only bait I ever use. In fact, I caught a mess of crackers and bluegills yesterday on Dale Hollow Lake using this bait. I've found that the black Grizzly Jig with red collar and white head, or the same combo with a green head, to be the very best color in most situations and totally loved by big shellcrackers and bluegill. Many years ago now, while bluegill fishing on Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee, I ran into a guy who was pulling one big 'gil after another, along with a sizeable share of crappie, from a patch of lily pads. I was using crickets at that time and fishing the same pads, and this guy was putting me to shame. I finally got close enough to ask about his bait and he pulled alongside my boat and laid a handfull of the jigs on my boatseat. At that time, he was putting a look cotton ball wet with Fish Formula attractant, on his hook. The guy was Louie Mansfield, creator of Grizzly Jigs and owner of Grizzly Jig Company. From that day forward, I was hooked on the little bait. Sometime down thru the years, (I'm not sure when), I came across Berkley Power Wigglers and started using them instead of the little cotton balls soaked in Fish Formula. These little jigs are amazing....and no, I'm not getting any kickback from Louie for saying so. I just think I owe it to him after all these years of enjoying fishing with Grizzlies!
Thanks for the info! Do you have any pics of this bait?Quote:
Originally Posted by kyfishman
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Not kyfishman but this is probably what he is referring to for the jig, they work killer if you have the patience to find them. I also second the the wigglers since I don't like fooling with live bait. Wax worms aren't much trouble though and tip well also.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cce279bf02.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by mgrimm
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That pic is a larger version of the standard Grizzly jig but the same pattern. It is G22 Cunningham on their website. I would link it but can't remember rules on that. Private message me if you need help finding it.
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Cabin Creek makes what they call a "pop-eye" jig ... which looks like this :
http://www.lindyfishingtackle.com/me...l/black_17.jpg
Basically a feather jig with a large eye painted on the head. Some of them have larger eyes painted on them than what is shown in this picture.
Here's their website : Pop-Eyes & Jigs - cabincreekretail
pab1981 is right. It is the G22 or Cunningham jig. You will find all of the Grizzly Jigs on Grizzly Jig Company. I have most of the colors the jig comes in, but as I mentioned...most of the time I use the Cunningham or the same jig with a green instead of white head (can't think of the actual name right now). These two jigs, for some reason, really appeal to shellcrackers. And Pappy, the main difference from the "popeye" jig and the "Grizzly" is the shape of the head. The popeye ties just like most crappie jigs but Louie Mansfield uses a fly hook in a very small size for the Grizzly. This hook has a horizontal eye instead of a verticle eye (best way I know to explain it) and allows him to tie the jigs in 1/64th and even smaller sizes. This I know for sure.....they are murder on bluegill and redear. I've not used a piece of "live" bait in years and years.
Just looked on the Grizzly Jig site and the green-headed jig I'm referring to is called the Otis. Also saw that these Grizzly Jigs are 1/80th oz jigs.
If you download the grizzly catalog you can see all the options and the ones they have in 1/32 size. The big difference in grizzly jigs and others is the off set eye you tie to. Don't no how much better for the gills but hook sets on the crappie are usually always in roof of mouth with grizzly jigs.
You guys had me all wound up with stories of catching redear, so today I got a chance to sneak out. First, my normal boat ramp had too much water to launch at so I had to run back up the road a ways and launch at a different spot. I then backtracked in the boat to get to the beds I found last year. They were under 5-6 feet of water....and bare. I trolled all over the area and couldn't buy a fish. The floating debris up by the back is like a carpet, so if they were on beds up there I couldn't have seen them. I hit every bay I passed on my way back to the boat ramp. Trolled them looking for something to bite. Caught three small channel cats and one decent bluegill....and that was it. Fished from around 11 til around 5. I don't mind some extra water, but this is ridiculous.
For me, it's hard to beat a piece of nightcrawler. I fish it on the bottom, but under a bobber. Like most fishing, the key to catching them is finding them. These were caught Monday.
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Great job Mike. I absolutely haven't had the time to find any redears. They are not in the usual haunts with this water situation. More gills than one can shake a stick at.
Let me ask you guys with more redear experience this....should I be looking further in than they typically spawn with this high water but still in the same areas I have seen them before or should I be searching for new gravely areas that the high water has created?
Attachment 265976
They're biting, 2 ft of water in people's backyards.
I took a coworker Thursday to Carmack, said he used to really catch em in there. We caught only 2 but caught 20 plus catfish along the back of the bay and had 13 big gills. I stopped and checked a stakebed I put out and caught a couple of big crappie out of it, one was around 2lb.
Thanks for the report...... now if only I could get off of call for a few days! They will prolly move before that happens..... lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by redearhoosier
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Nope...bowfishermen have poached em all:bash
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Just prior to F&W designating redear a sportfish in KY and putting a 20 fish limit on them, an LBL ranger checked a bowfishing boat on north Barkley that had over 200 redears in a cooler that they had shot off beds. That was not the 1st time that Ranger had seen that. Do you really think that somebody who figured their chance of getting caught were pretty much zero would have any incentive to stop that practice?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pirogue
I would say the shooting of redear still goes on, maybe not to the extent it did when it was still legal.
What would you say is the average depth of water that the shellcrackers bed in ?Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdux
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The cabin creek popeye is what I use for big gills and red ears - though I tend to have better luck overall with the purple color versus the black, but sometimes the black works a bit better.
Yup, The red ears are definitely biting. Caught a limit this morning on the TN side of KY lake. Biggest was 11" and 1.1 lbs. Attachment 266152
Ya choot em with your bow ?:RoflQuote:
Originally Posted by yankeegonesouth
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what size hook head 1/16thQuote:
Originally Posted by kyfishman
I have never in my life caught a redear on these jigs you guys speak of. I've bought the Ky Lake redear bug and have it in my tackle box, I've never had the confidence to use it. I catch all of my redear on redworms and can't imagine they would hit a jig.
How do you guys fish these jigs? Under a cork on the bottom?
Troy, I use a popeye jig a lot. This year the bluegill have responded better to a drop shot and red worm for me.
My top 4-5 redear have all came off a popeye or spider bug with a wax worm. I fish a popeye some under the tiniest slip bobber that will stay afloat when the jig is off the bottom. The 2 pound 3 oz male I caught a couple years back was on a popeye/wax worm/slip float.
Jack Devor has caught tons of redears over the years using a tiny pear-shaped plastic bobber that will sink under the weight of the jig. He casts it to water shallower than his slip rig then works it to deeper water. When the bobber sinks, he knows he is in water deeper than he wants to be.
Thank you, Doug. I've been wanting to try the plastics because frankly, I'm TIRED of having wormy hands and a wormy boat.
Plus, I know they catch big redear.
I've been using hair jigs tipped with waxworms for gills and red ears now for well over twenty years. I even started tying my own patterns now. Got a killer bluegill pattern with a touch of silver in it that's putting some of everything in the box.
I always use a 1/32nd oz roadrunner with a chartreuse body and black curly tail as a search bait. Use an ultra light spinning rod and 4 lb. test. I have done well from Moors Marina to the Britton Ford boat ramp using this set up ! Just throw it up on the bank and slow roll it back......
When covering water to find fish I'll use a drop shot rig tipped with a piece of redworm or waxworm. Once I find them I'll move to a slip bobber and 1/16-1/32oz tipped jig. I prefer they popeyes because that's what my grandfather and my father who taught me used. I am playing around with waggler floats a little this year and have been surprised at how many fish I'm catching that pick up on the bait versus taking it under or sideways. I'm by no means switching over completely because it's a little bit of work getting them weighted correctly, but they're definitely more sensitive.
Exactly what I do when trying to find new bedding areas. Even down to the same color combo.Quote:
Originally Posted by Inspector Mike
Yesterday I hit Barkley searching for beds. I caught a hand full of small bluegill and a handful of channel cat. I hit all of the beds I fished in previous years and nothing was there. I swear these fish know I moved down here from out of state.