I went out in search of the perch late this afternoon. There was almost no wind where I was fishing. Water was a little more stained than last Friday. Caught fish on three different small spoons. 18 perch and a nice keeper striper. My measuring board only goes to 24" and the striper was about 2" longer than that. Lost 2 more good fish that I think were stripers. They stripped a lot of line and pulled off. All fish this afternoon hit between 32’ and 38’ deep working the spoons on the bottom. Couldn’t get bit deeper or shallower. Tried working a big spoon on the bottom and through the water column but didn’t get a hit with it today.
Sounds Like a great way to start off the year Spoon. Let’s see if we can’t try to get together sometime in January since I could certainly use some 2017 Schoolin’… Happy New Year to All
I’d rather be Lucky than Smart
DT, We can get together, but you don’t really need me. You know the basics and there are still lots of fish in your area of the lake.
As a good friend says “Nothing beats time on the water”. That means time spent fishing, trying different areas, baits and techniques. All you need to do is figure a few things out.
To me most important of all is figuring out where the fish are. Normally pretty easy with a depthfinder in very cool or very hot weather.
Next is what kind of fish they are. Followed by what presentation will the fish bite best.
Also important, you have to get your bait(s) where the fish are if you want to catch them. Pay careful attention to what works and what doesn’t and when, how deep, etc. Remember that what works shallow on a given day in springtime probably will not work as well in winter if the fish are deep. They won’t usually move vertically very far to bite your bait(s). You have to get your bait(s) to the fish.
Targeting one species of fish can be tough. Some days we have to take what the lake will give us. On those days, be a “meat fisherman”. Find some fish, might be perch or stripers, whatever the species, and figure out how to catch them. You can always release any fish that you don’t want to keep. Just enjoy catching what will bite.
You know for certain that I’ll be fishing the different spoons for most of the next two months. I’m pretty sure they’ll work well for me, and for you too on your end of the lake. If I were you I’d probably start fishing at 35’ and work from there on out to atleast 60’, possibly deeper.
I’ll be glad to show you whatever I can. I’m still learning, just like everyone else who fishes. We’ve all had days when we just couldn’t figure them out. That’s why they call it fishing instead of catching!