This past Saturday I made the trip down to fish the southern part of Lake Champlain. I decided this trip would be a good opportunity to continue working with the “Live” Baby Shad made by Lake Fork Trophy Lures.
Our initial experiences with the “Live” Baby Shad were fantastic while fishing them under a bobber for spring time panfish. This outing would bring a new test. Now that it is a little later in the summer, the fish have moved from their shallow water spawning grounds out onto deeper structure. The target areas for the day were submerged pieces of structure in 10-16 feet of water.
I hit the water a little after 7 am and quickly realized that there were multiple bass tournaments taking place. The lake was littered with boats in a hurry to race around to get their bags for the day. No worries. The first piece of structure which was located in 10 feet of water. The graph was showing fish but they seemed reluctant to bite. Thunder storms had rolled through the area a few hours earlier and stirred everything up, which I’m sure had something to do with the finicky feeding habits of this crappie.
I managed a few fish on this spot vertical jigging off the side of the boat but the action was a little too slow. The second spot was located a short distance from out first but what a difference in fish activity. It was now a little later in the morning and the bite was turning on. After marking the structure with the graph and setting out a few marking bobbers, it was time to fish . The fish were positioned right off to the sides of the structure in 11 feet of water. The fish were aggressive and the action was fast. The most productive technique was the “pendulum swing”. The idea behind this technique is to cast just past the structure and let it swing through the strike zone, hopefully keeping it away from the structure. The hot color of the day was the bluegrass pattern. This color is a combination of blue and green which worked well giving the bait a bright and dark color to contrast in the stained water. Check out the video on our YouTube Page of a few of the fish caught today.
I kept some fish for dinner and made my way off the water. All in all is was a very productive day for the “Live” Baby Shad. It caught fish all day long with no hick-ups. I highly encourage you to try some of these baits. Check out our review on the Lake Fork Plastics.
Here’s a pair of quality Lake Champlain white crappie
D & B Ice Adventures 
Psst….Bankrupt is Wheel of Fortune.
Thanks for the lesson on how to fish crappie after they leave the shallows. I have an idea on a spot to try next weekend.
gofish
Great Dave! Looking forward to a report!
I tried the pendulum technique yesterday with limited success. I was on crappie in about 5-6 feet of water and was getting bit rather steadily on baby shad under a bobber. I could feel the fish bumping my shad on the pendulum; but had a difficult time hooking them up. I must say that my biggest fish were caught using this method. How aggressively are you setting the hook?
Ken, we use this method mostly in a little deeper water than that. 10-16 range used to swing the bait through the strike zone where we think the fish are holding. Usually don’t have to set the hook too hard since the fish inhale the LBS bait. We love bobbers as well and have a lot of success on them in that depth of water. If I was fishing that depth I would probably use more of a steady retrieve in place of the pendulum swing.
Thanks for the reply and advice.
So you are suggesting a steady retrieve with a Bobber? I am usually kind of ‘wobbling” the bobber. across the water..pausing…retrieve for a couple cranks…pause. Most of my hits are when the bobber is paused. I have the bait about two feet under the bobber.
I have never really tried just swimming the bobber back to the boat.
at that depth I would use a bobber. Play with the depth it’s set under the bobber. We have also found that some days they really want the bait to be worked fast, sometimes we don’t even pause but we jig the bobber the whole way back to the boat. Good Luck
Great catch!
Great advice, love the pictures.