4-16-13 – Really Chasing Warm Water

So a week ago I was down fishing for staging crappie (Chasing The Warm Water). We had some trouble staying on fish but only when the wind was blowing. When the wind would let up, the sun was warm enough to warm the water up enough to draw the fish out of the deeper, cool water and into the warm shallows. For this trip, we had a warm up over night that cooled down throughout the day. Some spots stayed warmer longer but not all held fish.

We started the day where we had all the luck just a week ago. Cruising in, the fish were no where to be found were they were before but at the very end of navigable water, we found some. We picked about 15 fish before  the wind switched on us and started to cool the water. Th e majority of the fish in there were small. Making radius casts around the boat, an osprey swooped down and grabbed a decent sized crappie from where we motored through to get in. We quickly hoisted anchor and got out to where the fish was taken from. No dice. The fish were either not there or completely inactive. Our best bet was to go searching.

We checked several spots with no luck. We had trouble finding water that reached much more than 47 degrees. With the main lake in dismay because of the steady wind with gusts into the high 20′s, we came up with a plan that, if ineffective, would lead us off the water and to dinner.

The first spot we checked appeared to be cold and vacant. We worked both shores, the middle, and then back towards the main lake. Nothing was happening until the it opened up. I pulled a fish out of rough water but lost it at the boat. For the next half hour, we pulled some of the bigger crappie that I have seen so far this spring. They were coming out of 2 feet of water on a very slow drag. The hot bait for the day was a pearl Lake Fork Trophy Lures – “Live” Baby Shad. As the fish funneled by the wind started to pick back up and the water cooled a few degrees causing the fish to vacate the area. The best part of the day happened as we were about ready to leave. As my friend Jamie worked his bait in, a crappie rose up right by the boat and sucked his bobber in but then immediately spit it out. Within seconds, a bass followed up and grabbed the bobber again. Jamie started to pull it in unhooked but it was once again spit it out. Then believe it or not, a crappie had taken the bait underneath and was hoisted into the boat.

The rest of the day was spent unsuccessfully searching for fish. Without a good idea of what else to do, we packed up the gear and made the rough run back to the launch for the drive back home.

3-12-13 – Mixed Bag In The Rain

With all the reports of people going through the ice lately, Venturing out alone after deer water perch on a warm, rainy day wasn’t sounding too ideal. I arrived at the lake a little before sunrise hoping to see some other rigs parked. Unfortunately, I was alone and having not been on the lake for a bit. I couldn’t go out yet and feel safe. I sat around for a bit waiting and ended up taking a nap. I woke up after a bit and still no one was around. I changed gears and decided to spud out to the bluegill grounds. Shallow water had me feeling a bit more at ease.

As I arrived out to where I intended to fish, I found a solo trip was still in store for me. Luckily, the ice felt safe and the holes out there only had about an inch of ice on them. I had gone out without my auger so I used my spud bar to open a dozen or so holes before starting to fish. To get a better sense of how much ice there was, I reached down the hole which revealed 13″ of ice.

The fishing today was better than it has been. I found that the fish were cruising high in the water column and feeding aggressively. I was fishing an orange Bentley Stinger tipped with maggots. This lake seems to produce more and better fish when fishing strictly meat. While fishing, I would start high in the water column and if no fish showed on the flasher quickly I would work down until I had a mark come in. In general, the fish were biting without much working but the longer I stayed in a hole the more finicky they became.

I tried sight fishing today but was unable due to the rain hitting the water. It rained so hard at times that I went back to the truck to escape getting too wet. Because of the warm temperature, I wore blue jeans, an old water-absorbing raincoat, and mud boots. When I finally decided to go home it was because I put on an extra 20 pounds of water weight. I guess some days are just too much!

2-18-13 – Sunny And Cold Bluegill Fishing

I made plans to take my girlfriend out for her first ice fishing excursion today being that it was a holiday. Two days before we went, we decided to cancel do to a weather forecast of temperatures in the low teens and winds in the high 20′s. Being that it was her first trip on the ice, I didn’t want to scare her off and waiting for a warmer day was a better idea. At the last moment, I told her that we were going and sitting in the shack would be sufficient being that we had found a good bite and moving wasn’t necessary.

After running a few errands this morning, we were on the road. A friend was on his way there as well and looking to beat us by a few minutes. So far this morning, the day was gorgeous. The sun was bright and the winds weren’t all that strong. As we pulled up we saw my friend walking out past where we intended to fish. I flagged him down and got him to the spot. As we walked out he was already catching fish.

I gave my girlfriend a full run through of all aspects of fishing today. The first lesson was punching holes. I opened up most of what we needed and then let her make a few herself. The second step was selecting a rod. Then a tutorial on tuning and fishing with a flasher and finally using an underwater camera to find structure and fish. The only part she didn’t need help with was catching fish. Before I even started fishing, she was catching her own.

The fish were running big today and they were on the move. A tip up fisherman near us was running crazy chasing flags. Putting two and two together we figured that the predatory fish were the ones responsible for the movement. For a mid day bit we were having a great trip. The fish weren’t hunkered down in the weeds like normal and they were aggressive when they were below the hole.

After a bit, the wind got to be too cold for Mary so I set her up in the shack. I punched a double hole so that she could sight fish. It was pretty funny to hear her excitement from outside the shack walls. We knew every time a fish swam through. Throughout the rest of the day she caught a bunch of fish. Pretty impressive for only being on the ice a few hours.

At some point during the day, She said she saw a trout swim under her. We doubted it being so shallow and with a very limited population in the lake. Trout roam the deep water here and we figured it must have been a bass. Apparently her underwater fish ID is better than we had though. One of the last drops of the day for my buddy produced a vivid 13-14″ brook trout. A few quick pictures and back down the hole it went.

Mary was happy with the trip and the only thing that took away from it was the wind. She plans to go again but on a warmer day!

1-29-13 – Shallow Water Panfish

I had to stay at work Monday night so Tuesday morning I didn’t get on the road till around 8. This was my first trip to fish Champlain since the Vermont Sportsman Hardwater Tournament Series event at the beginning of the month. The bite in general has been less than spectacular so I have devoted most of my time this winter to more local areas.

When I hit the ice, a bunch of guys were already out there spread over a large area. The fishing was pretty slow all morning and most people only had a few fish in their buckets. The day before the bite was steady and picked up a few times throughout the day. I was hoping that there would be a mid day rush or at least an evening bite!

I started off my day looking around with my underwater camera only to find that one of the dozen or so holes I checked held fish. I grabbed my rod and dropped down and caught a pumpkinseed. Second drop, I lost another. After that I went a while before getting another bite. Even looking around with my camera I couldn’t find any fish in the area.

With lots of moving we found a either a pod that was moving in a small area or corridor. From about 1 pm till I left at 4 the fishing was steady. About 90% of what I caught was pumpkinseed. The other 10% was bluegill, perch, and one pickerel. The fish weren’t picky as long as you weren’t offering them a bare hook. I used maggots for a good portion of the day but switched to plastics once the bite was on. Because of the durability of plastics, I was able to stay in the water longer by spending a lot less time re-baiting.

Lake Fork Trophy Lures Fluorotex Panfish Line

After working with the “Live” Baby Shad by Lake Fork Trophy Lures with great success, we got a chance to try out some of their new Fluorotex Panfish Line. The description given to us of the line is as follows: “Lake Fork Trophy Lures’ new “Fluorotex” panfish line is an amazingly limp (extremely low memory), but strong, fishing line which is fluorocarbon coated. It has excellent knot strength and comes in both clear and fluorescent orange in 6, 8, and 10 lb. strengths.The spools have 700 yards of line and are retail priced at $9.99 each for the 6 lb. and 8 lb. test spools and $10.99 each for the 10 lb. test spools.”

For our needs, we requested the 6 pound test in orange. Neither of us had ever fished with an orange line with red being the closest. We were interested to see how it compared to the usual clear lines we fish. With panfish being our main target, 6 pound line might be considered overkill to many but at times we get off of our panfish kick and chase walleye and bass so being versatile is necessary.

Line diameter is an important dimension to what fishing line we select. Many of the jigs we fish have very small eyes and at times the line can not be threaded through. The line diameter of the 6 lb. line is 0.010″ (0.26mm). The other two options are as follows: 8 lb. – 0.11″ (0.29mm) and 10 lb. – 0.012″ (0.32mm). It is on par with many competitors products.

Detecting bites for many is done visually so having a line has good contrast against many different water coloration is important. The line was tested on several bodies of water as well as some streams. The line stood out best on some of the tannin diluted inland ponds and high elevation streams that we fish for bass and native brook trout. While fishing Southern Lake Champlain, the line proved to be highly visible against the stained waters that are frequent. The only time this line was hard to see was on the Connecticut River when pollen was pooling up as the colors are very similar. Being able to see a small tick in the line makes the orange color very useful in a variety of conditions.

Using this line, we have landed some toothy critters as well as some heavy fish. When you look at the teeth on pickerel and walleye, you would think that they would slice right through any line that isn’t braid. The ability of the line to function properly and resiliently even under the highly stressed areas near the terminal tackle makes it a great option for any angler who wishes to stay light and avoid braid.

Check out some of the videos we have put together using this line (as well as the “Live” Baby Shad) to see how well it has served us. If you want a line that is highly visible, limp, and durable. Don’t take our word for it, give some Fluototex a shot!

This is a list of videos where the line can be seen:

• Vertical Jigging Lake Champlain Crappie
• Jigging Walleye On The Connecticut River
• Remote Pond Bass Fishing In Vermont
• Lake Champlain Crappie Fishing On Structure

And a list where the “Live” Baby Shad can be seen:

• Connecticut River Bluegill
• Connecticut River Crappie
• Vertical Jigging Lake Champlain Crappie

Here are a few shots of some fish that were caught using Lake Fork Trophy Lures Products

7-6-12 – Vertical Jigging Crappie On Champlain

With a constant breeze from the north, my buddy Jamie (Fish Hound Outdoors) and I worked hard to fish structure for crappie. With temps predicted to climb into the mid 80′s, we got on the water early enough to get a few meals before we would be forced to retreat into the shade. To start the day off, we fished in a half and half mix of sun and clouds with a steady 10+ mph wind.

To combat the breeze, we positioned the boat perpendicular with the wind and fished upwind of the structure. Because the boat blocked the wind at first, the fishing was easy. Bites were easily detected and fish were plentiful as they were unpressured for a few days. After catching a few fish they became scarce. We started pitching our baits to both sides of the structure making sure not to go over the top so we didn’t snag. When those fish seemed to shut down we let out some line on the anchor rope and drifted downwind of the structure. We pulled some slabs in the slack water of the structure while battling the wind. I also pulled a few off the top of the structure suspending only a few feet below the stained water from recent rains.

Being so close to the structure, we spent the majority of the morning either dropping the jigs straight down or casting it only a few feet which gave the baits a good natural action as they swam through the water column to where the crappies were holding. With the bite being steady all morning I never switched colors or bait type. I used a pearl “Live” Baby Shad by Lake Fork Trophy Lures.

Throughout the morning we kept a few fish trying to release all the bigger and smaller fish. Most fish we kept were between 10-11 inches.

We got off  the lake for lunch and to clean fish so they didn’t spoil in the heat of the day. I think we got our meals!

After cleaning fish and lunch we met up with our buddy Mike for the afternoon bite. We tried trolling around for a bit with no luck. We found a lot of floating vegetation throughout the main lake causing lots of problems with our longlines and downriggers. After an hour of abuse from the conditions we called it quits and headed for the water chestnut mats to fish the hotels.

The wind was an issue as we cruised through prime flatfish habitat. We skipped over lots of pockets because of the wind only catching a few bluegill, pickerel, bass, and a lonely crappie.

After we fished through the hotels with minimal success we headed back out to the broad lake to fish more structure. The fishing picked up as the evening went on. We found that fish were more picky with their location on structure. Your presentation had to be perfect or else you wouldn’t get a bite. The wind had us taking longer casts at the bases of structure but the fish had some quality size.

Check out these clips on our YouTube Page!

The last fish of the night was a decent black pulled from the shady side of a deep water dock.

6-29-12 – Another Day Of Small Bass

After my last outing for bass (Backwoods Bassin’), I was searching for a quality fish to make up for all the little ones. Being that I had a few hours before I had to go to work, my buddy and I went out looking.

We were on the water shortly after 6 am in the pouring rain. Knowing that it was going to clear up early and warm up fast, we figured we would dry off quickly so the rain didn’t matter too much. The pond was new to both of us but we had a depth chart on my phone through Navionics Mobile. Because the pond was small we decided it was best to start fishing right off until we could piece together a pattern that would best keep us on the fish.

From what we’ve heard and found, the pond is featureless with an abundance of chara. We began by casting to weedbeds composed mainly of lily pads and two pondweed varieties. We fished these areas with flipping jigs and senkos. The jigs were dragged through the weeds on the bottom while the senkos were fished fast on the surface. The production in these areas proved to be decent but we caught mostly small bass and various sized pickerel. With clear water, we could see an abundance of perch and pumpkinseed as well.

The next pattern we began working on was a deep water one. We started by pitching dark colored senkos into deeper water up to 25 feet. After finding more quality fish, we sped up our presentation by tossing crank baits. Our catch rates went up significantly after this move. Using Navionics and a depth finder, we did our best to stay on the 25 foot while casting towards shallow water. As the bait went through the 15-20′ zone, we got most of our hook ups.

Once again, a quality fish was not brought into the boat… The majority of the fish caught were between 1-2 pounds with only a few breaking the two pound mark. At least we didn’t get skunked!

Here’s a few pictures from the trip.

1-31-12 – Champlain Again!!!

After a sad showing yesterday attempting to night fish pathetically lethargic crappie, a few of my buddies and I decided it was a good day to make up for it and chase flags on Lake Champlain. Of course, we would pass the time between flags by jigging panfish. Overall, we had a fairly successful day. The weather was decent but it didn’t take long to change to snow though. Better than rain I guess!

We stopped at Dockside to pick up bait and headed for the ice around 7am. We got three dozen medium/heavy shiners and were set up with about 20 tip ups out by 8. The flags didn’t take long to start popping. I forgot how much action there can be fishing like this. I wish I had wore a pedometer! At the beginning of the day we were pretty civil approaching our traps that had been tripped. We took turns and walked fast at best. By the end of the day it was an all out sprint with plenty of stiff arms to be had. We all had plenty of chances at fish in the end.

We had two different set ups on our tip ups. One set was rigged with steel leaders the other had straight 8 pound fluorocarbon. None of us noticed any difference in the number of flags on one style or the other. The only difference was break-offs. Obviously, when fishing the toothy critters of the Esocidae family (northern pike and pickerel), line durability is a big concern. The fluoro had several break-offs while the steel leaders had none. Makes sense right? I have read stories and articles about how in certain locations using a steel leader will completely shut off the fish from biting while some times they prefer it. Obviously, the fish today were not too worried! Perfect!

Throughout the day we landed quite a few bass, pickerel, and northern pike. Although none of the fish were huge, two of the pike were over 30″. Jigging pannies was decent all day but they never seemed to school up like the did the last few days. Lots of hole hopping was necessary! At the end of the day, all the guys jigging were spread out far more than normal in a large area.

I could think of a million worse ways to spend a Tuesday! If nothing else, we provided entertainment for all the guys out there as we ran for flags!