YAKFM

Absolutely.

Excellent report. I did the same last night and brought home some crappie to try the recipe you posted yesterday.

Nice work F&F and thank you.

Mmmm, I will have to try this. Thank you.

Chef, for jig fishing I agree with Nathan's recommendations. Most of my jig fishing involves casting and retrieving. The only jig-trolling I do involves using three rods in a mini-spider rig set-up. I have three rod holders in front of my seated position. I calibrate each reel based upon how many revolutions it takes to reach the bottom at a given depth. For example, if I want to target suspended fish at 14 feet and I know that there are 3 revolutions per foot, then I start with my jig at the tip of my rod and back reel 42 revolutions. I may add a few revolutions to account for my speed (paddling + wind). I typically move very slowly with spider rigging so I don't adjust my depth too much to account for the forward movement-maybe a foot or two of additional line. The heavier the weight of your jig head the easier it is to maintain your jig at the desired depth. For spider rigging I typically use 1/8 oz and will occasionally use 3/16th or 1/16th oz, depending on the depth I am trying to maintain. The key to successful spider rigging and trolling out of a kayak is to understand the performance of your kayak with you paddling it. You are the trolling motor and becoming proficient with this technique takes quite a bit of trial and error. I catch quite a few crappie spider rigging as you would expect, but you can catch just about anything with this method. Recently, I have been catching crappie in 23-25 ft in timber vertical jigging with Bobby G's while the kayak is tied to a tree. If you haven't trolled with crankbaits yet I recommend that you start with #5 and 6 Flicker Shads. The Flicker Shad package contains a dive curve, which graphically represents the depth your lure is expected to dive as a function of the amount/size of line you have out at a given speed. Once you get comfortable with your trolling techniques you can successfully branch out to other crankbait/lure applications. You can certainly use a line counter reel as Nathan suggested, but if you aren't in the market for a new reel you can approximate the amount of line you let out based upon how much line you have on your spool. I know I have just over 300 ft of #8lb fluoro on my spinning reel, so that if I let out 1/3 to 1/2 of the spool behind the kayak I will reach x depth at x speed. If you need to run shallower to target suspended fish, let out less line. Again, use the dive curve as a guide. If you have GPS on your graph you can track your speed. If no GPS, then you will have to approximate your speed. I don't have GPS on my graph, but I do know that to reach approx 2.5 mph I will need to move fast enough to have my spinning rod maintain a bend at the 4th eye from the tip with a #6 Flicker.

Thanks. Dodging wake boarders is tough enough. I haven't attempted using a downrigger on the yak yet. Between the 4 rods, fish finder, tackle, gear, and refreshments, there isn't much room left for other toys. I typically use snap weights if I need to get deeper than the max trolling depth for a given bait. I've used planer boards with some success too. I have had my kayaks for 14 years now and caught Bull Reds, Cobia, Specs, Flounder, Mackerel, Small Sharks, Musky, Lake Trout, and most other freshwater species in NA, so I have had plenty of opportunity to practice (and fail) with different techniques. I will likely always have kayaks, but I am looking forward to having a boat again soon.

Thanks for the report. I've never fished with one, but the Mag Lip 3.5 looks like a fancy version of the Lazy Ike I used many years ago fishing in Canada. My dad lives in LBV so you and Nathan may run me over into me down by Indian Creek one of these days.

Good point. I didn't even consider a gar. I've encountered plenty on the water just never landed one on Beaver.

No, it wasn't me. Unfortunately, I didn't get out on Saturday. I fish out of a green 14' Old Town Loon with twin rod holders for trolling.

I had the same experience in the location I caught the walleye. I had fished the area earlier in the day and struck out. The big fish certainly could have been a striper. My assumption that it was a walleye was based on the behavior of the fish and how I lost it. When I was fighting it it stayed down and pulled steady with a few head shakes. I had just checked the line and retied so I didn't have any obvious line abrasion close to the lure. There were no trees or visible obstructions below the water. Have you had stripers cut your line with their gill plates?

Thanks J-Doc. Nice job on the crappie and assortment of other fish. It was tough between 3-6 pm on Friday too. By 6 I had only caught 2 bass, the drum, and the catfish. I was trolling back to the ramp when I got into a few more bass and the striper, then the relatively fast action for the walleyes started just before sunset. Surprisingly, it was a pretty slow day for boat traffic in RB on Friday. Only a few rigs in the back and the pleasure traffic stayed closer to the island. I had the entire West side out to the main lake to my self. The weekend traffic is also why I try to fish during the week this time of year. Too many crazies on the weekends.

13 Fish Total: 4 walleyes (1 legal 20", 3 at 16.5-17.5"), 4 Spots to 16", 3 small stripers, 1 cat, and 1 drum Water Temp 78-80 Light wind Fished RB area on Friday from 3-8 pm and trolled a 7 cm Smash Shad and 6 cm Flicker Shad. I hooked and briefly fought what was likely a large walleye on the Smash Shad. The fish came on a break close to deep water. After it pulled me around for 20 seconds or so I felt two distinct head shakes and then my line was cut. No clue how big it was but the 20" felt small by comparison. The 4 walleyes were caught between 7-8 pm in 16-18 FOW trolling the Flicker Shad. Overall a nice evening on the water. Driving over the 12 bridge on the way home was a sight to see with all the boats lined up ready for night fishing.

Currently in the bargain cave at the Rogers Cabelas Lowrance HDS-5 with DSI for $299. List price on the box is $649. Lowrance HDS-8 Gen 2/Structure Scan for $1599. List price on the box is $2199.

Check out the archived catch of the day pictures from the Beaver Fever guide service. Their clients catch some nice open water bass on shad while fishing for stripers. Link included: http://www.beaverfeverguides.com/reports/4755.cfm

Nice report!

I troll two rods out of the yak and if you look closely you can see the portable graph forward of my seated position in the 3rd picture. The trolling rods are held in mounted rod holders 3 feet forward of the seat. This allows me to have full paddle range and easy access to the rods when there is a hook-up. I am using a 14 foot kayak, which helps with tracking and allows me to maintain fairly constant speed. My top end speed in the yak is somewhere around 6 or 7 mph when I need to get from point A to B. I estimate that I can maintain my trolling speed for the flickers between 1 and 3 mph, depending upon what the conditions allow/dictate. My graph is low tech and is not GPS enabled, so I can only estimate how fast I am moving. However, I did crudely calibrate my trolling speed in a friend's boat using several different sizes and styles of crankbaits. I did this by comparing the flex in my two trolling rods against various cranks at different speeds. Low tech, yes, but it is good for a first approximation for the yak and has been effective. I also use modified S-turns early in each outing to help me understand the speed that fish prefer for a given day. I pay close attention to whether a strike occurs on an inside or outside rod as I am completing the turns. And the catch totals for the two trips last week was spread over 14+ hours on the water. I have had some not so productive days on Beaver this year too. Those are the trips that I used scout new water and try to figure out what went wrong. Thanks again J-Doc and F&F for sharing fishing space in our prior encounter on the water. I hope to meet you both (and others on the board) when we eventually get together for the OA meet and greet that was proposed in another thread.

Fished Saturday the 17th and Friday the 23rd between 12 bridge and PC. Water temp warmed from the mid 60's last weekend to 74 yesterday. Totals for 2 days of fishing: 31 crappie to 15" (all but 4 were legal), 20 plus bass (Spots to 18" and one 22" LM), 11 walleye (4 legal), and more white bass than I could count. A few sample photos included as evidence. The spots all came on 3" Keitech Easy Shiners in 14-18 FOW on point breaks. The LM, Crappie, and Walleye all were taken on #5 and #6 Flicker Shads. The crankbait fish came trolling over brush piles around the islands in 14-18 FOW. As an aside I had a nice long talk yesterday with a Game Warden on the water. He was riding a jet ski, which I thought was great cover. I don't think too many people will be looking for law enforcement on a jet ski.

I am sure many are aware, but the Flicker Minnow is coming out this Summer-June or July release, I believe. It will be offered in 12 colors initially and two sizes-the size 7 (2.75 inches) and size 9 (3.5 inches), which can reach trolling depths of 14-17 and 18-23 FOW, respectively. The co-developers, Parsons and Kavejecz, have been using them on the pro tour for over a year now. Reportedly with great success. I found the above information in the following In-Fisherman article from April: http://www.in-fisherman.com/2014/04/18/berkley-flicker-minnow/.

Cabela's in Rogers now offers the White and Uncle Rico colored Flicker's that were previously only available through BPS and affiliated stores like H,L&S. They started carrying them 2 weeks or so ago. I didn't see the Avacado at Cabela's though.

Nice meeting both J-Doc and Fins and Feathers on the water. Thanks for the great recommendations you provided too. I watched Fins catch the 7 lber on the jigging spoon. He was a nice looking fish-congrats again Fins. I was targeting crappie Friday and Saturday in the 12 bridge area. Boated 80 plus crappie trolling Flicker shads in an area the size of half a football field. Baits of choice were #4 pink and #5 white Flicker Shads on Friday evening and #5/6 in white on Saturday morning. Very few short fish, most were 10-14" with multiple slabs to 17.5". The fish were suspended 5-14 down over structure in 18-22 FOW.