Dock-in-it

This morning I had 7 keepers with 17 total. I normally fish from 7 to 10am. For me, there is a definite feeding period from 7 til 9. I mention this for scouting purposes. My fishing locations have plenty of visible fish from 7 til 9, then it looks like a ghost town. So scouting for visible fish after 9 or 10 am can be very misleading. Also, back when merc1997 starting posting about the deep winter bite, the quality fish were more prevalent and the fish holding locations were more plentiful and the feeding period was longer. The largemouth and smallmouth were plentiful in the mix, but now it is mainly Kentuckies. There was a no A-rig tournament on Dec 30, in mid December I thought 18lbs would not even get you in the top 5. Then I hear that 15lbs wins it. So the winter bite has a mind of its own. In the winter, think safety first.

Due to strong winds yesterday I searched a few creeks for deep fish and found nothing. I did not get a bite. This morning I fished the main lake and had approx 15 keepers and 40 fish total. Nothing big, but a good morning. With decent air temps, I was able to handle the steady northwest wind. I stayed in 40-60 flow all morning. Fished the ice jig. I normally like to mix in the 4 inch yamamoto grub, but the fish will not bite it. Perhaps the water temp needs to drop a few degrees. I did catch a few decent LM on a 3inch swimbait at daylight. I fan cast the swimbait as i search for the deep fish. There were plenty of fish i n the 15-25 ft range over deep water. I can catch a few of these fish on a swimbait at daylight.

Correct. The Rapala jigging rap.

The fish in the picture was on the bottom in 55 ft. I like to stay in 43 to 60 fow most of the time. If your in a deep cut, check back to 37 ft early morning or extreme overcast. If I have multiple fish scattered on the screen I try to catch the deepest fish. If I have multiple fish tight on the screen I drop to them. I fish for resident fish vs roamers that follow shad. It is a time management deal for me. My normal fishing trip is three hrs in the morning and I want to fish vs scout. Also, 90% of the time the resident fish are on a feeding schedule from 7 to 9am, then it gets tough. I fish resident fish also because of winter weather conditions. I want the least wind I can find on a high percentage resident location. Boat control and comfort.

The Aunts creek area had some minor floating limbs but the water was clear down to 7 ft. As I approached my desired location my depth finder was filled with shad from 40 to 55 ft. I stopped and started looking for fish but nothing would appear on my screen. Around me, fish would make a big swirl on top about every 2 minutes and I never saw shad on top nor a fish on my screen. I tried under-spin, plain swimbait, and kastmaster spoon. Zero luck in 15 minutes, so I cut my losses and scooted over 300 yards to my desired location. There, the fish were setup properly but they were hard to catch. I caught a good limit, but way to many fish ignored the ice jig. It was a nice morning to be out and their were plenty of boats. I did catch this 5lbs 6 oz LM on a 5/8 ice jig.

Hopefully some folks with extensive experience will provide their guidance. I drop the jigging rap straight down to the fish depth. Then try holding it still until they let you know that is the preferred technique or not. If not, try one foot hops. Then try ripping it very aggressive. Rip it, let it set, then rip again. If all three fail, creep the boat to the next fish or group of fish. Repeat the techniques until a few fish tell you the presentation required. The last few mornings, they wanted it ripped. The ripping technique works best when the fish are very close to the bottom. When you see multiple fish near the bottom, the ripping will cause one to commit. I normally like the still technique but it does not always work for me. The 5/8 size works good in general. The 7/8 works better for ripping, because the fall rate lands in their face at a speed that triggers them to bite. Also, if you are on gravel you can creep the boat with the jig in the water in a good depth zone. If you are around timber and your boat is moving, I would keep the jig out of water until you see a fish. Need to have a lure knocker to save on lost lures.

Shane shared this picture of their 2011-2012 tags. Their tags were different.

Shane Bush sent me this. RSDScienceNote_Basstelemetry_vol8_11.pdf

I caught this tagged 3lbs 2oz LM on Dec 26, 2018 in the KC area. I sent Shane Bush (MDC) an email and he was not aware of any current tagging program. He did mention the following: We conducted a largemouth bass radio telemetry project in 2011-2012 in the Kings River Arm of Table Rock Lake. Our objective was to study the day and night movement patterns of largemouth bass as well as their use of our installed fish habitat structures. Is anyone aware of a resent tagging program? I did not see any numbers on the tag. Thanks

The fish I was on did the same thing late in the morning. Late in the morning I could not catch them regardless of what i was throwing or what depth the fish were. I would put my bait in front of them and nothing would work. The first few hours of the morning the majority of fish relate closer to the bottom and are more eager to bite. Early in the morning the fish in the upper water column will bite a 3" swimbait. Yesterday you could of probably caught the fish in the upper column with a swimbait or kastmaster spoon late in morning because they were chasing shad on top. Yesterday I had 15 keepers. Today i had 9 keepers and two good walleye. 6lbs and 4.75 lbs. Water temp 48. Best overall depth range for me is 37 to 55. You can be glad that you found a big group of fish. Just need to find them in the right mode.

Bill, did you spend any time trying the deep vertical bite ?

The 45 seconds rule: (for curious/happy fish) When you approach a chnl swing, put the trolling motor down about 40 yds from where you think most fish will be and start easing up to the key location. Have your grub ready to drop, because within 45 seconds one or two fish will appear streaking up from an extreme depth or they just appear magically. These fish are very catchable and seem really curious/happy about your presents and often times are the biggest and perhaps the only fish you will catch. You can ease around the area for the next 30 minutes and for some unexplainable reason the ‘curious/happy’ factor does not repeat itself. So after the first 45 seconds, you have to find them (vs them finding you) and then try to aggravate them into biting.

The vertical/deep grub bite slowed down a lot in early February like Pete W reported. On Feb 13 in the PM I tried a deep grub, jerk bait, and the A-Rig. No luck on the jerk bait. The A-Rig produced a few keeper SM on windy gravel with deep water nearby. The grub produced a few which is a good sign for a PM trip. Feb 14 in the AM (to avoid the Joe Bass guys), I decided to start with the grub and spoon on main lake chnl swings. At my fist stop I knew instantly the deep bite would be good, there were plenty of suspended (42’-45') fish feeding on very small pods of shad over 80-90 FOW. The bite slowed down about 8:30. Had 20+ Ks with 12+ keepers and nothing over 2.5 lbs. Three categories of catchable fish for me. (1) Suspended/feeding about 40’ in 80-90 FOW (2) Tree tops about 40’ (3) On the bottom in 45-60 FOW. I could not catch fish that were alone and suspended in the 30’ range. Also they did not want the smoke/red flake grub, so I switched to salt/pepper and it worked much better. The 4” grub (fished vertical) caught most of the fish and a white spoon produced 4 or 5 fish. The spoon worked in the tree tops and right at the bottom (barely shaking the spoon).

The 4” grub bite has been strong for several weeks in the KC area (for K’s and a few LM mixed in). Fishing in 42-70 FOW around channel swings with good cover nearby (tree tops and bottom brush). I normally stay on the main lake, but some creeks have good fish holding locations (good plan for windy days). The ice jigs work good, but I tend to lose too many therefore the grub is much more cost effective for me. The spoon will catch fish this time of year, but I am convinced that the grub will out fish it by a wide margin. Normally for a 4 hr trip (one person), 10 fish is slow action and 20+ is good. Searching for individual fish on your depth finder and dropping a bait down to them is very effective time management on the water. I routinely try the A-Rig in locations that I am seeing and catching grub fish. Hopefully it’s just me, but the A-Rig is not producing much even when the fish are suspended and active.

Recommendation: the spoon seems to be to aggressive in the aunts creek area, I would stick with a 4" grub -- one on a 3/8 head and one on a 1/4 head. Use the 1/4 for suspended fish and the 3/8 on the bottom in 40' to 55'. Find a channel swing area with some trees. Keep the boat moving slowly until you find them. Don,t waste time if your not seeing anything. Take advantage of the early morning bite. I fish from day light to 10:30 am so I do not get to try the warmer/windy conditions in the PM.