Where Are The Stripers At?

[Feathers and Fins]

I've seen his boat. Man has more Flicker Shad than sense.

:-)

What you are talking about sir i have no clue!

I only have a couple of these flicker shad, not like i have 5 boxes full of them

[Feathers and Fins]

Oh and if you want flicker shad stay away from Cabelas their colors are not the best, go to Hook Line and Sinker in Rogers, Aaron keeps the colors in stock that work on Beaver.

[J-Doc]

What you are talking about sir i have no clue!

I only have a couple of these flicker shad, not like i have 5 boxes full of them

I bet if you opened his closet at home, it would be risky because you would probably be pelted by boxes and boxes FULL of Flicker shads.

Oh and if you go to Hook Line and Sinker, look for the empty slots. Those are the colors you needed but can't buy because SOMEONE ..... (^^) ..... bought them all.

[J-Doc]

I have found a couple of baits that out perform the Flickers but I chose to keep that to myself. I think I told F&F about them one day but there is one bait that I have been just knocking the walleye with in a particular color. Doesn't always work every day but I've caught fish on it where the Flicker in a similar color wouldn't get a bite.

Point is, buy some Flickers and troll. Learn to watch your fish finder and TROLL WHERE THERE ARE FISH..........otherwise you're wasting gas and probably losing baits for no reason. I started a thread on fish finder knowledge that's turned out to be pretty decent. You might want to take a look through it as anyone can learn something in there.

The think I learned this year from F&F about trolling is this:

- You have to be in the right area where the fish are (so location of fish is key)

- Look for bait, that will lead you to fish

- (again..........learn to watch your fish finder)

- You have to put the right size bait in the right color at the depth the fish are in

(if they are in 15ft, use a bait that runs 12-15ft....I personally like to run about 1-2ft above the fish as most are always looking up such as crappie and walleye)

- once you have located fish, depth, etc, find a "connect the dots" type pattern that you can run to keep your bait in that selected depth and hit several targets in a single pass

I thought trolling would be boring or "cheating" but after a day on the lake with F&F, I found out you're too busy reeling in fish or focusing on trying to find them to worry about being bored and it's not cheating. It's just like casting with a rod. Your boat becomes the fishing reel vs. you cranking on it all day long. It's still fishing.......just a commercialized form of presentation that covers way more water than your average bass angler. And I say covers more water when I should say, "keeps the bait in the strike zone much longer in a larger area than a typical bass angler".

I should know, I was a die-hard basser before F&F passed along his curse on me. Now I fish for whatever is biting.

[J-Doc]

Here is the fish finder thread I mentioned....

[Feathers and Fins]

Downriggers dont hurt either for when they decide to be to deep to normally reach 35 fow not a problem.

How do you know when you are crappie? Sometime your sonar tells you if you know how to read it very well but when in doubt I CHEAT and put down the camera, word of warning on the camera FISH like to eat it so be sure to strengthen the line for it.

I know the crappie fishing in winter can be excellant but do to feathered critters I dont go after them typically till the First day after duck season.

[Greg W]

Skunked again. I fished from noon to about 3. Not one hit. Found very little bait in PC. Found a large amount of bait in deep water at beaver shores. I am sick of getting skunked. This lake has not been kind to me. Tried slabs, horseheads, crankbait and even the flicker shad. No luck.........

[J-Doc]

That's Beaver for you. I have found the deeper fish are not worth fishing for. At least not yet. There may be a dynamite technique but I haven't found it yet. Working on it though and that's what matters.

Sometimes, time on the water is better for you anyway. Skunked it not. It's about the experience, learning from your time on the water and growing as an angler.

(Putting a positive spin here). Don't let it get to you. It did me. Skinned means I failed to figure out what to do and I make a note of why and try to learn from it. That's not easy. Sometimes, what you think should work, take a 180 degree turn and fish the opposite way and that's the key.

[Feathers and Fins]

Gregg, Beaver is not nice to new people she likes to make you earn it, but after you do she is a very rewarding mother. Just enjoy the many days and like Doc said write it down and learn from it, You have to serenade a lady and she is every bit of that.

[Greg W]

Thanks for the advice. I still enjoy the time on the water. She is the prettiest lake that I have been on.