this morning

[top_dollar]

Bluegill are biting very well.  More of the same as yesterday.   Crawlers fished vertical 25 feet down.  They are easy to see on the graph,  like a bunch of squiggly lines a few feet above the bottom in 25 to 30 fow.  Catching a good mix of bluegills,  black bass and catfish.  Gravel points with shad present.  Struck out with a spoon today.  

[Biglerma]

Nice work!

[top_dollar]

Got out for a bit of trolling yesterday evening.  Bout 2 hours dedicated fishing.  Caught 7 smallies,  1 spot,  a few white bass,  all were 12 to 17 inches. Was targeting walleye...had 1 very nice fish on a few seconds.  Solid heavy weight with occasional head shakes,  came off mid fight.  Kinda thinking that might have been my good eye.  Last year I caught 2 trolling cranks in the same location.  I was pretty upset as I go to great lengths to make sure when I hook a fish trolling it comes to the boat,  and it's rare that I lose one anymore.  Caught fish trolling 2.5 to 3mph on main lake gravel points with deep water near, and bluff walls with tree tops about 20 feet down.  Pulled flicker shads 17 feet down over 17-40 fow.  

This morning was my last...slower today,  but same as last few days.  Crawlers, spoons,  long flat gravel points 15 to 25 feet down.  Not much love on the spoon yesterday or today.  

Nightcrawlers worked well though (although I'm sure some snub their nose at live bait)..I use a 7 ft light power, fast action spinning rod spooled with 4 pound mono.  I attach (in this order) a rubber bobber stop, a 1/16th Oz slip sinker,  a bead,  a rubber bobber stop, another bead,  then a #6 or 4 gammy bait holder hook.  The distance of the weight to the hook is easily adjusted,  but due to line twist I usually just have about a half inch between the hook and weight.  I'll post a picture.  The crawler is threaded on so it's perfectly straight.  As was mentioned fish like to swallow the rig.  This can be alleviated by being attentive,  when you feel a bite,  lift up slightly,  if you feel weight set the hook immediately.   Often times you'll miss the bite and lose your worm....it happens as it's a 9 inch worm on a half inch hook.  When you get it down though you'll hook up on 75% or more of your bites.     

[Champ188]

2 hours ago, top_dollar said:

Got out for a bit of trolling yesterday evening.  Bout 2 hours dedicated fishing.  Caught 7 smallies,  1 spot,  a few white bass,  all were 12 to 17 inches. Was targeting walleye...had 1 very nice fish on a few seconds.  Solid heavy weight with occasional head shakes,  came off mid fight.  Kinda thinking that might have been my good eye.  Last year I caught 2 trolling cranks in the same location.  I was pretty upset as I go to great lengths to make sure when I hook a fish trolling it comes to the boat,  and it's rare that I lose one anymore.  Caught fish trolling 2.5 to 3mph on main lake gravel points with deep water near, and bluff walls with tree tops about 20 feet down.  Pulled flicker shads 17 feet down over 17-40 fow.  

This morning was my last...slower today,  but same as last few days.  Crawlers, spoons,  long flat gravel points 15 to 25 feet down.  Not much love on the spoon yesterday or today.  

Nightcrawlers worked well though (although I'm sure some snub their nose at live bait)..I use a 7 ft light power, fast action spinning rod spooled with 4 pound mono.  I attach (in this order) a rubber bobber stop, a 1/16th Oz slip sinker,  a bead,  a rubber bobber stop, another bead,  then a #6 or 4 gammy bait holder hook.  The distance of the weight to the hook is easily adjusted,  but due to line twist I usually just have about a half inch between the hook and weight.  I'll post a picture.  The crawler is threaded on so it's perfectly straight.  As was mentioned fish like to swallow the rig.  This can be alleviated by being attentive,  when you feel a bite,  lift up slightly,  if you feel weight set the hook immediately.   Often times you'll miss the bite and lose your worm....it happens as it's a 9 inch worm on a half inch hook.  When you get it down though you'll hook up on 75% or more of your bites.     

I don't snub my nose at anyone except meat hogs. In fact, I applaud you for the nice tutorial on how not to deep-hook/kill these fish.

Glad you caught some fish and had a nice variety of species. Hope you enjoyed your trip to the fullest.

[Biglerma]

I prefer live worms over plastics.  I haven't had a problem having fish swallow the worm although I'm sure they would if you give them time to eat.  

[top_dollar]

This is how i fish a crawler.  It works a lot better than a split shot cuz you rarely have to retie it,  doesn't pinch/knick your line, and minimizes twist.  Sometimes you may want to slide the sinker up a foot like a traditional split shot rig,  however the further the weight from the worm the higher the likely hood that the line will twist up around the weight.  I've found that this rig less than an inch above the hook works most efficienctly when probing deep areas.  On windy days you can up to a 1/8th or 3/16 Oz weight,  but I like the 1/16.