Needed a change and simplified the plan

[fishinwrench]

Paddling upstream is a pain sometimes, but I'm telling ya, there's something to approaching fish from the downstream side.   None of my best days have been on shuttled floats.

[Flyguide7]

8 hours ago, Smalliebigs said:

I guess so....it was the only bait I took

Also I am not a part of Tackle HD anymore and have nothing to gain from expressing my opinions of their bait. Im not trying sell ~~....just trying to give some guys who frequent this site some help in catching fish on something other than a Ned Rig.

I guess I should have been a little more neutral and PC and said Bait X instead of mentioning their bait.

 

Smallie, then you would have been criticized for being stingy with specifics. Critics will be critics regardless of content.

[Flyguide7]

I cant wait to get out on the river! I have had a summer of continuous travel and it will not be slowing down anytime soon. I bought a new jet motor and have not had a chance to finish the install. At least I can vicariously enjoy the river through all my friends posts on this forum. Keep them coming guys!

[Al Agnew]

It's funny...some of my best fish have come from spots very close to accesses.  I think I'll start another thread on the subject.

[ness]

Anybody else still get the feeling that the fish are ... over there? You know, just out of reach? 

I remember thinking that when I was younger -- until I figured things out and learned to relax, slow down and analyze the sitch. Now I realize sometimes they're over here!

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, a lot of times you should be fishing where you're standing...or where your boat is sitting.  Driftboat fishing the Yellowstone for trout, we're always casting up against the bank, but when we wade it, we're usually casting 10-20 feet off the bank.  (But fish are caught both places.)

[Flysmallie]

11 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Yeah, a lot of times you should be fishing where you're standing...or where your boat is sitting.  Driftboat fishing the Yellowstone for trout, we're always casting up against the bank, but when we wade it, we're usually casting 10-20 feet off the bank.  (But fish are caught both places.)

My dad and I used to have this conversation a lot. When you are on the bank you try to cast out as far as you can but when you are in a boat then you cast to the bank. 

[fishinwrench]

My grandpa was big into Limb Lines for cats, and he always made a big deal about how many more fish, and bigger fish he caught on limb lines than the trotliners caught by stringing their hooks clear across the river.   On the rare occasion that he sat a trotline he'd always set it more parallel to the bank vs. straight out into the middle like most.    I think that a fish looking to eat something just naturally goes towards the bank or shoreline cover.  There's just more food there.

[Al Agnew]

Yep, fish have feeding zones.  A real old-timer that used to live on the Current River above Doniphan, and who was an expert walleye fisherman, used to catch walleye back in his younger days on live minnows on trotlines.  He said that if in an unfamiliar pool, he'd start by stringing the trotline all the way across the river, but that he'd always catch walleye only in one or two spots along the trotline, so he'd re-string the line so that it had several hooks in those spots and no hooks elsewhere, because that's where the walleyes' feeding and travel zones intersected the trotline.

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

My dad and I used to have this conversation a lot. When you are on the bank you try to cast out as far as you can but when you are in a boat then you cast to the bank. 

There actually is one pond that I catch crappie in the spring and fall. Early in the season I often see guys floating their boats along the dam casting into the shallow water, while I will cast somewhat parallel to the bank from the bank or straight out into the lake. I will catch more fish by casting beyond the guys in the boats since the fish at that time are still transitioning off shore. Later in the season they will be right along the bank spawning.