North Shore & Gravois

[fishinwrench]

Well, I said that I would report back after today....so here's how it went for me...

    After helping 14 rigs get launched the ramp was a literal sheet of ice, not a single dry strip to keep a tire on, so I went back to the house and took a nap 😅 

I kept an eye on the patio furniture on our deck and as soon as the skiff of ice melted off of it I ran back down, launched, and proceeded to try to figure something out.  Water temp was 48° when I launched, and had warmed to 53° in certain spots by 3:30

At 10:30 the fog finally burned off, and I located a bunch of active short fish along south-facing seawalls that the sun was beating down on. Caught a few on a jerkbait, a few on a hula grub, but the best bait was a 3/8 swim jig with a Swimming Fluke trailer, and the bites were coming 7-9 reel cranks from the seawall in 3-8 FOW.  

After 15-18 fish were landed...none of which were keepers....I abandoned that and went in search of some better average fish.   Tried a variety of things, but beings as how I had such a late start I wasn't in the mood to travel very far.  Nothing was working for me, and with only 2 hours left before weigh-in I decided to go back to the "sunny seawall  pattern" and just milk it for all it was worth until time to head back for weigh-in.  Made 3 passes on every productive stretch trying different baits and different depths, but the most consistent thing going was still the Swim Jig worked out to 10ft. or less.  Caught a good number of fish.....but not a single 15+ incher.   

4 limits were weighed in, all by guys Livescope'ing the sunny side of points and offshore brushpiles (video-game fishing), likely near release areas, 8-18 FOW.  

Took 15.0 to win, and BB was 5.31

2nd place was 14.42

3rd was 11.45

The rest of us all donated.  

[Maverickpro201]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Well, I said that I would report back after today....so here's how it went for me...

    After helping 14 rigs get launched the ramp was a literal sheet of ice, not a single dry strip to keep a tire on, so I went back to the house and took a nap 😅 

I kept an eye on the patio furniture on our deck and as soon as the skiff of ice melted off of it I ran back down, launched, and proceeded to try to figure something out.  Water temp was 48° when I launched, and had warmed to 53° in certain spots by 3:30

At 10:30 the fog finally burned off, and I located a bunch of active short fish along south-facing seawalls that the sun was beating down on. Caught a few on a jerkbait, a few on a hula grub, but the best bait was a 3/8 swim jig with a Swimming Fluke trailer, and the bites were coming 7-9 reel cranks from the seawall in 3-8 FOW.  

After 15-18 fish were landed...none of which were keepers....I abandoned that and went in search of some better average fish.   Tried a variety of things, but beings as how I had such a late start I wasn't in the mood to travel very far.  Nothing was working for me, and with only 2 hours left before weigh-in I decided to go back to the "sunny seawall  pattern" and just milk it for all it was worth until time to head back for weigh-in.  Made 3 passes on every productive stretch trying different baits and different depths, but the most consistent thing going was still the Swim Jig worked out to 10ft. or less.  Caught a good number of fish.....but not a single 15+ incher.   

4 limits were weighed in, all by guys Livescope'ing the sunny side of points and offshore brushpiles (video-game fishing), likely near release areas, 8-18 FOW.  

Took 15.0 to win, and BB was 5.31

2nd place was 14.42

3rd was 11.45

The rest of us all donated.  

Next time you decide to fish against the Livescope, I will send you my address and you send me your entry fee. That way it will be money well spent, because I will be putting it towards a livescope. Just so you know, your money is going for a good cause.  

[DADAKOTA]

Livescope changes the game from fishing to extracting

[fishinwrench]

3 hours ago, Maverickpro201 said:

Next time you decide to fish against the Livescope, I will send you my address and you send me your entry fee. That way it will be money well spent, because I will be putting it towards a livescope. Just so you know, your money is going for a good cause.  

It hasn't increased the average winning weight, but it certainly has increased the number of bags in contention to win, by a factor of x5.    As guys get even better at it, it's going to be interesting to see.   

The kinda cool thing though, is that it's now possible (and probable) to win a 150 boat tournament from a 14' Jon boat with a 15hp motor and 3 gallons of gas, on ANY lake.   

[crittermo]

thanks for the feedback, seawalls, that's one thing that there is no shortage of

[Bushbeater]

Not north shore but south end. Fished in Tonka cove couple hours this afternoon. One fish, a nice fat 18" smallie. Very dark coloration kinda like a northern SM.  Forgot my phone so no pic. Met another boat that was leaving when I went in, they said several shorts on crankbaits with no keepers. I caught mine on a 3" tube.

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, crittermo said:

thanks for the feedback, seawalls, that's one thing that there is no shortage of

Well.... actually.....South facing seawalls that don't have docks blocking the sun and shading them..... might take a bit of running around to find.   

There were only 3 good spots in the 8 miles I covered on Tuesday.   Google Earth is definitely your friend.....will certainly save you some gas.

[crittermo]

thank you, i'm not trying to be a smartass, just wanting to learn.

besides the obvious on a missing blade, what is the difference between a swimming jig and a spinnerbait?

why would you use a swimming jig over a spinnerbait or a spinnerbait over a swimming jig?

 

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, crittermo said:

thank you, i'm not trying to be a smartass, just wanting to learn.

besides the obvious on a missing blade, what is the difference between a swimming jig and a spinnerbait?

why would you use a swimming jig over a spinnerbait or a spinnerbait over a swimming jig?

 

A swim jig with a paddle-tail type trailer on it has a real sexy side-to-side rocking motion, as well as the tail action. Has a very lifelike fall when it's sinking....especially on a tight line. It comes thru cover better, and can be pitched-flipped-skipped into places that you can't get a spinnerbait into.     

If the water is relatively clear a good swim jig will probably outfish a spinnerbait 10:1 no matter where you are in the world.   And I'd put it above chatterbaits in most instances....but that's just me. 

[jdmidwest]

But that has a skirt in front of it.  More of a wavy action.  I like it.