Tips For Spinning In Non Trophy Area. Feb

[LASGTA88]

hey we are migrating down for our annual presidents day trout tourney Feb 15th. Now i have been down there for about 10 years running now and i have had some great years and some not so great years.. im not expecting to catch trophy fish or lunkers but just want to have a successful weekend of fishing my my father and friends.. this trip is one of the only times my Dad and I have together away from our wives lol.. i just wanna make sure he has the best trip possible and he always looks to me after the past few years of researchin and catchin more than him lol..

any help would be appreciated.. we generally just drift fish with power bait and small hooks.. which sometimes works and sometimes doesnt..

thanks guys.. you have always helped me since i found this site..

LA

[Trav]

Depends on where your drifting. Anyway, Dont work the spinners too hard. I am assuming your refering to rooster tails or mepps inline spinners.

Vertical jig marabous and roadrunners. If you must use bait, tip them with small minnows or half a night crawler. My late Gramps wouldnt fish without some kind of bait. He did really well with just leadheads of red, yellow, green, and even black, tipped with red wigglers. Jig em like you were crappie fishing. Course he was raised in texas and didnt know any better. Haha

[LASGTA88]

yeah when it comes to spinner for trout i mean rooster tails.. i got a pretty nice brownie off a white and grey rooster by the dead hotel lol dont know the name of it but im sure you know what i mean..

we stay at trout hollow and usually go up to the boat ramp and start drifting there and stop just past the new bass pro until we find an area we like and concentrate on that area.. most of our group just uses power baits so i dont know much of the other baits

thanks

[Trav]

You talking about Pier 76 hotel? Near the downtown bridge? Thats been gone for quite a few years now.

If you fish that area alot try trolling some 2 inch rapalas. If you get below roark creek(below BassPro), troll deeper with some medium diving cranks. Might not catch as many fish but your catch size will get alot better.

Also, If you get down towards Rockaway and find some 20 to 30 foot areas, look for cover in your graph and vertical jig above it with jigging spoons. Thats where your big brownies like to nest. Have to be patient with the spoons.

I can jig for 2 or 3 hours and only catch one fish. But it is almost always over 3 pounds. I can average 5 to 7 pounds per fish on most days but I know where all the cover is already. Less time hunting. Fish the cover fast, if you dont get a hit in 20 to 30 minutes find more. Just like if your Bass fishing.

[LASGTA88]

yeah thats the name of that hotel lol i have had a lot of luck by that island across from that too but that was before they started redoing a lot of that area due to bas pro and stuff..

i will check out all your tips and see what i can do.. we do a tourney and its purely on length and not weight or numbers.. just longest.. would be nice to win for once but im more for the great weekend with friends and family and fishing

thanks a lot man .. a lot of help

LA

[Phil Lilley]

For tournaments, or any serious fishing, jigs, jigs, jigs.

Jig and float or throw a jig straight.

Also if you're going to use crank baits, don't go with a small bait- medium to big. 2 inches would be on the low end of the scale.

Where you go and how you use either depends on generation and weather (wind). The last few years, fishing from Monkey Island down past downtown has paid off so most at least spend part of their day down there. Some even lower but those are the ones who know the area fairly well and have practiced down there. I wouldn't go down there cold turkey.

Throw crank baits around docks and wood structure in the water. Stop and start. Aggressive and then slow. Or troll larger baits from the island down to Bee Creek.

Jig and float- black/yellow worked good yesterday. Just have a bunch of colors ready. Catch more fish? Use 2 lb line... period.

[taxidermist]

If you are going to use Power bait, don't use small hooks.

We use a #4 Eagle Claw Crappie hook and five or six Power BAit Eggs, we find Carolina Rigging with 1/16th ounce weights and the larger amount of eggs floats higher where the fish are. Colors are up in the air, sunrise has been working for some good bows.

The bend in the crappie hook we seldom don't hook the fish in the lower lip.

I would throw a gold rapala CD-5, CD-7, Fluorescent orange rooster tails in the larger size.

We use 8lb Vanish.

[LASGTA88]

thank you all so very much for all the tips and tricks.. i generally like the monkey island on down area also.. we stopped goin there as much during the construction time cause we didnt catch much and it always depends on whos driving the boat lol they have control and dont catch as much so we kinda go with their decision.. but im gonna take all this info with us and im sure we will catch good numbers..

this means a lot guys thanks

LA

[LASGTA88]

im hopin for some good weather obviously and hope for decent generation cause the last few years has been heavy running day and night.. im hopin for like two during the day and little to none at night.. i love dock fishin with the added comfort of the heated room on our dock lol.. just sit down there and have some drinks and relax while everyone else in my group plays poker and get loud and wasted.. last year we spent the first night on fri all night fishing and when the others came down in the morning we were heading up with a full stringer already lol

LA