Fishing With Slip

20181003-Putting Family and Friends on the Trophies

The day started out with Drizzle low clouds and showers... With the original booking canceling because of the weather Lucas and Maverick stepped up and filled the gap. Checking Accucast there were periodic showers lasting just minutes for the next 2 hours so we decided to push forward.

I headed to the lake early to launch the boat and pre-fish some of my favorite waypoints on the lake before they arrived.

The first and favorite waypoint for the lake produced 0 fish with five minutes of casting… could not procure a bite or spot a fish on the sonar or side Scan Imaging.

At a 27% FAL (Fish Activity Level) is a near low for the month… pessimistically we were looking at a poor outing with a negative fish activity level. The optimistic outlook is that it is a good lake I have confidence in. The weather wasn't helping but there was Improvement in the early afternoon forecast with warming temperatures with rain ending.

After skunking on my first waypoint I decided to do a side scan of the deep break at 10 feet. The side Scan Imaging and the down scan Imaging showed fish hanging on the deep edge at that break. As I continued scanning I found schools of baitfish compacted into balls and large schools of bluegills and crappies surrounding.

I anchored the boat near one of the schools and started making casts. Within a couple cast I hooked up with a good fish it ended up stretching the board at 13.25”. My Outlook for the rest of the trip was looking up. As I was taking snaps of the fish I noticed headlights at the boat launch pulled up anchor and picked up Lucas and Maveric.

Wasting no time we loaded up their gear and headed back to the Waypoint of success.

Lucas is hooked on 1/32 ounce jigs tipped with 2 inch Class gulp minnows in the silver and black pattern as bait. He has success with Bass and B.Crappie with this setup long casting with a five and a half foot Wild series Shakespeare rod and Shimano Sienna spinning reel loaded with 6 pound Nano. He bought this setup at my suggestion and has been thrilled with his success using it.

We immediately started tagging fish with a flurry of action that would last an hour. The Solunar table showed we were on a downslope of the major and as soon as a Lull.Period set in action slowed down considerably to a snail pace.

During the Lull.Period the weather dramatically improved rain ending and the sun showing turning damp fall into warm summer-like conditions.

Lucas decided to extend the trip to the 4 p.m. mark on a Minor.Period upslope. Approaching the Minor.Period activity started picking up to the point where Lucas tagged a trophy 14in on the mark black crappie! Minutes later he tagged a 9-inch class pumpkin seed hybrid at the 9-inch mark... Nice lunker!

I was finding success with quality fish long casting the 1/64 Oz spring Cricket jig tip with a pink or chartreuse waxie. Slip /float /fly /waxie produced very little activity. The fish were approaching the flats from the first deep break.

The schools of fish were comprised of a mix of bluegill and crappy with quality and quantity.

I was really impressed with the successful results casting the micro spring cricket / waxie. With a smaller jig size from 1/32 to the downsized 1/64, Oz produced a nice slow descent and gliding presentation. The panfish showed positive interest in the presentation bluegill and crappie alike.

The trip ended at 4 p.m. with some very good and dramatic results as well. With two trophies in the boat for the afternoon was a great accomplishment for Lucas... Tough to do! Congratulations Lucas!

Total numbers of the day we're over seventy-five fish in the boat including two trophies what a trip!