Hit the water pretty hard this morning. Fished my fave lake, but went with the idea that I was not going to fish anything that I had ever fished before. I spent the first 2 hours with the side scan on just graphing stuff, marking way points and such of areas that looked good.. I then went back and fished the spots... I didn't keep track of how many fish I caught, but know I had 7 over 18"... and now I have 4 more spots to fish on my fave lake.. LOL

Few fish on a stupid rig, few fish on deep cranks, most on dropshot... The key today was to not shake the drop shot, just let it sit there. The fish seemed a little slow today, the hits were not hits, just weight, and not one single fish today jumped. They all wanted back down to the lake bottom. It was weird.

Glad you had a good day. I fish a large metro lake and the only consistent pattern I had was the lack of a pattern. The bite with the exception of my first cast, which got crushed, was the same as yours,, little bit of weight more often than not. When do these doggies start jumping on the bait?

I did well yesterday throwing an unweighted senko to the same areas as Deitz. Yes, they were all sluggish but they were catchable if you were just patient. They also seemed to be schooled up. If you got one fish on a point you could go right back to the same spot and get a few more. They seemed to be on the tips of points for me. I only got one fish on an inside turn.

Deitz, what kind of plastics are you using on your dropshot rig? Heading to Green lake in Spicer for a couple days and I figure with cold front passage that will be the time to finesse some fish. Any ideas on what I should use post-frontal?

I pretty much use 3 different lures.. I use a MisterTwister 4" dropshot worm(its a straight tail worm), I use a 4" tube at times, and I use a 3" OutCast Naughty bug(beaver imitation)

as for ideas, if fishing smallies, I might lean towards a brown tube on a carolina rig? But the dropshot would be a good bet as well.

Thanks Deitz,
I have the plastics you mentioned (pretty close anyway) so I'll see what happens. Probably won't pull a Carolina because the guy I'm fishing with likes to anchor up. Do you ever cast a Carolina rig out and slowly reel in? One more Q. What size hook do you use for dropshotting bass?

On a side note, the biggest change I have made lately in regard to fishing is my line as a result of the discussion in the other topic about fishing cranks. I spooled three of my rigs with 8lb Gamma coploy. Had a chance to use it on the St Croix last weekend and was pretty sucessful. Biggest adjustment is using a greater hook set than Power Pro. It does have some stretch, less than mono and more that PP, so it didn't seem to pop the hook out of fish's mouth as much as PP upon hookset. Also it's tough stuff, low memory, and cast's well. I think I'm going to like it, especially for W's.

Calv- glad you like the Gamma, as I have said, Its my fave by far.. I dont really cast and slowly reel a carolina rig, I more cast, do a slow drag, and reel in the slack.

as for hook.. I like the stand out hooks. And usually use a 1/0 or a #1 in black.. I'm not a fan of red hooks often.

awesome information bud.

So I did see you out there on chisago saturday Dietz, i wasn't sure till now. I was pulling up to the dock right as you were leaving. Heck of nice boat you have. I found some fish on cranks also, but none made it to the boat over 18"s for me. I did have one break off on jig/ringworm and one that I lost that felt big. I did find a spot loaded with bass and other species too, but ran out of time so I didn't get to fish as long as I would have liked. I think a drop shot would have worked well in that spot but i still need to learn how to rig it up. Thanks for the tips on what's working in your neck of the woods.

Thanks for the boat compliment.. I must admit, sometimes I go fishing just so I can sit in it.. LOL...

Now that you know what it looks like, stop me and say hi.. I dont bite. Also, I'll be more than happy to show you how to rig a Drop Shot.. (its what I caught most of my fish on saturday)

Calv,
Make sure you bring some spinnerbaits out to Green. They will be crushing them for sure! They love big white and chartreuse spinner baits and should be putting on the feed-bags big time out there!!

cecil, please shoot me a email when you get time.

Thanks

is there a link for the "stupid rig"?

We did good on Green (by Willmar) for smallies with a couple @ 20'5", one @ 20", three 19"'s and lots of smaller fish too. Lot's of slab crappies, No big LM, and no W's. I had the best luck on the YUM senko type worm rigged wacky on a wide gap no shank hook with a splitshot for weight. The Carolina rig and the Dropshot were both a nuisence because the weight kept getting caught in the sandgrass. Most fish were deeper close to the breakline. Didn't throw any spinnerbaits but caught a couple on a Chatterbait.