As this was my first time out on the open lake this year, I knew the main task of the day was going to be locating fish. With the warmer temps and it being spawn time, I figured the fish may be in shallow. I headed to a big flat in the lake that consisted of mostly 5 foot depths. I started by casting the hair jigs with a crawler attached, slowly reeling and jigging them back to the boat. This caught me 1 fish in an hours worth of time. It was no monster, but a nice 12 inch Largemouth Bass.
A little time had passed without much success so I moved on to the next tactic to see if I could locate some more quality fish.
When the time is right in the year, especially spring time, I like to troll crankbaits over the shallows as fish move in to spawn. This is a great tactic when searching for fish because you can cover a lot of water in a short period of time. Once you find the fish you can set-up and start throwing some hardware at them. I started trolling one of my favorite shorelines of this lake for this time of year where I have had a decent amount of success. I was trolling a rapala size 7 in a firetiger pattern running the boat between 1.7 and 1.9 mph. First pass I missed 2 fish and one felt nice. I made 3 more passes with no luck, so I started back at the jig and crawler where I had missed the fish on the first pass. No luck... time to move on. While I was trolling though I had some company following a mere 4 feet from the boat.
After no trolling success, I was at a loss of where to head next. Candlewick is a man made lake that was formed back in the late 60's. It has a dam on its Southern edge with a steep break that usually is a good jigging spot. I had recently heard of some nice Walleye being caught here and figured I should give it a shot. I started pitching jigs toward the shore and jigging them back, and had one miss down towards 14 fow. So I started the vertical jig. Pounding my jig against the bottom with a nice chunk of crawler attached to my hook. I finally found some fish! I ended up catching 3-4 Bluegill that where all 8+ inches in length and fully loaded with eggs.
After a quick photo shoot with the gills I released them back to there spawning beds. The sun was setting on the horizon and I called it a day. All in all it was great to be out on the water, and I even caught a couple fish to make it worth while.
Brain
ReplyDeleteGreat Post!--Those hair jigs are awesome, I have used those for a couple of years now. I have found that I can land more crappie on hair jig as opposed to tubes. The vertical jigging you are refering to works well for me as well when they are in the off mode. Do you use the crappie nibblet with your jigs?
Bill, I have never used the nibblets, but have thought about it. I will defiantly give it a try. I love vertical jigging. Pound the bottom and create a commotion on the bottom to spark the fishes interest. I love the hair jigs compared to tubes. Thanks for the comment!
DeleteNice looking jigs you got there. The more I read on your home lake the more impressed I become. You got a nice little slice of heaven outside your back door.
ReplyDeleteFinding some good Walleye would be cool and good to see you lay back on a few of those.
It is a slice of heaven indeed. I think the lake management committee deserves a pat on the back for the plentiful fisherie that we have. And not to mention the great stocking program as well. The walleyes should start to bite as temps warm and they try to move into spawn. I get them a lot while trolling cranks. I think the low number of fish I caught on Saturday had to do with the oncoming storm that blew through that night. Things should only get better from here till the end of fall.
DeleteMy name is Chuck Hart AKA Netbuster. I am president of Lake Mngt. on Candlewick. I fish the Wick 2-4 times a week and have had a great spring so far. We have invested $8 thousand in the last 2 years of walleye. I have caught walleye out almost every trip this year. People are doing well at the marina as well.Most of mine have been off the dam fishing for bass.I have done well in the road bed and dam for bass this spring.Many 3-5 lbrs on 1/2 and 3/4 football jigs. Nice har jigs SLYDOG! Cool site
DeleteThanks for droppin a line here Chuck. You guys always do a great job managing the lake. I was very happy to see the catch and release put on the crappies till June. Hopefully it boosts the crappie population. We need to get together and fish sometime. I know we have talked about it several times. Tight lines and thanks again!
DeleteI would try them hair jigs on the dam now . The bass and some walleye are there now . I don't think they migrated to the dam this year till around May .
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