More on the Vermont Trip (structure fishing)
TightLine 06/14/2009 - 10:47 Basics of Fishing Articles Essays Impoundments
As Duane and I were trying to locate the big fish that had apparently dissapeared, it got me thinking about the situation with which we were faced. When the wind and sun cooperated, the big fish were pulling up on the shallow flat just sunning themeselves. Beleive it or not, the fish were pre-spawners. We only saw one bed at the trophy lake, and all of the fish we caught were still full of eggs, and had no evidence of fanning the beds with their tails. These shallow fish were caught on poppers or twitch baits. They were in little pods of three to five fish together.
When conditions weren't quite as good, they seemed to be relating to the first or second drop off. A suspending jerk bait was deadly on these fish. There was emerging grass beginning at the first drop (6 ft) and continuing down to probably 15 ft. One day of our trip saw fish running baitfish (smelt, most likely) up against the first drop, usually a top water or slowly sinking bait (fluke) would do the trick on these actively feeding critters.
When the wind got up and the water temps dropped...that became the real problem to solve. I actually spent some sleepless hours thinking about where the fish had gone. We never quite figured it out. My guess was that they wouldn't roam too far, and more than likely they just backed out into deeper water. I was marking many fish in 20-25 ft of water suspended in 10-14 ft. I thought these fish were the Lake Trout. We fished the bottom out to 35 ft with tubes, worms, and grubs etc., hoping to find the smallies. Now having had some time to think about the situation more, and if I had it to do over again, I think I would have tried a drop shot or blade bait out in the deeper water, but I would have fished for the suspended fish...oh well, next time I guess.
Below is a drawing to illustrate the area we were fishing. Between the last two trips, we caught 7 bass over 4 lbs from this 100 ft stretch of bank.
-TL
When conditions weren't quite as good, they seemed to be relating to the first or second drop off. A suspending jerk bait was deadly on these fish. There was emerging grass beginning at the first drop (6 ft) and continuing down to probably 15 ft. One day of our trip saw fish running baitfish (smelt, most likely) up against the first drop, usually a top water or slowly sinking bait (fluke) would do the trick on these actively feeding critters.
When the wind got up and the water temps dropped...that became the real problem to solve. I actually spent some sleepless hours thinking about where the fish had gone. We never quite figured it out. My guess was that they wouldn't roam too far, and more than likely they just backed out into deeper water. I was marking many fish in 20-25 ft of water suspended in 10-14 ft. I thought these fish were the Lake Trout. We fished the bottom out to 35 ft with tubes, worms, and grubs etc., hoping to find the smallies. Now having had some time to think about the situation more, and if I had it to do over again, I think I would have tried a drop shot or blade bait out in the deeper water, but I would have fished for the suspended fish...oh well, next time I guess.
Below is a drawing to illustrate the area we were fishing. Between the last two trips, we caught 7 bass over 4 lbs from this 100 ft stretch of bank.
-TL
